Richard Gonzales: The Greatest Ever, Period

[johnyandell]

Let's discuss David Hernandez's article, "Richard Gonzales: The Greatest Ever, Period"!

[gzhpcu]

Absolutely agree. I was lucky enough to have seen him practicing at the Beverly Hills tennis club when I was a little kid. His results after the age of 40 are unique. Can't think of any player who ever managed to play so well when over 40! Yes, they should have a stadium named after him!

[don_budge]

The Teaching Paradigm...don_budge

Richard Gonzales, one of my two favorite Americans of all time...tied with Geronimo, the great Apache warrior. Both with Aztec eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SXTkEqkmj0

My Teaching Paradigm...

Bill Tilden is the book. Richard Gonzales is the model with the Don Budge backhand. Harry Hopman is the coach. Roger Federer is the Living Proof.


He was the "perfect specimen". Complete with instinct.

"Richard Gonzales broke the "racial" barrier before Althea Gibson and long before Arthur Ashe. The grand slam venue in New York has been deservedly named after Ashe. But where is Pancho’s stadium? "

He did sort of knock "that Wall" down didn't he? Interesting that not so much is said about it. Perhaps it was his attitude...or his lack of a subservient attitude. Perhaps it was his defiance of the crushing weight that he resisted. True testimony to the best of the human spirit. The fighting Warrior Spirit that never surrenders. My dear old tennis coach, Sherm Collins, used to call me "Pancho". Arthur Ashe was much more polite...politically correct. Ashe was truly a credit to his race as well...the human race.

If Trump gets his way and he builds the wall along the Mexican Border we should call it the "Richard Gonzales Wall" and at every inhabitable point along the wall we should make it to serve as a tennis backboard. Everyone on both sides using it should play by the rules and with the same attitude that this great American exhibited. Thereby fostering better relations and understanding between two distinct and sovereign nations.

[gzhpcu]

Kramer was unfair to Gonzales, giving other players, more money to play on his tour, even though Pancho was clearly better. Seems like racism and envy to me! No wonder Pancho was a loner and played with such a killer instinct.

[stotty]

Kramer was unfair to Gonzales, giving other players, more money to play on his tour, even though Pancho was clearly better. Seems like racism and envy to me! No wonder Pancho was a loner and played with such a killer instinct.

Pancho learned hard lessons through Kramer. If you go to page 220 of Rod Laver's The Education of a Tennis Player (hardback edition), you will see how Pancho neatly sued Laver and a few others for violation of anti trust laws. It put the wind up Laver and co., and though they didn't have to pay Pancho any money in the end, they had to pay a small fortune in legal fees.

On page 222 Laver goes on to tell what prompted Gonzales to adopt that kind of approach to things. And, yes, it had it's roots in Kramer. Kramer paid Gonzales $15,000 for the head to head tour with Tony Trabert. Tony Trabert, the resounding loser, got paid $100,000. Pancho was to make sure that would never happen again by ensuring he remained independent and able to negotiate his own fees.

I think I would be bitter if I had been paid $85,000 less than someone I had routinely taken apart week in week out.

[gzhpcu]

Ted Schroeder and Jack Kramer were part of the old boys club. Pancho was the Mexican outsider.

[don_budge]

When The Walls Go Tumbling Up, Just Rebrand Them...Dale Carnegie's Principle

Bill Tilden is the book. Richard Gonzales is the model with the Don Budge backhand. Harry Hopman is the coach. Roger Federer is the Living Proof.


He was the "perfect specimen". Complete with instinct.

If Trump gets his way and he builds the wall along the Mexican Border we should call it the "Richard Gonzales Wall" and at every inhabitable point along the wall we should make it to serve as a tennis backboard. Everyone on both sides using it should play by the rules and with the same attitude that this great American exhibited. Thereby fostering better relations and understanding between two distinct and sovereign nations.

http://www.rense.com/general96/borderwall.htm

Somebody out there thinks as I do. Make a thirst quenching drink out of a bitter fruit. Lemonade out of lemons. Long live the memory of one of my favorite Americans of all time.

[don_budge]

David Hernandez...

Let's discuss David Hernandez's article, "Richard Gonzales: The Greatest Ever, Period"!

By the way...David Hernandez. Great article...about a great human being. Come to think of it...without a doubt the best article ever written on this website. Long live the memory of Richard Gonzalez. I loved him as a boy and I love him even more as a man.

[klacr]

I try to avoid the GOAT argument because there is no clear cut answer based on eras, surfaces, technology (insert nod of head from don_budge), and formulation of the professional tours. But this article sure as hell makes a compelling case for Gonzales as one of the GOATs hands down. From eyewitness accounts Pancho's legend grows stronger and stronger. What an athlete, what a machine, what a fighter.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton