There are some new terms floating around on the American college/university sports scene. Two that are linked are “The autonomy movement” and “The Power Five”. Perhaps a clarification is in order. Boiled down in simple terms, these will mean money is now in charge of college sports. Who knows how it will all unfold. Speaking for my sport, tennis, and others non-revenue sports, (aka everything other than football and men’s basketball) this may not be all bad. Here is another disguised new term: “Preferred Walk-on”. Simple definition? “We prefer not to give you a scholarship”! Or, “does not play”. Rare exceptions granted, those six to seven guys at the end of the bench don’t play much basketball, and get less money than that playing time. The same is true in college tennis. The money goes to the top six or seven players. And more to the one player than the sixth. Stated simply again, the aid flows to the top of the lineup. At the end of this article there is a link to recent column from the New York Times. It professes a commitment on the part of the USTA to college tennis. What is not included in the column is the enormity of American college tennis scholarship aid given to international players. Though I am somewhat encouraged by the mood today, it is late in coming and almost surely related to the abysmal lack of top pro Americans. This, in turn, affects the whole health of the game of tennis in the USA. I have fought this imbalance since 1970. Look the recent blog articles and the books I have written. But I’m about “out of gas”. I am firing me last bullets. And I write this hoping some younger tennis enthusiasts will jump in the fray. It ain’t easy. But youth is a great advantage. AND TECHNOLOGY. My sons say I’m on the other side of the digital divide. But I’m savvy enough to know the data is there to expose just how rampant the discrepancy is. The college season is drawing to a close for 2014/2015. All divisions (NCAA 1,2,3 and JUNIOR COLLEGES, and the NAIA) have playoffs with a conference, then regional, then national tournament. Here are some technology available data worth examining: 1. Remember the “preferred walk-ons of tennis (most often Americans) get little aid. Therefore when examining the percentage of aid given to internationals check school websites for hometowns of the top six people that play in “big matches”. Example: Four of the top six are international? 2/3 of the aid goes to those guys! 2. What are those percentages for the top ten teams in all divisions. Want a real shocker? Check that stat for the last ten years. Women too. 3. What are those percentages for the conference, then, regional, then national winners. The higher you go, the higher the percentage. Betcha so! 4. Here is another kicker: Conference,Regional, and National tournaments will have awards (team champs, runner-up, all-conference, all-regional, all american, mvp, freshman of the year. Check where these hail from. Americans rarely are on those lists There is a lot to be learned. I don’t have any skin in the game now. Just a love for the game and our kids. Hoping for a “worker-bee” disciple. LET ME KNOW AND GOOD LUCK. nytdirect@nytimes.com (REMEMBER TO CHECK THIS)

America anointed its new hero yesterday in Augusta. What a jewel Jordan is. Know where he was June 3, 2012? Helping his college teammates from the University of Texas win the NCAA golf championship. Yep–he went to college for 3 semesters before going pro. Guess what—he had a golf scholarship. Would he have gone to college without a scholarship? Ask him. Lots of Longhorns in the crowd at Augusta. Suppose that year and a half did him any good? Didn’t keep him from a pro career, did it?

Good guess is how long before America has its Jordan Tennis. Might take a while when 80% of the top tennis team’s tennis scholarship aid goes overseas.

DUH

CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE OR LINK BELOW.
THE USTA LEADERSHIP PROFESSES THE WORTH OF COLLEGE TENNIS. HAS IT SUNK IN THAT THERE IS A DIRECT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DWINDLING OF OUR TOP PLAYERS FROM WORLD RANKINGS, AND THE MASS EXODUS OF TENNIS SCHOLARSHIPS FROM AMERICAN YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR FAMILIES TO INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS?

http://nyti.ms/1lCAAXd  (FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES)

NORTH CAROLINA’S JOHN ISNER IS THE TOP MALE TENNIS PLAYER IN THE NATION. NO ONE ELSE IS CLOSE. SADLY.
NOT LONG AGO THE WORD ON THE “TENNIS STREET” WAS “…IF YOU WANT TO BE A PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER, DON’T GO TO COLLEGE?
COUPLE OF QUESTIONS:
1. IF JOHN HAD NOT GONE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA AND MATURED AS A PLAYER AND PERSON OVER THOSE 4 YEARS, WOULD HE HAVE BECOME THE QUALITY OF PLAYER HE IS TODAY? ASK HIM.
2. IF HE HAD NOT RECEIVED A SCHOLARSHIP WOULD HE HAVE PLAYED THOSE FOR YEARS AT GEORGIA?
3. CHECK THE HISTORY OF OUR TOP TEN PLAYERS. WHAT PERCENTAGE HAD COLLEGE EXPERIENCE?
4. HOW MANY INTERNATIONALS WHO HAD AMERICAN TENNIS SCHOLARSHIPS ARE NOW PLAYING PROFESSIONAL TENNIS?

