Richard Gallien is an American college

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 ...

coach and former professional player. Raised in

Sunland, Los Angeles Sunland-Tujunga is a Los Angeles city neighborhood within the Crescenta Valley and Verdugo Mountains. Sunland and Tujunga began as separate settlements and today are linked through a single police station, branch library, neighborhood council ...

, Gallien won a City section singles title while a senior at

Verdugo Hills High School Verdugo Hills High School (VHHS) is a public school located in the Tujunga community of Los Angeles, California, United States, within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves students from several areas of Los Angeles, incl ...

. Gallien played collegiate tennis for

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...

, where he twice earned All-American honors. He was a member of the team which finished as runners-up in the 1982 NCAA championships. In 1983 represented the U.S. at the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

and won the singles final against

Dan Goldie Daniel C. Goldie (born October 3, 1963) is a former tennis player from the United States who won 2 singles (1987, Newport and 1988, Seoul) and 2 doubles titles (1986, Wellington and 1987, Newport). The right-hander reached the quarterfinals of ...

to become the first American tennis singles gold medalist in games history (along with Cecilia Fernandez who won the women's event). Competing briefly in professional tennis, Gallien had a best singles world ranking of 433. He featured in the main draw of the 1983 Pacific Southwest Open and had a win over

Ben Testerman Ben Testerman (born February 2, 1962) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won one doubles title. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 22 in 1984 and a career-high doubles rank ...

, before falling to world number six

Gene Mayer Gene Mayer (born May 11, 1956) is a former tennis player from the United States who won 14 professional singles titles during his career. Mayer was born in Flushing, Queens, New York. He grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, and played tennis at Wayne ...

. Gallien was head coach of the

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 ' ...

women's team for 22-years, from 1995 to 2017, during which time he was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year on five occasions. He is a former men's co-head coach of Pepperdine (with

Allen Fox Allen E. Fox (born June 25, 1939) is an American former tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. He was ranked as high as U.S. No. 4 in 1962, and was in the top ten in the U.S. five times between 1961 ...

from 1988 to 1990) and is now the women's head coach of Cal State LA.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallien, Richard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male tennis players Pepperdine Waves men's tennis players Pepperdine Waves men's tennis coaches USC Trojans women's tennis coaches California State University, Los Angeles faculty American tennis coaches Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in tennis Tennis players from Los Angeles Verdugo Hills High School alumni