Question about Jack Kramer

[gzhpcu]

I know Kramer did a lot to promote tennis, but I have always disliked him for the way he treated Pancho Gonzalez.

He always underpaid him. When the head-to-head tour against Trabert started, Gonzalez was given $15,000 and Trabert $80,000. In the head-to-head tour against Hoad, whom he sound beat, Hoad got 50% more money than Gonzalez. He constantly kept underpaying him, though he was the greatest player in the world all the way up to 1960.

Anybody ever read why he did this?

IMHO, I consider Kramer a part of the old boys group like Ted Schroeder (who was always arrogant towards Gonzalez) who disregarded Mexican Americans.

And why all this respect for Kramer as a tennis player? He did not achieve much and retired very early, not leaving much of a mark other than that of being a tennis promoter.

[stotty]

And the end of the day Jack was a businessman, that's it. Pancho wasn't and died broke. It was a fundamental difference.

[gzhpcu]

And the end of the day Jack was a businessman, that's it. Pancho wasn't and died broke. It was a fundamental difference.

But why was he so hard-nosed only with Pancho? And not Trabert, Hoad, Rosewall et al?

[stotty]

But why was he so hard-nosed only with Pancho? And not Trabert, Hoad, Rosewall et al?

I guess we'll never know the answer to that. Maybe Pancho was more of a threat than the others who tamely accepted Jack's terms. Maybe Jack sensed this and treated him more harshly to keep him in check. I know Pancho learnt quick because, post Kramer, he negotiated fees prior to pro events taking place to ensure he got paid. Sometimes tournaments failed to cover costs and make money, meaning sometimes players went unpaid. Pancho made sure this never happened to him.

I guess we can attribute Pancho dying penniless to paying alimony to five previous wives. I gather this is an expensive business over there in the US.

[chuck62]

A product of the times

I think thats a good point, in that he was a product of the times. For instance at that time there wasn't a single non white player in college basketball. It wasn't easy to break out of that pattern. He has to get some credit for giving Pancho a chance when doing that would have been considered risky. No doubt Kramer was a controversial figure. Supposedly Billie Jean King refused to play against Bobby Riggs if Kramer was in the broadcast booth. At the end of the day he's a big plus for the game with his serve and volley style and as the forerunner for open tennis.

[gzhpcu]

I have Kramer's book "The Game: My 40 years in Tennis". In it, he just harps about Gonzalez having an ego problem, never mentioning the fact he underpaid Gonzalez, especially when playing Trabert. He keeps harping on how he was "clearly the better player"... Just keeps mentioning how nobody on the tour liked Gonzalez... and how great he, Kramer, is...

[gzhpcu]

Kramer learned "percentage tennis" from a hydraulic engineer, Cliff Roche, who coached youngsters. Taught him percentage tennis and how to pace his game: concentrate on holding service, and not expending too much energy on the return game, unless an oppotunity presented itself.

[gzhpcu]

Kramer's best buddy was Ted Schroeder, who constantly tried to psych Pancho using baiting tactics. Pancho resented it. Pancho recalled that Schroeder had a way of "psyching" him before a big match. They often changed clothes in the same dressing room.
"You know I'm going to beat you again, Pancho..." Schroeder said before the Forest Hills final in 1949 which Pancho won... Newscasters called him "the cheese champion"...

He also refers to him as "Gorgo" in his book (for Gorgonzola), which is a belittling nickname for a "cheese champion", only that Gorgo achieved more and lasted much more than Kramer.

Kramer, describing the match in his book, says that "Gonzales shouldn't have been a match for him (Schroeder)"... He then attributes Pancho's victory in the fifth set so a bad call from the linesman at match ball for Pancho. "Schroeder hit a forehand down the line that was clearly in, but called out." Then he goes on to imply that Schroeder deliberately tanked the match!

[stotty]

This is where history gets tricky, isn't it? When you read a book, how do you determine which opinions and asides are prejudiced and which are well balanced judgements about people? You can't.

[tennis_chiro]

Kramer's coach

Kramer learned "percentage tennis" from a hydraulic engineer, Cliff Roche, who coached youngsters. Taught him percentage tennis and how to pace his game: concentrate on holding service, and not expending too much energy on the return game, unless an oppotunity presented itself.

When I was just graduating from high school, my coach, Gordon Sears at Griffith Park, sent me to see "Jack Kramer's former coach", Bob Harmon on his private court in Santa Monica to help me with my forehand. Ruined me. Took me about 30 years to get it right after that. I think I understand what he was trying to get me to do now, but it ruined me at the time. All my competitive tennis was played with an awful forehand. But I'm pretty sure Bob was generally regarded as Kramer's coach. Was the Roche reference from Kramer's book?

My dad sold Kramer the printing for the programs to the Pacific Southwest and he was the one who sent me to Vic Braden for a job in NY that got me into this whole thing right after I graduated from engineering school and had been accepted into the MBA program at UCLA. Hmmm! Might have 2 nickels to rub together now if I hadn't gone to that meeting. But then I wouldn't have met all these fabulous people in tennis. I used to see Olmedo and Segura quite a bit (both won my tournament). They both had tremendous respect for Gonzales. At least as a player, and I thought as a man too!

PS. I thought Gorgo was an endearment. Kind of like huge for his big serve. Made me think of Godzilla! Had no idea until I read it here.

don

[gzhpcu]

Don,
In Kramer's book, he says that Dick Sheen was his first coach. He broke up with Sheen over an argument concerning his doubles partner for a tournament. Afterwards, he implies his Dad was his coach, until he met a club player called Cliff Roche. He and a group of young guys played with him, and he taught them his ideas. He attributes Roche making him become a champion. No mention of Harmon whatsoever.