Stanley Franker (born 1945 in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

) is a former national

tennis 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 ...

captain of the

Netherlands Davis Cup team The Netherlands Davis Cup team represents the Netherlands in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Association. The Netherlands will compete in the World Group Qualifiers in 2020. They last competed in the ...

. After becoming the top ranked tennis player of Suriname, Franker received a scholarship for 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 C ...

. There he studied

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

and was a member of the college tennis team under the guidance of coach

George Toley George Andrew Toley (April 23, 1916 – March 1, 2008) was an American collegiate tennis coach at the University of Southern California from 1954 to 1980. His teams won ten NCAA team championships (1955, 1958, 1962–64, 1966–69, 1976), nine ind ...

. While in Los Angeles Franker became the personal tennis instructor of several prominent figures, including the actor

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...

. With a Masters in

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

Franker became captain of the Austrian Davis Cup team, where he helped Thomas Muster develop his game. From 1986 to 1998 Franker was captain of the

and led the team with players such as

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek ( cz, Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch player to have won a major singles title. In ...

, Paul Haarhuis,

Jacco Eltingh Jacco Folkert Eltingh (born 29 August 1970) is a former professional male tennis player and former world No. 1 doubles player from the Netherlands. He is best known for his success in doubles with fellow countryman Paul Haarhuis. Together they ...

and Jan Siemerink from the European Zone to the World Group. Article on Stanley Franker
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References

1945 births Living people Dutch tennis coaches Sportspeople from Paramaribo Surinamese male tennis players University of Southern California alumni Dutch male tennis players Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands USC Trojans men's tennis players {{Netherlands-tennis-bio-stub