Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507050074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS LENGTH: Medium
Hall of Famer Pancho Gonzalez, one of the greatest and most colorful tennis champions in history, has died of cancer at age 67.
Gonzalez died Monday night at Sunrise Hospital after stomach cancer had spread throughout his body, said his brother, Ralph Gonzales.
``We had a terrific report from doctors three weeks ago,'' Ralph Gonzales said Tuesday. ``Everything seemed to be going so well. But a week ago Wednesday he became sick and he entered the hospital. He just deteriorated very quickly. The cancer showed up in his ribs and all over his body. At the end, he didn't suffer much.''
A Los Angeles native, Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez came from a poor family and struggled to win acceptance in the country-club world of tennis. But he wielded one of the most effective serves in the sport's history and won the U.S. national singles title in 1948 at age 20, then repeated a year later.
He captured doubles titles at Wimbledon and the French Open in 1949.
``My control of matches was to penetrate, create a weakness and attack,'' Gonzalez once said. ``My legs, retrieving, lobs and change-of-pace service returns meant as much or more to me than my power. But people overlooked that because of the reputation of my serve.''
When Gonzalez joined a fledgling professional tour, the move removed him from the spotlight in the prime of his career. He won eight pro singles titles in a nine-year span from 1953 to 1961.
``If you had to put money on one player for one match, he'd be the guy,'' said two-time Grand Slam winner Stan Smith.
A Davis Cup player and captain, Gonzalez was known for his sportsmanship and dignified bearing, but also for his fits of rage.
``He was a very volatile person to play against,'' said two-time U.S. Open champion Tony Trabert. ``He'd get mad at bad calls, he'd knock the balls around and he'd have some antics in the locker room.''
In 1969, as a 41-year-old grandfather, Gonzalez won the longest singles match in Wimbledon history, beating Charlie Pasarell in 112 games - 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9. The match, suspended because of darkness, took 5 hours, 12 minutes and lasted two days.
Gonzalez's name often was spelled ``Gonzales,'' including in ATP Tour and Wimbledon publications, and his brother kept that spelling.
``People Americanized my name,'' he said. Gonzalez went along with the change. In later years, he went back to the original family name, with a ``z'' at the end.
Gonzalez had eight children and married six times. Among his ex-wives was Andre Agassi's older sister, Rita., and the Agassi family remained very close to him. Gonzalez provided an early influence on Agassi's career.Agassi's older brother, Phillip, visited Gonzalez at the hospital shortly before he died.``He was watching Wimbledon until yesterday,'' said Ralph Gonzales, who kept the alternative spelling. ``He saw Andre win and he watched all the matches he could.''
Gonzalez was tennis director at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for 20 years until 1989. He is survived by two brothers, four sisters and seven children.
by CNB