Allen E. Fox (born June 25, 1939) is an American former

tennis player 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 cove ...

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 and 1968. In 1960, he won the

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

(NCAA) doubles title with Larry Nagler for the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. In 1961, Fox won the NCAA singles title. In 1962 he won the US National Hard Court title. He won a gold medal in singles at the

1965 Maccabiah Games The 7th Maccabiah Games in 1965 saw 1,500 athletes from 29 different countries compete in 21 sports. It was the first Maccabiah Games for Iran, Jamaica, Peru, and Venezuela. The United States delegation won the most gold medals, followed by Israel, ...

in Israel. At the

1969 Maccabiah Games At the 8th Maccabiah Games from July 29 to August 7, 1969, 1,450 athletes from 27 countries competed in 22 sports in Israel. The final gold medal count was the United States in first place (64), Israel second (48; though it won the greatest numbe ...

he won gold medals in singles and doubles. Fox was elected to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame, the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

, the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame, and the

UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPS ...

Tennis career

Fox attended

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as Beverly or as BHHS) is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school located on B ...

, and played tennis for the school. In 1960, he won the

(NCAA) doubles title with Larry Nagler for the

(

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

). In 1961, as team captain, Fox won the NCAA singles title, beating Ray Senkowski of Michigan, 6–1, 6–2, and 6–4. He only lost twice in dual match play while in college, to Rafael Osuna and Chuck McKinley. He was named All-American in 1959, 1960, and 1961, and was named All-UCLA and All-

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

Athlete of the Year. Fox helped lead UCLA to NCAA team championships in 1960 and 1961. He graduated from UCLA with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

in 1961, and later earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

there in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

in 1968. When he graduated, Fox was the 4th-ranked singles player in the United States. He won the singles title at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in 1961. He won also the 1962 US National Hard Court title. That year, he reached the singles final in Cincinnati, falling to Marty Riessen. In 1965 he won the

Ojai Tennis Tournament The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and l ...

in men's singles. In 1965 he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. In 1966, he won the Canadian Nationals and the (40th annual)

Los Angeles Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

, formerly known as the

Pacific Southwest Championships The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, as a graduate student, beating the then-current champions of all four Major Slams –

Manuel Santana Manuel Santana Martínez (10 May 1938 – 11 December 2021), also known as Manolo Santana, was a Spanish tennis player. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by Lance TingayFred Stolle Frederick Sydney Stolle, AO (born 8 October 1938) is an Australian former amateur world No. 1 tennis player and commentator. He was born in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. He is the father of former Australian Davis Cup player Sandon S ...

(U.S.),

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche AO MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga Wagga. He won one Grand Slam singles title, t ...

(French), and

Roy Emerson Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a caree ...

(Australian), in the finals.

Maccabiah Games

Fox is Jewish. He won a gold medal at the

in Israel. Four years later, he was back at the

as the top seed, and again won the gold medal, this time defeating South African Julian Krinsky in the men's individual semi-finals and South African Davis Cup player Jack Saul in the finals. In doubles, he and partner Ronald Goldman won the gold medal after they defeated Americans Tom Karp and Peter Fishbach in the semifinals, and then Americans Ed Rubinoff and Leonard Schloss in the finals.

Davis Cup

He was named to the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1961, 1962, and 1966. He played 2 singles matches, winning both of them without giving up more than 2 games in any of the 6 sets that he played.

Halls of Fame

Fox was elected to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame as a player and a coach in 1988. In 1991, he was inducted into the

. He was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2002. Fox was also inducted into the

in 2005.

Coaching

Fox coached the

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 th ...

men's tennis team, at the highest level-Division 1, for 17 years. His teams, which included Brad Gilbert, reached the NCAA finals twice, the semifinals three times, and the quarterfinals six times. In his career, he coached his teams to a 368–108 won-lost record between 1979 and 1995; the .778 winning percentage is the best in Pepperdine tennis history. He was named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame and, aside from Gilbert, coached players such as Robbie Weiss (NCAA singles winner),

Kelly Jones Kelly Jones (born 3 June 1974) is a Welsh singer-songwriter and a founding member, lead singer, and guitarist of the rock band Stereophonics. Early life and debut Kelly Jones was born youngest of three boys for Beryl and Arwyn Jones in the s ...

(NCAA doubles winner and world No. 1 doubles player), and

Martin Laurendeau Martin Laurendeau (; born July 10, 1964) is a former touring professional tennis player and the former coach and (non-playing) captain of the Canada Davis Cup team Tennis career A 6'3 right-hander, Laurendeau starred in collegiate tennis at P ...

(Captain of the Canadian Davis Cup Team).

Writing and videos

Fox has worked as a broadcaster, writer, and lecturer. He has authored several books, including ''Think to Win: The Strategic Dimension of Tennis'' (1993), ''If I'm The Better Player, Why Can't I Win?'', and ''The Winner's Mind: A Competitor's Guide to Sports and Business Success''. He is a former editor of ''Tennis Magazine''. Allen has published two videos, titled ''Allen Fox's Ultimate Tennis Lesson'' (2001) and ''Allen Fox's Ultimate Tennis Drills'' (2001).

Personal

Fox has two sons, Evan and Charlie, and lives in

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

, California, with his wife Nancy.

References

External links

Official site
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Allen 1939 births Living people American male tennis players American tennis coaches Beverly Hills High School alumni Pepperdine Waves men's tennis coaches UCLA Bruins men's tennis players Tennis players from Los Angeles Jewish American sportspeople Jewish tennis players Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1969 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis Universiade medalists in tennis Universiade gold medalists for the United States Universiade bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade Tennis players at the 1963 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the United States 21st-century American Jews