The San Francisco Golden Gaters 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). The Golden Gaters won two Western Division Championships and lost in the WTT Finals both times. The team was founded in 1973 and made the playoffs in each of the five seasons in which it participated in the league. Following the 1978 season, eight of the then 10 WTT franchises folded leaving only the Golden Gaters and the

Phoenix Racquets The Phoenix Racquets were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The team was founded as the Denver Racquets and won the 1974 WTT championship in the league's inaugural season, before moving to Phoenix in 1975. Following the 1978 season ...

prepared to participate in the 1979 season. WTT suspended operations of the league in March 1979, ending the Golden Gaters existence.

Team history

Founding and inaugural season

The Golden Gaters were founded as WTT's charter franchise for

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1973, by former

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

Cathie Anderson and attorney

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...

, then the husband of tennis superstar

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

. Anderson was the team's first president. The team played its home matches at the

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena Oakland Arena is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, it was known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. After a major renovation completed in 1997, the arena was renamed T ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

starting with the league's inaugural season in 1974 season. While the team was founded as a San Francisco franchise, it ended up playing its home matches across the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

in Oakland. The Golden Gaters' management sought to cultivate a San Francisco rather than an Oakland image for the team, and it did not put "Oakland" in front of its name. Nevertheless, the team did not want to alienate

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

fans by using San Francisco as part of its name. The first name the franchise used was the Golden Gate Otters before settling on simply calling itself the Golden Gaters in its dealings with the

general public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. Since it would have been absurd to call the team the Golden Gate Golden Gaters, and the league used a location to identify all its teams, WTT reverted to using San Francisco, the location for which the original charter was issued, when referring to the team. They were listed in official WTT standings as the San Francisco Golden Gaters. Jerry Diamond was hired as the Golden Gaters' general manager. Later in 1974, he would also become the first executive director of the newly formed

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenni ...

, a position he would hold for 11 years overseeing significant growth in the women's tour. The Golden Gaters opened their inaugural season with

Frew McMillan Frew Donald McMillan (born 20 May 1942) is a former professional male tennis player from South Africa who won five grand slam doubles titles including three Wimbledons with Bob Hewitt. All together, he won 63 doubles titles, surpassed only by ...

as their player-coach and also featured

Roy Emerson Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a caree ...

, Dick Bohrnstedt,

Lesley Hunt Lesley Hunt (born 29 May 1950) is a former tennis player from Perth, Western Australia. Particularly noted as a junior player, in 1964 at the age of 14 she won a rare double in the Western Australian Women's open, taking both the Open and Juni ...

, 18-year-old

Ilana Kloss Ilana Sheryl Kloss (born 22 March 1956) is a former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and commissioner of World TeamTennis from 2001-21. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979. She w ...

and

Barbara Downs Barbara Downs (born March 4, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. Downs grew up in Alamo, California and competed on the professional tour in the 1970s. She made the round of 16 at the 1972 US Open (beaten by Virginia Wade) an ...

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...

was also on the team, but she did not play, because she was

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occur ...

. Kloss would later go on to become WTT commissioner in 2001. With their 20th and final selection in the WTT's inaugural draft, the Golden Gaters (then still known as the Otters) selected co-owner and president Anderson who made the selection herself. She did not end up playing in WTT. The Golden Gaters' inaugural match was a 35–26 victory at home over the

Denver Racquets 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 Unite ...

on May 8, 1974. Hunt split her two sets of women's singles but won 10 games and lost 7 against her opponents. Emerson won both of his men's singles sets over

Andrew Pattison Andrew Pattison (born 30 January 1949) is a former South African-born Rhodesian and later Zimbabwean tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 24, which he reached on 24 September 1974. Pattison won four singles tourna ...

, 7–5 and 6–2. Kloss and McMillan played both mixed doubles set for the Golden Gaters and split them winning 12 games and losing 12. The Golden Gaters drew 4,012 fans for their opener at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. Across the parking lot, the defending two-time World Champion

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

were playing the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

at the

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently naming rights, branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880 (California), In ...

and drew only 2,980 fans in head-to-head competition with the Golden Gaters for the attention of sports fans. The Golden Gaters clinched a playoff berth with a 29–20 victory at home against the

Hawaii Leis Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

on August 15. Hunt suffered an eye injury in the opening set of women's singles when a forehand volley ricocheted off her racket and hit her right eye. She played two more points before being replaced by Downs and taken to the hospital with the score of the game tied 1–1. Downs won the set against

Brigitte Cuypers Brigitte Cuypers (born 3 December 1955) is a retired tennis player from South Africa. Cuypers reached the final of the South African Open (tennis), South African Championships singles event on five consecutive occasions from 1975 to 1979 and w ...

