University of Georgia Athletics
30 Years Since Men's Tennis Breakthrough
May 13, 2015 | Men's Tennis
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By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
ATHENS, Ga. -- Thirty years ago next Thursday, the Georgia men's tennis team made history. The program and the athletic department have never been the same -- nor has college tennis.
For years coach Dan Magill had been building Georgia into one of the nation's better programs, while also working like mad to grow the collegiate game he so loved and the NCAA Championships then held in Athens each year.
What had been a program politely knocking on the door of the California-based elite trio of Stanford, Southern Cal and UCLA, grew in the early 1980s into an undeniable force on the other side of the continent. Georgia lost in the semifinals of the NCAAs three times in four years, from 1981-84. Then, on May 21, 1985, the Bulldogs bulled their way through.
"It was just an incredible scene on every level," said Georgia's longtime swimming and diving coach Jack Bauerle, a die-hard tennis fan for decades and close friend of Magill's, who was at the championship match. "Everybody you knew was there. I can equate it to going to a World Series game: outside there was a buzz and inside there was an even bigger buzz. The whole town was talking about it."
Playing before a rabid crowd of more than 5,200 at Henry Feild Stadium that had an energy college tennis may not have seen before or since, the Bulldogs bested the defending champions and top seed, UCLA, 5-1. It was sophomore Philip Johnson at No. 5 singles that clinched the victory, sparking a celebration that went long into the night.
"It was the pinnacle for (Magill)," said Manny Diaz, the assistant coach on Georgia's 1985 and '87 national title teams, who has gone on to win four more as the Bulldogs' head coach. Diaz's Dogs are in Waco, Texas, as the No. 8 seed in the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament, and they face No. 9 seed Texas at 10 a.m. EST on Thursday.
"He finally had his national championship," Diaz said. "While he had been recognized as the most innovative promoter for college tennis and the biggest force for college tennis, for maybe the previous 10 or so years, and he was an icon, this actually validated it from the coaching side."
Magill, who died last August at age 93, coached his beloved Bulldogs for 34 years and retired following the 1988 season as the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history, with a record of 706-183. That first national title filled the only hole in his resume, assuming one could see the hole given the success Georgia had already achieved and the immeasurable contributions Magill -- who is in the UGA Circle of Honor -- had made to college tennis.
The NCAA title was the first for Georgia in any sport. Football had been voted No. 1 in 1942 and 1980, but this was the first championship won on the court. It also halted an epic run by Stanford, UCLA and Southern Cal, which had won every NCAA men's tennis title since 1972.
"One of the things that made it really special for us, and satisfying, is that we beat Stanford in the quarters, we beat Southern Cal in the semis and then we beat UCLA in the finals," said Allen Miller, who played No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles for the Dogs in 1985.
It was a senior-heavy squad, led by Mikael Pernfors at No. 1 singles, George Bezecny at No. 2, Miller at No. 3 and Deane Frey at No. 4. Pernfors was the defending NCAA singles champion and repeated that year, beating Bezecny in the finals. Miller had won the NCAA doubles title in 1983 with Ola Malmqvist.
At No. 5 was Johnson, and freshman Trey Carter played No. 6.
"It wasn't going to be easy, but we just knew we were going to win," Diaz said. "It was one of those things where it's a feeling that you get. Everything starts there. We certainly had some challenges and tough opponents, but everybody was healthy for the most part. We were not very deep past Trey, so we did that really with those six guys."
Of those six, Pernfors and Miller are in the ITA Men's Hall of Fame. Magill is in as a coach and Diaz is a lock to get there once he's done coaching. Johnson and Carter went on to win another title in 1987.
Georgia beat the Bruins 5-1 (they played the six singles matches first back then), so the match was clinched without having to play the doubles. It might sound like a blowout, but there was some drama -- primarily involving Bezecny.
Badly dehydrated following a long, grueling match in the semifinals, Bezecny was in the hospital the morning of the championship match getting IVs. Georgia wasn't certain he'd be able to play.
"He tried to warm up and felt like he was going to throw up, so he went into the parking lot and just very slowly jogged around in between cars to get his body moving," Diaz said. "He got waxed the first set, but all the sudden his body kind of kicked in or the pain subsided and he just got going and turned it around."
Bezecny prevailed in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, earning a big bear hug from Pernfors afterward. The victory earned one of the many enormous roars from the overflow crowd at the stadium. As big a story as the Bulldogs' win was, the scene and the crowd were almost as big.
People came in long after the last ticket was sold, so just how many folks were there will never be known, and Diaz said the fire marshall came close to stopping the match and clearing the stadium.
"There were people on top of people on top of people," said Steve Bryant, assistant athletic director for sports medicine, who has been at Georgia since he was a student athletic trainer in 1979. "I've never seen anything like it."
Even during his straight-set win at No. 3, Miller said he could see that the stadium was bulging.
"I remember looking back and those stands, they looked bowed," he said.
For Bauerle, who took over the Georgia women's swimming and diving program in 1979 and the men's in 1983, seeing the men's tennis team win a national championship was a pivotal moment. It's one he believes was pivotal for many Georgia programs that have gone on to claim multiple NCAA titles.
"I believe this wholeheartedly and I told Dan this, that he opened the door for all of us with that championship," Bauerle said. "I think for me as a young coach, I said, `OK, it can be done.'"
Bauerle has won six NCAA women's swimming titles. Under former coach Suzanne Yoculan, Georgia won 10 gymnastics titles between 1987 and 2009. The men's golf team has two NCAA titles, as does the women's tennis team. Georgia also has won six NCEA equestrian titles since 2003.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. You can follow him on Twitter: @TheFrierson and @ITAHallofFame.