I CHECKED NUMBER 3 RECENTLY. BEST GUESS? 75%
I CHECKED NUMBER 4 ALSO. BEST GUESS? ABOUT 40.
‘

The USTA (United States Tennis Association) states that 22% of American college men’s tennis scholarships go to internationals. That is a partial picture at best.
Keep in mind that total rosters include about 10-12 players and the better players start in the 1 to 6 positions. Quite often the lower ranked players play very little and therefore get very little scholarship aid.
A TOTALLY different picture emerges if one examines the percentage of aid that goes to the top players and how many of these get the lion’s share of 4 and one half men’s grants-in-aid.
The following schools are in North Carolina: Duke, UNC Chapel Hiil, Wake Forest, NC State, UNC Wilmington, Appalachain, Elon, Davidson, East Carolina, and UNC Greensboro. Our best teams.  If you examine these teams top players, the ones 1 thru 6, in important matches, statistics change.  Remember–the top guys get the scholarships.  COMBINED NUMBER OF INTERNATIONALS IN THE TOP SIX OF THESE SCHOOLS? — 33!   Six of these schools are state universities.  Number of North Carolina kids in the ten schools combined?- 3!  Final real statistic for tennis aid in our state this season/year? 91% international, 3% to our kids.  Want another probability–this is true all over, yet worse the further south you go.  TRUE TOO at NCAA 11 schools, NAIA, and Junior Colleges. Women too. Other sports also involved…Women’s golf soon to be impacted by oriental influx. There is a lot of undisclosed truth about all this.

ITA Men’s Hall of Fame
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2015
Fred Kniffen (UT Tyler & Tyler JC – C)
Jim Schwitters (Hawaii – C)
+Jay Berger (Clemson – P)
Mark Merklein (Florida – P)
Jeff Morrison (Florida – P)
Tim Russell (Northwestern – Con.)
2014
+Matt Anger (USC – P)
Billy Chadwick (Mississippi – C)
Doug Conant – Northwestern – Con.)
Timon Corwin (Kalamazoo – C)
Juan Farrow (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville – P
+Alex Kim (Stanford – P)
James Wadley (Oklahoma State – C)
2013
Bobby Bayliss (Notre Dame – C)
Dennis Emery (Kentucky – C)
Paul Goldstein (Stanford – P)
Kelly Jones (Pepperdine – P)
John Peterson (Tyler Jr College – C)
Alan Schwartz (Yale – Con.)
+Harold Solomon (Rice – P)

2012
+Patrick Du Pre (Stanford – P)
Chuck Kriese (Clemson – C)
Paul Scarpa (Furman – C)
Ron Smarr (Rice, Colorado, South Carolina, Wingate – C)
Jon Vegosen (USTA – Con.)
+David Wheaton (Stanford – P)

2011
Simon Aspelin (Pepperdine – P)
Scott Davis (Stanford – P)
Marcel Freeman (UCLA – P)
+Jim Grabb (Stanford – P)
+Gene Mayer (Stanford – P)
Jonathan Stark (Stanford – P)
Tim Cass (New Mexico/TX A&M – C)

2010
Mahesh Bhupathi (Ole Miss – P)
Daniel Courcol (Mississippi State – P)
+Zan Guerry (Rice – P)
+Rodney Harmon (Tennessee/SMU – P)
Leif Shiras (Princeton – P)
+Jay Lapidus (Princeton/Duke – C)
Kent DeMars (South Carolina – C)
Craig Tiley (Illinois – C)
Steve Wilkinson (Gustavus Adolphus – C)
Gordon Smith (Georgia – Con.)