, 7–5.

Denise Carter-Triolo Denise Carter (born July 31, 1950), also known as Denise Carter-Triolo, is an American former tennis player. She was ranked eighth in the United States in 1969, tenth in 1970, and tenth again in 1971. She reached the third round of the U.S. Ope ...

substituted for Hunt in women' doubles and teamed with

for a 6–2 set win over

Ann Kiyomura Ann Kiyomura-Hayashi (born August 22, 1955) is a retired American professional tennis player. She is from San Mateo, California. Kiyomura played on the WTA Tour from 1973 to 1984. She played in 11 US Opens, reaching the fourth round in 1978. In ...

and

Valerie Ziegenfuss Valerie Bradshaw (née Ziegenfuss; June 29, 1949) is an American former female professional tennis player. She started as an amateur player at the beginning of the 1970s, then turned professional. She is most famous for being one of the Original ...

. Bohrnstedt dropped a men's singles set to his former

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

teammate Mike Machette, 6–3. With the match already decided, McMillan didn't play mixed doubles which was won by Kloss and

Whitney Reed Whitney Reed (August 20, 1932 – January 9, 2015) was a former U.S. No. 1 tennis player from the United States who was active in the 1950s and 1960s. Reed was ranked No. 1 amateur in the United States in 1961 and was ranked in the U.S. amateur ...

over

Barry McKay Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

and Ziegenfuss, 7–5. The Golden Gaters finished their inaugural season with 23 wins and 21 losses, second place in the Pacific Section and qualified for the Western Division Semifinals against the Denver Racquets. WTT playoff 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. As the higher seed, the Racquets had the choice to play either the first or the second match at home. The Racquets won both matches against the Golden Gaters, 29–17 in Denver on August 19, and 32–24 in Oakland on August 20, to end the season for San Francisco.

A division championship

Following the 1974 season, Dave Peterson acquired a controlling interest in the Golden Gaters and became the team's president. Just before the start of the 1975 season, the Golden Gaters traded Margaret Court with whom they were unable to reach an agreement on a contract to the Hawaii Leis for the rights to

Chris Evert Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...

who had not expressed any interest in playing in WTT. Evert did not sign with the Golden Gaters. The Golden Gaters added

Tom Okker Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Betty Stöve Betty Flippina Stöve (born 24 June 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final, the ladies' doubles final and the mixed doubles final during the same year at Wimbledon in 19 ...

, 19-year-old Ann Kiyomura and

Kate Latham Kate Latham (born October 25, 1952) is an American former professional tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player us ...

. Kiyomura was from

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

, and Latham was from

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

. Kiyomura had originally been selected by the Golden Gaters in WTT's inaugural draft but traded before the 1974 season to Hawaii for Dick Bohrnstedt and played for the Leis. The Golden Gaters also re-signed Whitney Reed and made him a player-assistant coach. Player-coach Frew McMillan teamed with Okker to lead WTT in game-winning percentage in men's doubles and with Stöve to lead in that category in mixed doubles. Okker's performance earned him the Male Most Valuable Player Award. McMillan was named WTT Coach of the Year. The Golden Gaters raced to the top of the Western Division standings in 1975, with 29 wins and 15 losses. The first-place finish earned the Golden Gaters a bye in the Western Division Semifinals and set up a matchup with the

in the Western Division Championship Series. Because the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena was booked by a circus in late August, the Golden Gaters 1975 home playoff matches were played at the

Cow Palace The Cow Palace (originally the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through the property, a por ...

Daly City, California Daly City () is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with population of 104,901 according to the 2020 census. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its ...

. The Golden Gaters took the first match of the best-of-three series in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, 25–24, on August 18. They returned home for their first-ever match at the Cow Palace on August 19, to complete the series sweep with a 26–20 victory which made the Golden Gaters Western Division Champions and sent them to the WTT Finals against the

Pittsburgh Triangles The Pittsburgh Triangles were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The Triangles won the 1975 WTT Championship. The team folded after the 1976 season. Team history The Triangles were founded in 1973 as a charter member of WTT by Centur ...

who had WTT's best regular-season record in 1975. The Racquets led the second match, 18–17, after the first three sets, when Stöve came up with a dominant 6–1 set win over

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' ...

to give the Golden Gaters a 23–19 lead heading to the final set of mixed doubles which matched Stöve and McMillan against Kris Kemmer Shaw and

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagg ...

