Tombstone
Born: June 17, 1973 – WTT founding franchise (shifted from St. Louis)1ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Tennis league adds Miami, NBC reports”. The Miami News (Miami, FL). June 18, 1973
Folded: February 1, 19752Martz, Jim. “WTT Drops Florida Flamingos”. The Herald (Miami, FL). February 2, 1975
First Match: May 8, 1974 (W 27-26 vs. Los Angeles Strings)
Last Match: August 18, 1974 (L 28-19 @ Houston E-Z Riders)
World Team Tennis Championships: None
Arena
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners: Ted Cohen
Attendance
Source: The Miami Herald (2/3/1975)
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Background
The Florida Flamingos were a One-Year Wonder in the co-ed World Team Tennis league during the promotion’s first season in the summer of 1974. The Flamingos played out of the Convention Hall at the Miami Beach Convention Center, host venue for the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
The Flamingos finished their only season with a record of 19 wins and 25 losses. The team’s top player was South African Cliff Drysdale, a men’s singles finalist at the 1965 U.S. Open.
The team was a box office failure and co-owner Ted Cohen of Pittsburgh claimed the team lost $200,000 in 1974 (Miami Herald 2/3/1975). World Team Tennis contracted the Flamingos in February 1975 as part of a larger purge of the league’s weakest franchises a couple of months before the league’s second season got under way.
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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!
In Memoriam
Former Flamingos player-coach Frank Froehling passed away at age 77 on January 23, 2020.
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