2009
Byron Black (USC – P)
Wayne Black (USC-P)
Brain Garman (Cornell/Western Michigan – Con.)
+Greg Holmes (Utah – P)
Bruce Manson (USC – P)
Jose Noriega (San Diego – P)
Brad Pearce (UCLA – P)
Peter Rennert (Stanford – P)
Paul Torricelli – (Northwestern – C)

2008
+Steve Denton (Texas – P)
David DiLucia (Notre Dame – P)
Tom Jacobs (NCAA – Con.)
+Donald Johnson (North Carolina – P)
+++Patrick McEnroe (Stanford – P)
Jerry Noyce (Minnesota – C)
Jim Pugh (UCLA – P)
+Robbie Weiss (Pepperdine – P)
+Chris Woodruff (Tennessee – P)

2007
Col. John L. “Judge” Beaver (Georgia – Con.)
Steve Bryan (Texas – P)
Joe Cabri (Lander – C)
Harry Likas (San Francisco – P)
Matt Lucena (Cal-Berkley – P)
+Todd Martin (Northwestern – P)
+Allen Miller (Georgia – P)
+Alex O’Brien (Stanford – P)
Tom Parham (Elon College – C)
+Al Parker (Georgia – P)
MaliVai Washington (Michigan – P)

2006
Jeff Borowiak (UCLA – P)
Tom Edlefsen (Southern California – P)
+Dan Goldie (Stanford – P)
Dick Gould (Stanford – C)
Matt Mitchell (Stanford – P)
+Jared Palmer (Stanford – P)
Richey Reneberg (SMU – P)
Ferdie Taygan (UCLA – P)
Bill Wright (California and Arizona – C)

2005
Mike Estep (Rice – P)
+Sammy Giammalva (Texas – P/C)
+Paul Haarhuis (Florida St. & Armstrong Atlantic – P)
Jim Osbourne (Utah – P/C)
+John Sadri (NC State – P)
Frank Phelps (Hamilton College – Con.)

2004
Jim Delaney (Stanford – P)
+Gardner Larned (William & Mary – P)
Billy Lenoir (Arizona – P)
Larry Nagler (UCLA – P)

2003
Bill Bond (Southern California – P)
George M. Church (Princeton – P)
Dick Leach (Southern California – C)
+Bob McKinley (Trinity (TX) – P/C)
Jim Russell (NCAA/USTA – Con.)
+Robert Van’t Hof (Southern California – P)

2002
+Paul Annacone (Tennessee – P)
Bernis Duke (Oral Roberts – C)
Richard Harte (Harvard – P)
Erick Iskersky (Trinity/TX – P)
+Rick Leach (Southern California – P)
+Tim Mayotte (Stanford – P)
Julius Seligson (Lehigh – P)

2001
Mercer Beasley (Tulane and Princeton – C)
Tom Chivington (Foothill – C)
Ramsey Earnhart (Southern California – P)
+Brad Gilbert (Pepperdine – P)
+Fred McNair (North Carolina – P)
Dae Snyder (Arizona and Texas – C)
+Brian Teacher (UCLA – P)
Watson M. Washburn (Harvard – P)

2000
David Benjamin (Princeton – Con.)
Brian Eisner (Michigan and Toledo – C)
John Hammill (Miami (Fla.) – C)
Crawford Henry (Tulane – P)
Mikael Pernfors (Georgia – P)
Henry W. Slocum, Jr. (Yale – P)

1999
+Timothy E. Gullikson (Northern Illinois – P)
+Thomas R. Gullikson (Northern Illinois – P)
Wallace Johnson (Pennsylvania – P)
Charles R. Mapes (Baylor – Con.)
Bennie A. Purcell (Murray State – C)
Mel R. Purcell (Tennessee – P)
William N. Scanlon (Trinity – P)
+John Whitlinger (Stanford – P)

1998
Kevin Curran (Texas – P)
Edward B. Dewhurst (Penn – P)
Kenneth Flach (SIU-Edwardsville – P)
+Peter Fleming (Michigan/UCLA – P)
Frederick H. Hovey (Brown/Harvard – P)
David Kent (Texas A&M – C)
Robert Seguso (SIU-Edwarsville – P)
Jerry Simmons (Southwestern Louisiana/LSU – C)

1997
Ian Crookenden (UCLA – P)
Charles S. Garland (Yale – P)
Harold H. Hackett (Yale – P)
Robert M. Perry (UCLA – P)
Raul Ramirez (USC – P)
Robert Rump (Grossmont – C)

1996
Bruce Barnes (Texas – P)
Berkley Bell (Texas – P)
Jon A. Douglas (Stanford – P)
George P. Gardner (Harvard – P)
Arra Krikorian (San Jose State – C)
William W. Martin (UCLA – P)
+John McEnroe (Stanford – P)
Antonio Palafox (Corpus Christi – P)

1995
Thomas P. Brown (California – P)
Norman Copeland (Rollins – C)
Michael DePalmer (Tennessee – C)
+Jaime Fillol (Miami – P)
+Thomas W. Gorman (Seattle – P/C)
Robert D. Renker (Stanford – C)
+George Seewagen (St. John’s – C)