. After holding in their first two service games, Stöve and McMillan broke Shaw's serve in the fourth game for a 3–1 lead in the set ending the match. The Golden Gaters squeezed out a win in the opener of the best-of-three finals series at the Cow Palace, 26–25, on August 21. The Triangles won a tight second match in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

on August 24, in front of 2,182 fans which set up a deciding third match. The win clearly inspired the Triangles' fans. On August 25, the Pittsburgh Civic Arena had 6,882 spectators walk through the turnstiles to see the Triangles dominate the rubber match, 21–14, and win the WTT title. Two sets in the deciding match were key to the Triangles' victory.

Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player, known as Vitas Gerulaitis. In 1975, he won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering with Sandy Mayer. He won the men's singles ...

notched a 6–1 set win over Okker in men's singles, and

Evonne Goolagong Cawley Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open singl ...

topped Stöve by the same score in women's singles.

Back to back division titles

On October 29, 1975, the Golden Gaters announced that they had traded the rights to negotiate with superstar Chris Evert to the Phoenix Racquets. Under the terms of the deal, the Racquets would send a player to be named later and undisclosed cash consideration to the Golden Gaters if they were able to sign Evert. If the Racquets failed to sign Evert before the 1976 season, the rights to her would revert to the Golden Gaters. The Golden Gaters had tried unsuccessfully to sign Evert after the 1975 season. When the trade was announced, Golden Gaters owner Dave Peterson said, "Chris indicated she had a strong preference for starting her World Team Tennis career in Phoenix. I feel her decision was greatly influenced by the fact that her closest friend, Kris Shaw, is on the Phoenix roster. We hated to make the deal. If it were just a matter of money we would have signed Chris, but money wasn't the major factor." After signing Evert, the Racquets sent Françoise Dürr to the Golden Gaters to complete the deal. The Golden Gaters signed Dürr to a two-year contract. Dürr was an All-Star with the Racquets in 1975. Golden Gaters returning players Frew McMillian, Tom Okker and Betty Stöve were all All-Stars in 1975, as well. This made the Golden Gaters the only WTT team with four All-Stars from the previous season on their roster. Ilana Kloss announced just before the 1976 season that she was leaving the team in order to fully participate in clay-court

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

which conflicted with the WTT schedule. The signing of Dürr united her with Stöve with whom she had frequently and successfully partnered on the pro tournament circuit. Dürr said, "I’m very happy to be in San Francisco and with the Gaters." Then, looking in the direction of Stöve, she added, "I’m looking forward to playing doubles with Betty." When the Golden Gaters acquired Dürr, they also acquired her

Airedale terrier The Airedale Terrier (often shortened to "Airedale"), also called Bingley Terrier and Waterside Terrier, is a dog breed of the terrier type that originated in the valley (''dale'') of the River Aire, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It ...

Topspin who served as her

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "vale ...

carrying her racquets. Topspin had a winning

pedigree Pedigree may refer to: Breeding * Pedigree chart, a document to record ancestry, used by genealogists in study of human family lines, and in selective breeding of other animals ** Pedigree, a human genealogy (ancestry chart) ** Pedigree (animal ...

having served as the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of the 1974 WTT Champion Denver Racquets. The Golden Gaters reached a deal with KTVU-TV Channel 2 to

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

four of the team's road matches live in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. For the 1976 season, the Golden Gaters added

Jeff Borowiak Jeff Borowiak (born September 25, 1949) is a former professional tennis player from the United States, who won five singles and three doubles titles during his professional career, reaching a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 20 in A ...

and

Raquel Giscafré Raquel Giscafré (born 15 May 1949) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. She was Argentina's No. 1 female player from 1973 to 1976. She competed in the Fed Cup from 1966 to 1978. She was a tennis promoter and ran the WTA's Acura ...

