Tombstone
Born: 1974 World Team Tennis founding franchise
Folded: Postseason 1974
First Game: May 7, 1974 (W 32-21 vs. Cleveland Nets)
Last Game: August 18, 1974 (L 25-19 @ Cleveland Nets)
Arenas
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Opened: 1940
Demolished: 2009
CNE Coliseum
Opened: 1921
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: John Bassett
WTT Wear
World Team Tennis
Logo T-Shirt
World Team Tennis has been around in one form or another for nearly fifty years now, but this chill logo tee from our partners at Old School Shirts pays tribute to the original league and its mid-70’s glory days when Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Bjorn Borg and Ilie Nastase suited up for their WTT clubs in between Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.
Also available in women’s scoop neck and women’s racerback tank styles!
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!
Background
The Toronto-Buffalo Royals were one 16 original franchises in World Team Tennis (1974-1978) in the summer of 1974. The league was founded by Billie Jean King, her husband Larry, and serial sports promoter Dennis Murphy. A few of the founding investors from Murphy’s World Hockey Association (1972-1979) signed on as investors in the new venture, including Royals owner John Bassett. Bassett’s burgeoning sports empire included the WHA’s Toronto Toros and the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League. All three of those Bassett-owned sports franchises were organized during a spree of activity in 1973 and early 1974.
The Royals’ star attraction was player-coach Tom Okker of the Netherlands, the 1968 U.S. Open finalist and a Top Ten-ranked singles player throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies. Other members of the Royals’ six-person roster included Mike Estep, Jan O’Neill, Wendy Overton and Laura Rossouw.
In the “team” concept, each World Team Tennis 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.
Team Tennis Scoring Rules
A July 30, 1974 contest against the Pittsburgh Triangles at The Aud in Buffalo illustrates the league’s unique scoring system. The match opened with Pittsburgh’s Evonne Goolagong overpowering Jan O’Neill 6-2 in the women’s singles set. Then Goolagong and partner Peggy Michel edged O’Neill and Rossouw 7-6 in women’s doubles to open up a 13-8 lead for the Triangles. The Royals pulled ahead during the men’s portion. Okker beat Pittsburgh’s Ken Rosewall 6-2 in singles and the Okker/Estep doubles team bested Rosewall and Gerald Battrick 6-4 in doubles. The Royals entered the fifth and final set of the night – mixed doubles – holding a 20-19 lead in points. The Estep/Overton duo held off Pittsburgh’s Battrick/Michel pairing 7-6 for a final score of 27-25 in favorite of Buffalo-Toronto.
Demise
The Royals finished the 1974 season with the second-worst record in the league at 13-31. The Royals went out of business shortly after the season as World Team Tennis shrunk from 16 original teams to only 10 for the league’s second season.
Toronto-Buffalo Royals Shop
Editor's Pick
The Life and Teams of Johnny F. Bassett
Maverick Entrepreneur of North American Sports
By Denis M. Crawford
Denis Crawford’s 2021 biography chronicles one of the most influential sportsmen of the late 20th century. Johnny F. Bassett’s marketing wizardry belied his impact on professional hockey and football. A Canadian showman with a Barnumesque flair for spectacle, Bassett challenged the orthodoxy of sports, building sporting utopias in the fatally flawed World Football League, World Hockey Association, and United States Football League.
He catered to the common fan, demanded fair treatment of athletes, and forced the sporting establishment to change the way it did business, often to his own detriment.
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!
Links
###