1994
George Acker (Kalamazoo – C)
J. Richard LeFevre (Southern Illinois-Carbondale – C)
Francis T. Hunter (Cornell – P)
Paul J. Xanthos (Pierce – C)
Beals Wright (Harvard – P)

1993
Thomas G. Bartlett (Tennessee – P)
Glenn Bassett (UCLA – C)
Jack Bushman (LSU – Con.)
Donald L. Dell (Yale – P/Con.)
+Ronald Holmberg (Tulane – P)
J. Allen Morris (Presbyterian – P)
Eugene L. Scott (Yale – P/Con.)
John F. Skillman (Yale – C)

1992
William J. Clothier (Harvard – Con.)
Al Malloy, Jr. (Penn – C/Con.)
Frank Stewart (UCLA – Con.)
John H. Doeg (Stanford – P)
R. Lindley Murray (Stanford – P)
Jack Tidball (UCLA – P)
Arthur Larson (Pacific, P)
Clare Riessen (Northwestern – C)

1991
+Clark Graebner (Northwestern – P)
Alex Mayer (Stanford – P)
R.T. Sawyer (Mississippi State – C)
Don Skakle (North Carolina – C)
Roscoe Tanner (Stanford – P)
+W.T. Tilden II (Pennsylvania – P)

1990
Rollo Anderson (Kalamazoo – C)
Stan Drobac (Michigan State – C)
+Brian Gottfried (Trinity – P)
+Richard Stockton (Trinity – P)
R.D. Wrenn (Harvard – P)

1989
Edwin Faulkner (Swarthmore – C)
Keith Gledhill (Stanford – P)
Frank Guernsey (Rice – P)
Wilber Hess (Rice – P)
W.P. Knapp (Yale – P)
Dan Magill (Georgia – C)
Whitney Reed (San Jose State – P)
+Martin Riessen (Northwestern – P)

1988
Fred B. Alexander (Princeton – P)
Tom Fallon (Notre Dame – C)
Allen Fox (UCLA – P/C)
Winthrop C. Lenz (Princeton – Con.)
Clifford Sutter (Tulane – P)
Ernest Sutter (Tulane – P)
Jim Verdieck (Redlands – C)

1987
Oliver S. Campbell (Columbia – P)
Clarence C. Chafee (Williams – C)
Herbert Flam (UCLA – P)
Henry James (Utah – C)
George M. Lott, Jr. (Chicago – P)
+Barry MacKay (Michigan – P)
+Charles Pasarell (UCLA – P)
William Potter (Florida – P)

1986
Mike Blanchard (Wilson – Con.)
E.G. Chandler (California – P)
Joseph C. Cook (Harvard – P)
+Jimmy Connors (UCLA – P)
Lt. Joe Hunt (USC and Navy – P)
John Kenfield (North Carolina – C)
Jim Leighton (Presbyterian/Wake Forest – C)
Dick Savitt (Cornell – P)

1985
Jack Barnaby (Harvard – C)
Bernard Bartzen (William & Mary – P)
M.G. Chase (Brown/Yale – P)
W.J. Clothier (Harvard – P)
John Conroy (Princeton – C)
Robert Falkenberg (USC – P)
Bryan M. Grant (North Carolina – P)
Jack Kramer (Con.)
Bill Lufler (Presbyterian/Miami – C)
Gene Mako (USC – P)
Chet Murphy (California – C)
+Charles McKinley (Trinity – P)
Don McNeill (Kenyon – P)
Ham Richardson (Tulane – P)
Holcombe Ward (Harvard – P)

1984
William C. Ackerman (UCLA – C)
Paul Bennett (Northwestern – C)
Dwight Davis (Harvard – P)
Dale Lewis (Indiana/Miami – C)
Robert C. Lutz (USC – P)
Clarence Mabry (Trinity – C)
+Gardner Mulloy (Miami – P)
William Murphy (Michigan – C)
Francisco Segura (Miami – P)
Victor Seixas (North Carolina – P)
+Stan Smith (USC – P)
+William Talbert (Cincinnati – P)
James H. Van Alen (Con.)
John Van Ryn (Princeton – P)
Richard N. Williams II (Harvard – P)

1983
Wilmer Allison (Texas – P/C)
+Arthur Ashe (UCLA – P)
Dr. James Dwight (Harvard – C/Con.)
William A. Larned (Cornell – P)
J.D. Morgan (UCLA – P)
Emmet Pare (Tulane – C)
Dr. Daniel Penick (Texas – C)
+Alex Olmedo (USC – P)
+Rafael Osuna (USC – P)
+Dennis Ralston (USC – P)
Ted Schroeder (Stanford – P)
Richard D. Sears (Harvard-P)
George Toley (USC – C)
+Tony Trabert (Cincinnati – P)
Malcolm D. Whitman (Harvard – P)

