SKILLMAN, N.J. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) will induct four new members into its ITA Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame on May 26 during the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
The Class of 2004 includes a trio of Pac-10 stars: Jim Delaney of Stanford, Gardner Larned of William & Mary, Billy Lenoir of Arizona and Larry Nagler of UCLA. Larned will be inducted posthumously. The induction ceremony will take place in the Promenade Ballroom at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Tulsa.
Players are eligible for election to the ITA Hall of Fame 15 years after their last collegiate match and coaches are eligible following retirement. The main criteria for election are college accomplishments as well as honors earned after college. College tennis legend Dan Magill serves as curator for the ITA Hall of Fame, which is housed at the University of Georgia.
Stanford’s Delaney was a four-time ITA All-American for the Cardinal from 1972-75. He captured NCAA doubles titles in ’73 and ’74 (with Alex Mayer and John Whitlinger, respectively) and was a member of Coach Dick Gould’s first (of 17) NCAA championship teams those same years. Delaney was the fourth player to ever earn ITA All-American honors four times and is one of 23 to ever do it. He resides in Arlington, Va.
William & Mary’s Larned was the NCAA singles champ in 1947 and a finalist in singles and doubles in ’46. He beat North Carolina’s Vic Seixas in the ’47 NCAA final. A World War II hero, Larned also led the Tribe to back-to-back NCAA team titles in 1947-48.
Arizona’s Lenoir was a three-time ITA All-American from 1962-64, reaching at least the NCAA singles quarterfinals each of those years. He was also the USTA Boys’ 18s singles champion in ’63 and two-time U.S. interscholastic champ. Lenoir resides in Tampa, Fla.
UCLA’s Nagler swept the NCAA singles and doubles titles in 1960. A three-time ITA All-American, he is the only player to ever win three Pac-10 men’s singles titles. He also helped the Bruins to NCAA team titles in ’60 and ’61. While at UCLA, he played on the basketball team for John Wooden in ’58 and ’59. Nagler lives in Los Angeles.
Nagler is the 16th UCLA player or coach to be inducted in the ITA Hall of Fame. Delaney is the 12th Cardinal to be inducted. Lenoir is the first Arizona player to be inducted (former coach Dave Snyder entered in 2001). Larned is the second Tribe inductee, joining teammate Bernard “Tut” Bartzen.
The ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame, which includes over 1,800 rare photos, inducted its first class in 1983 and has inducted more than 160 players, coaches and contributors since then. Members include the late Arthur Ashe (UCLA), Jimmy Connors (UCLA), John McEnroe (Stanford) and Stan Smith (Southern California). The ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame is located at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
Three others – Paul Haarhuis of Armstrong Atlantic State and Florida State, Jim Osborne of Utah and BYU (coach) and John Sadri of North Carolina State – were eligible for induction this year, but will go into the ITA Hall of Fame in 2005 due to scheduling conflicts.