. For the second time, Ann Kiyomura was shipped away, this time to the Indiana Loves. With the Loves, she teamed up with

Ray Ruffels Raymond Owen "Ray" Ruffels (born 23 March 1946) is an Australian former professional tennis player and coach. Playing career Ruffels was an Australian Open semi-finalist in 1968, 1969 and 1975, and a quarter-finalist in 1970 and 1977. In 1978, ...

to lead WTT in game-winning percentage in mixed doubles in 1976. Two-sport star John Lucas was signed by the Golden Gaters during the season. Controversy arose before the start of the 1976 season when Golden Gaters co-owner Larry King acting in his capacity as WTT president changed the date of a match between the Pittsburgh Triangles and

Boston Lobsters The Boston Lobsters were a World TeamTennis team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Lobsters played home matches at the Walter Brown Arena, Boston University, in Boston, MA. The most recent Boston Lobsters were a reincarnation of two pr ...

from May 8 to May 16, to free up Evonne Goolagong for a promotional event. Triangles owner Frank Fuhrer protested the change and called for a vote of the owners to overrule the decision. The Golden Gaters abstained from voting. The Lobsters, who were hosting the match in question, voted to accept the schedule change. However, Fuhrer got six other owners to side with him to overrule King's decision. Later, the sponsor of the promotional event appealed to Fuhrer personally and bought $10,000 worth of tickets to two Triangles matches resulting in Fuhrer accepting the schedule change. The conflicts of interest that were pervasive throughout WTT clearly caused dissent among some owners. Fuhrer was quoted as saying, "We're the defending champs, and I'm not having Larry King change my schedule on me to accommodate his own interests. We're going to get all the conflict of interest out of this league." On June 28, 1976, the Golden Gaters claimed the negotiating rights to ten reigning

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

champion

Adriano Panatta Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. He won the French Open in 1976, and was the only player ever to defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros, doing so on two occasions. He is also the only Italian man ...

after he had been left unprotected by the

New York Sets The New York Apples were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The team was founded by Jerry Saperstein, who sold it to New York businessman Sol Berg during its inaugural 1974 season. The team was originally known as the New York Sets t ...

. Golden Gaters did not contact Panatta about a contract but did inform him that they had obtained his rights. "Should the time arise in the near future when the Gaters need some strength in the men's category," said Golden Gaters owner Dave Peterson, "I will not hesitate to sit down with Adriano and discuss financial terms. But, until that time comes, I am totally pleased with our present lineup and look at the Panatta acquisition as a strengthening to the Gater franchise." During the 1976 season, Tom Okker earned the Male All-Star Match Most Valuable Player Award. The Golden Gaters finished the 1976 regular season with 28 wins and 16 losses, second place in the Western Division, 2 matches behind the Phoenix Racquets whom they met in the Western Division Championship Series. McMillan and Okker led WTT in game-winning percentage in men's doubles, and Dürr and Stöve were the leaders in women's doubles. On August 16, the Golden Gaters opened the playoffs on the road in front of 5,848 fans at

Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, located at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. It hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992, as well as indoor ...

with a dominant victory over the Racquets. Okker and Frew McMillian opened the match with a 6–2 set win over

and player-coach Tony Roche. Stöve followed with a stunning 7–6 set win over reigning Wimbledon champion and WTT Female Most Valuable Player Evert to extend the Golden Gaters lead to 13–8. Stöve and Dürr then dominated Evert and Shaw, 6–0, in women's doubles pushing the Golden Gaters lead to 19–8. Okker won the men's singles against Pattison, 7–6, in a tiebreaker, and Dürr and Lucas took the final set from Shaw and Roche, 6–2, for a final score of 32–16. Stöve had lost all six women's singles matchups with Evert during the regular season. The Golden Gaters returned home to Oakland for the second match with a chance to clinch the best-of-three series on August 17. McMillan and Dürr took the opening set of mixed doubles from Roche and Shaw, 6–3. Evert came back strong from her loss the previous night with a dominant 6–1 set win over Stöve to give the Racquets a 9–7 lead. The Golden Gaters surged back in front with a 6–1 set win by McMillan and Okker over Roche and Pattison to take a 13–10 lead. Pattison cut the lead to 18–17 with a 7–5 men's singles win over Okker. Dürr and Stöve dominated Evert and Shaw, 6–1, in women's singles for a 24–18 victory and the Golden Gaters' second consecutive Western Division Championship. The Golden Gaters opened the best-of-five WTT Finals at home on August 20, against the New York Sets with a 31–23 overtime loss. The Sets took a 25–15 lead to the final set of women's doubles. Dürr and Stöve beat

Virginia Wade Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three Major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all f ...

and Billie Jean King, 7–5, to force overtime. Wade and King won the second game of overtime to seal the match. The Golden Gaters drew 5,120 fans for the second match in Oakland on August 23. Golden Gaters coach McMillan hoped to get the team off to a good start in the match by having his strong women's doubles team play first. However, Wade and King marched to a shockingly dominant 6–0 set win against Dürr and Stöve.

