Tombstone
Born: 1975 – WTT expansion franchise
Folded: November 8, 19781ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Friars Fold, WTT Still Afloat”. The Bee (Sacramento, CA). November 9, 1978
First Match: May 9, 1975 (L 28-21 vs. Golden Gaters)
Last Match: August 18, 1978 (L 31-20 vs. Seattle Cascades)
World Team Tennis Championships: None
Arenas
San Diego Sports Arena (8,091)21978 World Team Tennis Media Guide
Opened: 1966
Anaheim Convention Center
Opened: 1967
Branding
Team Colors: Tan & Brown31978 World Team Tennis Media Guide
Ownership
Owner: Frank Mariani
Attendance
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Sources:
- ASSOCIATED PRESS. “World Team Tennis attendance increases”. The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). August 21, 1976. (1975-1976 League figures)
- Craig, Jack. “Lobsters to quit WTT for a year”. The Globe (Boston, MA). October 28, 1978 (1978 Friars figure)
Record Book
WTT Male Rookie-of-the-Year
- 1976: Rod Laver
FWIL FAVORITE
San Diego Friars
Team Tennis T-Shirt
Will there ever be an older Rookie of the Year in American professional sports than Rod Laver? The Friars’ Aussie superstar took home World Team Tennis’ Male Rookie of the Year honors in 1976, a rather silly title to bestow upon a 38-year old living legend with two calendar-year Grand Slames under his belt.
This Friars design is also available in women’s scoop neck and racerback tank styles from Old School Shirts!
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Background
The San Diego Friars were a franchise in World Team Tennis that played primarily at the San Diego Sports Arena from 1975 to 1978. The Friars also played occasional matches at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The team was best known for signing Rod “The Rocket” Laver in February 1976. The Australian superstar, then 38 years old, is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and the only person ever two have completed two Grand Slams (1962 and 1969). Laver was the world’s #1 ranked male player for seven consecutive years from 1964 to 1970. He played three seasons for the Friars from 1976 through the club’s final season in 1978.
The Friars were a league doormat in 1975, finishing tied for last place with a 14-30 record. Despite the arrival of Laver, the Friars were even worse in 1976 at 13-31. San Diego finally turned things around in 1978, winning their division at 30-14, the second best record in World Team Tennis. But the club was upset in the first round of the playoffs by a team with a losing record, the Seattle Cascades.
Demise & Early 80’s Revival
Friars owner Frank Mariani was a close associate of Dr. Jerry Buss, the owner of WTT’s Los Angeles Strings franchise, who later purchased the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings in 1979. Buss and Mariani became key backers of the novelty tennis league. By WTT’s fifth and final season in 1978, the two men controlled or otherwise held stakes in at least four of the league’s ten franchises: Anaheim, Indiana, Los Angeles and San Diego. Buss and Mariani’s decision to pull out of World Team Tennis in November 1978 effectively sunk the league, which had already lost high profile clubs in Boston and New York a month earlier.
A lower profile revival of Team Tennis re-opened for business in 1981. The San Diego Friars name was revived and the “new” Friars played three seasons from 1981 to 1983, without the star power or media exposure of the 1970’s edition.
San Diego Friars
Editor's Pick
Bustin' Balls
World Team Tennis 1974-1978, Pro Sports, Pop Culture & Progressive Politics
by Steven Blush
Bustin’ Balls tells the strange but true story of World Team Tennis (1974-1978) that attempted to transform the prim and proper individual sport of tennis into a rowdy blue-collar league. Billie Jean King and her partners merged feminism and civil rights with queer lifestyle, pop culture and a progressive political agenda to create a dazzling platform for the finest tennis players of the day to become overnight stars.
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
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