Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) 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 uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. Smith is best known to non-tennis players as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles champion (at the 1971 US Open and

1972 Wimbledon Championships The 1972 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was scheduled to be held from Monday 26 June ...

), Smith also paired with Bob Lutz to create one of the most successful doubles teams of all-time. In 1970, Smith won the inaugural year-end championships title. In 1972, he was the year-end world No. 1 singles player. In 1973, he won his second and last year end championship title at the Dallas

WCT Finals The WCT Finals was a men's tennis tournament that served as the season-ending championship for the World Championship Tennis circuit. From 1971–1989 the event was held annually in Texas on indoor carpet courts. The 1971 quarterfinals and semifin ...

. In addition, he won four Grand Prix Championship Series titles. In his early years he improved his tennis game through lessons from

Pancho Segura Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921 – November 18, 2017), better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but m ...

, the Pasadena Tennis Patrons, and the sponsorship of the Southern California Tennis Association headed by Perry T. Jones. Since 2011, Smith has served as President of 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 ...

Career

Smith grew up in Pasadena, California and was coached mainly by

. He played collegiate tennis at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC), under Coach George Toley, where he was a three-time All-American and won the 1968 NCAA Singles Championship as well as the 1967 and 1968 doubles titles. At USC, Smith was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity's Gamma Tau chapter. As a kid, he went to get a job as a ball boy for the Davis Cup, but was turned down because the organizers thought he was too clumsy. In 1971 Smith and John Newcombe were joint recipients of The ''Martini and Rossi'' Award, voted for by 11 journalists and were co-ranked world No. 1 by Judith Elian. In 1972 Smith won the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists and was ranked world No. 1 by Elian, Tingay, ''World Tennis'', Collins, Frank Rostron and Rex Bellamy. In his 1979 testing autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Smith as one of the 21 best players of all time. In 2005, ''TENNIS'' magazine ranked Smith as 35th in its "40 Greatest Players of the ''TENNIS'' Era". Smith was inducted into the

in 1987. Following his playing career, Smith became active as a coach for the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

. He has his own tennis academy with Billy Stearns, located on

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of Charleston. The island is n ...

. In 1974, Smith married Princeton University tennis player

Marjory Gengler Marjory Logan Gengler Smith (born May 3, 1951) is an American retired tennis player. In 1973, while a student at Princeton University, she was captain of the women's tennis team and led them to an undefeated season in 1972. She was the top ranked ...

. They later mentored South African tennis player Mark Mathabane, helping increase pressure on the South African government to end

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Smith lives in Hilton Head with his wife and four children, all of whom competed in collegiate tennis.

Tennis shoes

To non-tennis players, Stan Smith is probably best known for the line of tennis shoes which Adidas renamed after him in 1978. Although the

Adidas Stan Smith Adidas Stan Smith is a tennis shoe made by Adidas, and first launched in 1965. Originally named "Adidas Robert Haillet" after the brand endorsed French prominent player Robert Haillet, in 1978 the sneakers were renamed after Stan Smith, an Amer ...

shoe is not recommended for modern tennis playing, it continues to be a widely available iconic fashion brand.Tennis.com – Blog – The Pro Shop by Bill Gray – My Adidas
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Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Career finals

Note: Smith won 10 titles before the Open Era

Singles: 95 (64 titles, 31 runner-ups)

* * 48 Open Era titles listed by the ATP website

Doubles (54 titles, 27 runner-ups)

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Stan 1946 births Living people American male tennis players American tennis coaches Australian Open (tennis) champions People from Hilton Head, South Carolina Sportspeople from Pasadena, California Tennis commentators International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis people from California Tennis people from South Carolina US Open (tennis) champions USC Trojans men's tennis players Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players World number 1 ranked male tennis players Adidas people