Sandy Mayer Alexander "Sandy" Mayer (born April 5, 1952) is a former tennis player from the United States. He won twelve titles in singles and twenty-four titles in doubles in his professional career, and was part of the winning tennis squad at Stanford Uni ...

won the first three games of men's singles against Okker to give the Sets a 9–0 lead. Mayer went on to win the set, 6–1, and give the Sets a 12–1 lead. The Golden Gaters picked up their play from there and even forced overtime. But the Sets cruised to a 29–21 victory. The Golden Gaters hit the road for the third match at

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or simply the Nassau Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, east of New York City. The Long Island venue is approximately east of the eastern limits of the New York City Borough of ...

which was dominated by the Sets, 31–13 in front of 5,730 fans on August 27. Wade and Mayer both had dominant 6–1 victories in singles over Dürr and Okker, respectively. The Sets completed the series sweep by winning all five sets of the final match.

Departure of Stöve

In October 1976, Golden Gaters co-owner Larry King resigned as WTT president and became the interim president of the New York Sets, the team for which his wife Billie Jean played, furthering the conclusion that there were many conflicts of interest throughout the league. Following the 1976 season, the Golden Gaters left Betty Stöve unprotected, and she was selected in the WTT draft by the Sea-Port Cascades. New WTT rules intended to create more competitive balance among the league's teams forced the Golden Gaters to leave one of their big stars unprotected. Frew McMillan, Tom Okker and Françoise Dürr all returned to the Golden Gaters for the 1977 season. The team added

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Terry Holladay Terry Holladay (born November 28, 1955) is an American former professional tennis player who played between 1974 and 1987, whose tennis career is particularly remembered for her pregnancy and its impact on protected rankings. Biography Holladay w ...

and

Betsy Nagelsen Helen Elizabeth "Betsy" Nagelsen McCormack (born October 23, 1956) is an American former professional tennis player. Career Nagelsen was the world's top junior in 1973. She won the 1973 U.S. Champion Girls' 16 and under singles. She also won the ...

. The Golden Gaters also signed Henry Schneidman as an assistant coach. The departure of Stöve presented challenges for the Golden Gaters. Nagelsen became Dürr's regular partner in women's doubles, and the pair won only 170 out of 382 games played (.445). Terry Holladay became the primary women's singles player and won only 189 out of 390 games played (.485). Areas that were strengths for the Golden Gaters in 1976, became weaknesses in 1977. For the third straight year, McMillan and Okker had WTT's highest game-winning percentage in men's doubles. Okker also had a winning record as the team's primary men's singles player. The Golden Gaters finished 1977 with 25 wins and 19 losses, second place in the Western Division, 3 matches behind the Phoenix Racquets. McMillan was named WTT Male Most Valuable Player. The Golden Gaters met the San Diego Friars in the Western Division Semifinals. The Friars won the first match in Oakland, 24–22, on August 16. The Friars completed the sweep in the second match in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

with a 24–21 victory on August 17. With the Golden Gaters leading, 20–18, after four sets, the Friars got a 6–1 set win from

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

and

Cliff Drysdale Eric Clifford Drysdale (born 26 May 1941) is a South African former tennis player. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a well-known tennis announcer. Drysdale won the singles title at t ...

over Okker and McMillan in men's doubles to secure the victory.

Final season

By late 1977, Golden Gaters co-founder Larry King owned interests in the Golden Gaters, the

New York Apples The New York Apples were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The team was founded by Jerry Saperstein, who sold it to New York businessman Sol Berg during its inaugural 1974 season. The team was originally known as the New York Sets t ...

