Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. A world No. 1 player and two-time

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

singles champion (at the 1971 US Open and

1972 Wimbledon Championships The 1972 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was scheduled to be held from Monday 26 June ...

), Smith also paired with Bob Lutz to create one of the most successful doubles teams of all-time. In 1970, Smith won the inaugural year-end championships title. In 1972, he was the year-end world No. 1 singles player. In 1973, he won his second and last year end championship title at the Dallas

WCT Finals The WCT Finals was a men's tennis tournament that served as the season-ending championship for the WCT Circuit. From 1971–1989 the event was held annually in Texas on indoor carpet courts. The 1971 quarterfinals and semifinals were played in Hou ...

. In addition, he won four Grand Prix Championship Series titles. In his early years he improved his tennis game through lessons from

Pancho Segura Francisco Olegario Segura Cano (June 20, 1921 – November 18, 2017), better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, ...

, the Pasadena Tennis Patrons, and the sponsorship of the Southern California Tennis Association headed by Perry T. Jones. Smith is a past President of the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...

and an ITHF Life Trustee. Outside tennis circles, Smith is best known as the namesake of a line of tennis shoes made by Adidas.

Career

Smith grew up in Pasadena, California and was coached mainly by

. He played collegiate tennis at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC), under Coach George Toley, where he was a three-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and won the 1968 NCAA Singles Championship as well as the 1967 and 1968 doubles titles. At USC, Smith was a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...

fraternity's Gamma Tau chapter. As a boy, he tried to get a job as a ball boy for the Davis Cup, but was turned down because the organizers thought he was too clumsy. In 1971 Smith and John Newcombe were joint recipients of The ''Martini and Rossi'' Award, voted for by 11 journalists and were co-ranked world No. 1 by Judith Elian. In 1972 Smith won the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists and was ranked world No. 1 by Elian, Tingay, ''World Tennis'', Collins, Frank Rostron and Rex Bellamy. In his 1979 testing autobiography,

Jack Kramer John Albert Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, and a pioneer promoter who helped drive the sport towards professionalism at the elite level. Kramer also ushered in the serve-an ...

, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Smith as one of the 21 best players of all time. In 2005, ''TENNIS'' magazine ranked Smith as 35th in its "40 Greatest Players of the ''TENNIS'' Era". Smith was inducted into the

in 1987. Following his playing career, Smith became active as a coach for the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...

. He has his own tennis academy with Billy Stearns, located on

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, often referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia (as the crow flies), a ...

. In 1974, Smith married Princeton University tennis player,

Marjory Gengler Marjory Logan Gengler Smith (born May 3, 1951) is an American retired tennis player. In 1973, while a student at Princeton University, she was captain of the women's tennis team and led them to an undefeated season in 1972. She was the top ranke ...

. They later mentored South African tennis player Mark Mathabane, helping increase pressure on the South African government to end

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. Smith lives in Hilton Head with his wife and four children, all of whom competed in collegiate tennis.

Tennis shoes

To the general public, Stan Smith is probably best known for the line of tennis shoes which

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

renamed after him in 1978. Although the Adidas Stan Smith shoe is not recommended for modern tennis playing, it continues to be a widely available iconic fashion brand.Tennis.com – Blog – The Pro Shop by Bill Gray – My Adidas
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Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runners-up)

Career finals

Note: Smith won 10 titles before the Open Era

Singles: 95 (64 titles, 31 runners-up)

* 48 Open Era titles listed by the ATP website

Doubles (54 titles, 27 runners-up)

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Stan 1946 births Living people American male tennis players Tennis coaches from California Australian Open (tennis) champions Sportspeople from Hilton Head, South Carolina Pasadena High School (California) alumni Tennis players from Pasadena, California American tennis commentators International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis players from South Carolina US Open (tennis) champions USC Trojans men's tennis players Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players World number 1 ranked male tennis players Adidas people 20th-century American sportsmen