Tombstone
Born: 1974 – WTT founding franchise
Moved: February 6, 1975 (Phoenix Racquets)
First Match: May 7, 1974 (L 33-32 vs. Chicago Aces)
Last Match: August 26, 1974 (W 28-24 @ Philadelphia Freedoms)
Bancroft Cup Champions: 1974
Arena
Denver Auditorium Arena
Opened: 1908
Closed: 1990
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners: Bud Fischer & Frank Goldberg
Record Book
WTT Playoff Most Valuable Player
- 1974: Andrew Pattison
WTT Coach-of-the-Year
- 1974: Tony Roche
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.
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Background
The Denver Racquets were a One-Year Wonder that played during the debut season of World Team Tennis in the summer of 1974. World Team Tennis was a co-ed sports league promoted by women’s superstar Billie Jean King. In the “team” concept, each club consisted of three male and three female players. Matches consisted of a single set each of men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles, with one point awarded to a team for each game won within a set.
The 1974 Racquets roster consisted of
- Jeff Austin (U.S.A.)
- Pam Austin (U.S.A.)
- Francoise Durr (France)
- Stephanie Johnson (U.S.A.)
- Kristien Kemmer Shaw (U.S.A.)
- Andrew Pattison (South Africa)
- 29-year old player-coach Tony Roche (Australia)
1974 Championship Season
The Racquets got off to a dismal 2-8 start to the 1974 season. But the Racquets soon found their form and went 28-6 the rest of the way to win the Pacific Division with a 30-14 record.
In the playoffs, the Racquets dispatched the Golden Gaters (San Francisco) and the Minnesota Buckskins to the reach the best-of-three World Team Tennis championship series against Billie Jean King and the Philadelphia Freedoms. The Racquets swept the Freedoms in two matches, clinching the title for Denver on August 26, 1974 before 5,134 fans at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Denver’s Andrew Pattison was named playoff MVP and Roche was honored as the league’s Coach-of-the-Year.
Move To Arizona
The Racquets were owned by San Diego businessmen Bud Fischer and Frank Goldberg, who also owned the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association at the time. Despite winning the championship in their first season, the pair lost interest in World Team Tennis and decided to focus their attentions on the basketball team, putting the Racquets up for sale in December 1974. The club moved to Phoenix, Arizona under new ownership (including Oakland A’s star Reggie Jackson) in February 1975 and played four seasons as the Phoenix Racquets (1975-1978) before World Team Tennis went out of business in late 1978.
Trivia
The Racquets mascot was an Airedale named “Topspin” owned by team member Francoise Durr.
World Team Tennis Shop
Links
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6 Responses
How many One-Year Wonders won championships? (Other than whoever won the XFL?)
A lot. It kind of depends on how deep you want to dive into really fly-by-night operations in minor league baseball, hockey, indoor soccer, etc.
But if you stuck to league’s that had a nationwide footprint, here’s what a few I can think of off the top of my head, besides the Racquets:
*Birmingham Americans, World Football League, 1974
*Nebraska Wranglers, Women’s Basketball League, 1981
*Baltimore Stars, USFL, 1985 (sort of)
Team colors for the ’74 Denver Racquets was yellow and navy blue.
Please note. The correct spelling of Kemmer Shaw’s first name is KristIEN. NOT, INE.
It is Kristien Kemmer Shaw. I should know as it is my name. Thank you
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Kristien! I corrected the misspelling of your name.
Drew
I was their Athletic Trainer that year. I did not travel with the tea as the home team trainer took care of both teams,