Greg Patton, Millennium Hall of Fame

The affable Greg Patton knew he’d made it as a tennis coach when

his former UCI players showed up wearing Boise State Bronco hats at the

1997 NCAA Championships.

Sitting in the stands at UCLA and cheering hard for Boise State was

former UCI All-American Trevor Kronemann and about 20 other former

Anteaters who played for Patton from 1979 to 1992, an unforgettable era

in UCI sports history as the Anteaters captured nine Big West Conference

titles.

“I remember feeling that this is what it’s all about -- that’s the

reason you coach, that’s the reason you want it and that’s the reason

it’s a passion,” said Patton, who left UCI to pursue a slower-paced

lifestyle in Idaho, then turned Boise State into a national power.

Patton, whose former players have always followed him no matter where

he landed, is now a junior national coach for the United States Tennis

Association, after six years at Boise State, which had never won a Big

West championship or reached the NCAA Tournament before Patton arrived.

“I miss college coaching a lot -- I miss the guys and I miss the

competition. But I don’t miss recruiting and I don’t miss the

fund-raising,” said Patton, who guided Boise State to five Big West

titles in six seasons, and once had the Broncos ranked No. 2 in the

country.

But Patton, voted the National Coach of the Year in 1987 by the

Intercollegiate Tennis Association and a five-time Big West Conference

Coach of the Year while at UCI, endured a different sort of racket in

World TeamTennis as coach of the Newport Beach Dukes (1990-93) and Idaho

Sneakers (1994-97).

“It was a dream experience (with the Dukes), being able to coach

world-class tennis players in front of all my friends and the community

where I lived,” said Patton, who led the Dukes to championship match

appearances in 1992 and ’93 in the now-defunct WTT, before becoming the

Sneakers’ first coach and leading Idaho to the finals twice.

“I’m the Marv Levy of World TeamTennis,” added Patton, referring to

the former NFL coach who led the Buffalo Bills to four Super Bowls, in

which they lost every time.

“(WTT) was such a great thing in the summer for people in Orange

County. It’s a shame it folded.”

Patton, though, known for his ability to fill up a reporter’s notebook

as much as his prowess to coach winning tennis teams, found himself in

hot water with the Dukes’ former owner, Fred Lieberman, when he accepted

the Sneakers’ job.

“When I left, he threatened to sue me. But the only thing is, I never

got paid,” Patton said. “How can you have a contract with a slave? How

can you serve somebody with a suit who’s doing volunteer work? Later on,

he asked me if I wanted to come back. Boy, life is good.”

In 1992, the Dukes lost their first four matches, then won 12 straight

to reach the title match against the Atlanta Thunder and Martina

Navratilova.

In ‘93, they went 13-1 in the regular season, beat Jimmy Connors and

the Phoenix Smash in the playoffs, then lost to Wichita in the title

match, 26-23.

But Patton’s favorite highlight is coaching UCI to an upset victory

over UCLA in the 1989 regional final, an Anteater squad featuring

Kronemann, Mark Kaplan and Mike Briggs (Corona del Mar). They ended 25-7

in dual matches and fourth in the nation, Patton’s best national finish

at UCI.

“It was a dream season,” Patton said. “There was so much pride built

with UCI becoming a major tennis power that year, and the whole thing

was, I just went along for the ride, because those guys took over

ownership of the team.

“That whole season, it was like falling in love. You always wanted to

be with each other. We were all in love with the whole experience.”

Patton, the USTA coordinator for player development in the Western

U.S., attended Bishop Diego High in Santa Barbara and graduated in 1971.

He went on to play tennis at UC Santa Barbara. “I was one of the bottom

guys,” he said. “But I was just glad to be on the team. I loved the

game.”

After college, Patton joined the Peace Corps and went to Africa, then

returned to California. He was planning to play tennis at Westmont and

use his final year of collegiate eligibility. But UC Santa Barbara hired

him instead -- at age 23 -- as its men’s tennis coach. Two years later,

Patton was at UCI and a legend was on its way.

Patton, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame,

celebrating the millennium, lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife of 13

years, Christa, and two children: Chelsea, 8 1/2, and Garrett, 7. Both

reportedly already have a strong forehand.