The Minnesota Buckskins were a charter franchise of

World Team Tennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...

(WTT) founded by Lee Meade, Len Vannelli and John Finley. The Buckskins played only one season before folding after the 1974 season. The Buckskins had 27 wins and 17 losses and were the Gulf Plains Section Champions. They lost to the Denver Racquets in the Western Division Championship Series ending their season.

Team history

The Buckskins were founded by Lee Meade, Len Vannelli and John Finley as a charter member of WTT in 1973. Prior to the inaugural WTT draft, each franchise was entitled to sign a player in advance and then use its first-round draft selection on that player. Before the team even had a name, the Minnesota franchise made an aggressive play for Billie Jean King who was widely regarded as a player with the ability to generate much interest and

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. Minnesota negotiated a major

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

for King to endorse candy. The

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

offered by Minnesota to King would have obligated her to play for the team for five years and pay her compensation in excess of $2 million paid out over ten years. Most of the money in the contract would have come from the endorsement. In addition, the team would have been named the Minnesota Kings. However, King (and WTT league executives) believed it would be better for her to play in the

eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

. Therefore she solicited offers from the New York and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

franchises before signing a five-year contract worth $1 million with Philadelphia where she thought there would be better commercial opportunities. King claimed she could earn up to $75,000 for spending a couple hours making a television commercial. "Man, I'm not dumb," she said. "Get it while you can." King went on to win the 1974 WTT Most Valuable Player Award while leading the Philadelphia Freedoms to the best regular-season record in WTT. Minnesota's top 10 draft choices in the WTT inaugural draft were Just before the start of the season, Meade, Vannelli and Finley sold the Buckskins to

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapo ...

businessman Burt McGlynn of McGlynn Bakeries. The team played its home matches at the

Metropolitan Sports Center The Met Center was an indoor arena that stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of Minneapolis. The arena, which was completed in 1967 by Minnesota Ice, just to the north of Metropolitan Stadium, seated 15,000. It was the home o ...

in Bloomington, Minnesota starting with WTT's inaugural 1974 season. The first match in Buckskins' history was a 30–28 loss to the Houston E-Z Riders at home on May 7, 1974, in front of 2,317 fans. The Buckskins drew a crowd of 9,300 for their home match against King and the Freedoms. The Buckskins featured player-coach

Owen Davidson Owen Keir Davidson (born 4 October 1943) is a former professional tennis player of the 1960s and 1970s. Alongside Billie Jean King, Davidson won eight grand slam mixed doubles titles. In 1967 he won a calendar year slam for mixed doubles, wh ...

Ann Haydon-Jones Ann Shirley Jones, (née Adrianne Haydon on 17 October 1938, also known as Ann Haydon-Jones) is a British former table tennis and lawn tennis champion. She won eight Grand Slam tennis championships in her career: three in singles, three in wome ...

, Bob Hewitt, Shari Barman, David Lloyd, Mona Schallau,

Wendy Turnbull Wendy Turnbull, , (born 26 November 1952) is a retired tennis player from Australia. During her career, she won nine Grand Slam titles, four of them in women's doubles and five of them in mixed doubles. She also was a three-time Grand Slam runn ...

and Terry Holladay The Buckskins finished the season with 27 wins and 17 losses and were the Gulf Plains Section Champions. They were matched up with the E-Z Riders in the Western Division Semifinals. WTT playoff series in the division semifinals and division championship series in 1974, were played over two legs, one match on the home court of each team. The team with the best aggregate score over the two matches was the winner. The higher seed had the right to choose whether to play the first or second match at home. The Buckskins chose to open at home and lost the first match to the E-Z Riders, 28–19. The Buckskins went to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

and dominated the E-Z Riders in the second match, 29–19, to squeeze out a win in the series, 48–47, and advance to the Western Division Championship Series against the Denver Racquets. The Buckskins won four of the five sets in the second division semifinal match to pull off the stunning comeback. Schallau and Turnbull recorded a 6–0 set win over

Karen Krantzcke Karen Krantzcke (1 February 1946 – 11 April 1977) was an Australian tennis player. She achieved a world top ten singles ranking in 1970. In her short career, she made the quarterfinals or better at each of the four Grand Slam championships in ...

and

Lesley Bowrey Lesley Rosemary Turner Bowrey, AM (née Turner; born 16 August 1942) is a retired professional tennis player from Australia. Her career spanned two decades from the late 1950s until the late 1970s. Turner Bowrey won the singles title at the Fr ...

in women's doubles. Haydon-Jones beat

Helen Gourlay Helen Gourlay Cawley (''née'' Gourlay; born 23 December 1946) is a retired tennis player from Australia. Personal Helen Gourlay was born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. She married Richard Leon Cawley in January 1977, and married William ...

, 6–3, in women's singles. Davidson and Schallau topped Dick Stockton and Lesley Bowrey. The E-Z Riders had a cumulative lead in the two matches of 43–42 heading to the final set of the second match which Davidson and Schallau won by a score of 6–4. Following the division semifinal victory over the E-Z Riders, it was reported that WTT had taken over the Buckskins and paid players six weeks of back salaries. The Racquets chose to open the series at home won the first match in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 29–18.

Françoise Dürr Françoise Dürr (born 25 December 1942; sometimes referred to by English writers as Frankie Durr) is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles. According to Lance Tingay, Bud Collins, and the Women ...

of the Racquets beat Haydon-Jones, 6–1, in women's singles and then teamed with Kris Kemmer Shaw to beat Turnbull and Schallau in women's doubles by the same 6–1 score. The Buckskins came back at home to win the second match, 26–25. It was not enough as the Racquets won the Western Division title by a cumulative score of 54–44 and ended the season for Minnesota. Despite the Buckskins' success on the court and the large crowd for the match against the Freedoms, the team was unable to generate enough revenue for McGlynn to consider it viable. He tried to sell the Buckskins to local investors after the season ended. On November 6, 1974, McGlynn announced that the local interests in the Buckskins had dried up, and the team would either fold or be sold and moved. He mentioned that there was interest from investor groups in Indianapolis and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The investor group from Indianapolis ended up buying the Detroit Loves, and the group from Washington decided not to buy a team. On November 26, 1974, WTT announced at its annual meeting that the Buckskins had become the first team in the league to fold. WTT conducted a dispersal draft of the Buckskins' players at its annual meeting using an auction system. Davidson and Haydon-Jones went to the Cleveland Nets. Hewitt went to the Los Angeles Strings. Schallau and Turnbull went to the New York Sets. Holladay went to the Houston E-Z Riders.

Hall of Fame players

The following players who are enshrined in the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

played for the Minnesota Buckskins: *

1974 roster

The Minnesota Buckskins roster for the 1974 season was *

, Player-Coach * Shari Barman *

* Bob Hewitt * Terry Holladay * David Lloyd * Mona Schallau *

References

External links

Official World TeamTennis Website
{{World TeamTennis Defunct World TeamTennis teams 1973 establishments in Minnesota Tennis in Minnesota Sports teams in Minnesota Sports clubs established in 1973 Defunct sports teams in Minnesota 1974 disestablishments in Minnesota Sports clubs disestablished in 1974

Team history

Hall of Fame players

1974 roster

See also

References

External links