***P – Player, C – Coach, Con. – Contributor

ps ANDY—THE + INDICATES SOME NOTABLES WITH COLLEGE/PRO TENNIS

DEAR ANDY,

AGAIN, CONGRATS AND THANKS FOR YOUR TENNIS LEADERSHIP.
HERE IS THE “PACKET” MY EARLIER E-MAIL ALLUDED TO.
INCLUDED ARE VARIOUS ARTICLES REGARDING AMERICAN COLLEGE TENNIS AND THE NUMBER OF INTERNATIONALS RECEIVING AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIPS. TONS OF OPINIONS, YET NO REAL SOLUTIONS.
THE BRYANT GUMBEL “REAL SPORTS” SEGMENT WITH THE MCENROES REKINDLED MY CONCERN AND BELIEF THAT THE USTA IS MISSING SOME OBVIOUS FACTS AND POSSIBILITIES. WHILE THE PACKET IS CUMBERSOME, PLEASE TRY TO FOLLOW THE VARIETY OF EVENTS AND HISTORY THAT CAUSES ME TO “THEORIZE”. TO SUMMARIZE LET ME STATE MY CASE:
THE AWARDING OF A DISPROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OF AID TO INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS HAS INFLUENCED THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO NOT CHOOSE TENNIS FOR UNTOLD TALENTED AMERICAN YOUNGSTERS.
THE NAIA AND JUNIOR COLLEGES BEGAN THIS TREND IN THE EARLY 1970’S. IT SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE. I PARTICIPATED. AND BENEFITTED, ALL THE WHILE REALIZING FOR EVERY SCHOLARSHIP TO INTERNATIONALS, ONE DENIED AN AMERICAN JUNIOR. WHAT I HOPE TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF IS THE INSIDIOUS AFFECT THIS HAD ON HIGH QUALITY PLAYER DEVELOPMENT IN USA.

YOU KNOW BETTER THAN I WHAT IT COSTS AN AMERICAN TO COMPETE AT THE ELITE LEVEL. THERE ARE ONLY TWO MAJOR WAYS TO RECOUP PARENTAL/FAMILY INVESTMENT : 1. PRO TENNIS ( IN NC ONLY ISNER, WILKISON, AND SADRI MADE ANY LIFETIME $) AND 2. COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS. THE RISING COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION MAKES SCHOLARSHIPS MORE VALUABLE AND MORE APT TO AFFECT THE CHOICE OF SCHOOL AND SPORT TO PURSUE.
WHILE ACADEMIES HAVE HAD SOME SUCCESS IN TENNIS, MOST IN AMERICA HAS BEEN BY INTERNATIONALS. THAT, AND GIVEN THE EVIDENCE THAT OUR PARENTS ARE SKEPTICAL ABOUT ACADEMIES AND/OR PREFER TO KEEP THEIR KIDS AT HOME. THIS HAS LIMITED VALUE. TO BE BLUNT, THE USTA HAS COME UNDER FIRE JUSTIFIABLY FOR THE LACK OF RESULTS FOR THE TREMENDOUS MONEY POURED INTO “PLAYER DEVELOPMENT”.

AT AGE 74 I AM TIRED OF AMERICANS JUST BITCHING. SOME SOLUTIONS ARE NEEDED IN ANY NUMBER OF ARENAS. COLLEGE TENNIS IS ONE OF MY DEEP LOVES. HOW ABOUT A THINK TANK WHO INVESTIGATES THESE POSSIBILITIES:

FIND A WAY TO ALLOT USTA MONIES TO THE INSTITUTIONS THAT HAVE A PROVEN TRACK RECORD FOR SUCCESS—-(A. AMERICAN FAMILIES AND (B) COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
THE 50/50 SCHOLARSHIP PLAN IS A WORKABLE POSSIBILITY.
USTA INCENTIVE PLANS (SCHOLARSHIP AID) TO INDIVIDUALS AND/OR INSTITUTIONS THAT REWARD AMERICAN AID. FOR EXAMPLE GIVE AID TO VARIOUS COLLGE DEVISIONS THAT GIVE LARGE PORTIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP AID TO AMERICANS . THIS WOULD TAKE CARE AND THOUGHT. BUT ISN’T IT TIME?