Glenn Bassett

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glenn Bassett was an American tennis player in the mid-20th century who later would be one of the most successful college tennis coaches of all time.

Bassett was the co-captain (with Herb Flam) of the University of California at Los Angeles tennis team that won the NCAA championship 1950. Also that year, he won the singles title at the Cincinnati Masters, defeating Hamilton Richardson, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

Bassett graduated from UCLA in 1951, and would go on to coach the UCLA tennis team for 27 seasons (from 1967 to 1993). At UCLA, he compiled a record of 592-92-2, winning 13 conference championships, seven NCAA team championships (1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1982 and 1984) and producing three NCAA singles champions, four NCAA doubles team champions and 49 All-Americans.

He is the only person in NCAA history to win an NCAA tennis title as a player, assistant coach and head coach. While at UCLA, he has worked with some of tennis’ most recognized players, including national champions Arthur Ashe, Ian Crookenden, Billy Martin and Jimmy Connors, and 1992 Olympian Mark Knowles.

After leaving the Bruins, he became a volunteer coach at Pepperdine in 1994 and 1995 and assumed the head coaching position in 1996, leading Pepperdine to a 22-7 season.

He was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998, the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993, and the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame along with Pancho Gonzalez and Beverly Baker Fleitz in 2005.

He also wrote books on tennis, penning “Tennis Today” and “Tennis: The Bassett System.”