, the

Pennsylvania Keystones Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

(a proposed expansion franchise) and WTT Properties, the league's main marketing arm. After the 1977 season, Bob Horowitz became the Golden Gaters' new general manager replacing minority owner Jerry Diamond who remained with the team. Françoise Dürr was left unprotected in the 1978 WTT expansion draft, and she was selected by the Anaheim Oranges who later signed her. For the 1978 season, the Golden Gaters changed the

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

s of their team logo and made minor alterations to the way the stings on the racquet included in the logo appear. The old colors were

burnt umber Umber is a natural brown earth pigment that contains iron oxide and manganese oxide. In its natural form, it is called raw umber. When calcined, the color becomes warmer and it becomes known as burnt umber. Its name derives from ''terra d'ombr ...

and

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

. The new colors were

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...

and

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

. Corresponding changes were made to the uniforms worn by the players and coaches. In a February 1978 trade that relieved the financially struggling Indiana Loves of the remainder of their obligation under the two-year $250,000 contract for

, the Golden Gaters acquired Gerulaitis for cash consideration and then sent him to the New York Apples in exchange for Sandy Mayer. In March 1978, the Golden Gaters acquired Virginia Wade in a three-way trade with the Apples and the

Seattle Cascades The Seattle Cascades were a charter franchise of World TeamTennis, World Team Tennis (WTT). The team first played as the Hawaii Leis in the league's inaugural 1974 World Team Tennis season, 1974 season, before becoming the Sea-Port Cascades for t ...

. Under the deal, Wade went from the Apples to the Golden Gaters,

JoAnne Russell JoAnne Russell (born October 30, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. With playing partner Helen Gourlay Cawley, she won the Wimbledon ladies' doubles title in 1977. They beat the team of Chris Evert and Rosie Casals in the ...

went from the Cascades to the Apples and

Marita Redondo Marita Redondo (born February 19, 1956) is an American former tennis player who was active during the 1970s and early 1980s. Her best singles performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the fourth round at the 1978 US Open where she los ...

went from the Golden Gaters to the Cascades. Redondo did not play in WTT in 1977. After the 1977 season, she had been drafted by the Golden Gaters but not signed. Tom Okker did not return to WTT for the 1978 season. He played clay-court tournaments in Europe which conflict with the WTT schedule. Player-coach Frew McMillan was the only Golden Gaters returning player in 1978. In addition to newcomers Mayer and Wade, Ilana Kloss returned to the league and the team after a two-year absence, and the Golden Gaters signed Michael Wayman and

Marise Kruger Marise Kruger (born 17 July 1958) is a former South African tennis player who was active in the second half of the 1970s. Tennis career Kruger started playing tennis when she was five. She reached the girl's final at the 1976 Wimbledon Champion ...

. In June, the Golden Gaters hired Tom Dietrich as assistant coach replacing Henry Schneidman who remained with the organization. Just before the start of the playoffs, the Golden Gaters signed Tom Leonard who was a regular member of the playoff lineup. The Golden Gaters suffered through their first (and only) losing season in 1978, finishing with 21 wins and 23 losses, third place in the Western Division. They met the

Los Angeles Strings The Los Angeles Strings were a team tennis franchise in TeamTennis. They were the namesake of the original Los Angeles Strings (1974–78) and were owned by Jerry Buss, who also owned the original team. The Strings played their home matches at ...

in the WTT Quarterfinals. McMillan repeated as WTT Male Most Valuable Player. The first match of the best-of-three series was at the Forum in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

on August 15. The Strings dominated the match, 29–17, winning four of the five sets. The only set won by the Golden Gaters was a 6–4 women's singles victory by Wade over Chris Evert. The Strings went on to win the series and end the Golden Gaters' season. Following the 1978 season, eight of the 10 WTT franchises folded leaving only the Golden Gaters and the Racquets prepared to participate in the 1979 season. A few weeks after most of the franchises announced they were folding, WTT announced the creating of three new expansion franchises in Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego and said that there would be five more expansion franchises chosen from a pool of candidates. WTT suspended operations of the league in March 1979, ending the Golden Gaters existence.

Season-by-season records

The following table shows regular season records, playoff results and titles won by the San Francisco Golden Gaters.

Home courts

The following table shows home courts used by the San Francisco Golden Gaters.

Individual honors

The following table shows individual honors bestowed upon players and coaches of the San Francisco Golden Gaters.

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 San Francisco Golden Gaters: *

Final roster

The San Francisco Golden Gaters final roster for the 1978 season was *

, Player-Coach * Tom Dietrich, Assistant Coach *

* Tom Leonard *

* Michael Wayman

References

External links

Official World TeamTennis Website
{{World TeamTennis Defunct World TeamTennis teams 1973 establishments in California Tennis in California Sports teams in the San Francisco Bay Area Sports clubs established in 1973 1979 disestablishments in California Sports clubs disestablished in 1979 Sports teams in Oakland, California