Tennis Autographs - 1980

by D.J. Hazledine

In 1980, my wife Doreen was Mrs. South Dakota, competing in the Mrs. America Pageant at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Little did we know she would be diagnosed with a rare cancer less than a year later.

My mother, sensing that Doreen wasn't quite herself, wanted to do something to show her support. During the time of our stay in Las Vegas, the Allen King Tennis Classic was going on at Caesars Palace. My mother and sister went around to the competitors to get their autographs on an Alan King Tennis Classic racquet cover
one of the players had given them. Signatures included Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Vince Van Patten, John Alexander, Bob Lutz, Vitas Gerulaitis and other well know players of the day.

My mother, who was a full-blooded Swede, and my sister actually talked a hotel staff member into phoning Bjorn Borg at his hotel room. He invited them up. (This was before the days of private body guards/security.) When he answered the door, he was in nothing but a bath towel. I think he was expecting someone other than a middle-aged lady and her teenage daughter. Since my
mother was familiar with Sweden and still spoke a little of the language, she and Bjorn spoke at some length (close to an hour)about their heritage, families and country.

My mother thoroughly enjoyed the visit and got the sense that Bjorn did also. My sister was enamored and almost speechless. (Which is rare for her.) Mother said that Bjorn was a true gentleman and autographed the headcover with "Good Luck Doreen, Bjorn Borg" before they left.

Bjorn also signed the program under his picture. And my mother scripted in the left margin " Caesars Palace room 4407 in a towel 04/22/1980.

The cover of the program was done by LeRoy Neiman. There is a sketch by Oleg Cassini of himself and Alan King playing tennis on page 15. Both headcover and program are in excellent condition. The program also includes a unmarked drawsheet that shows the seeded players.

I had wanted to play on the Caesars Palace courts and get a lesson from Pancho Gonzalez. But Pancho was not around at the time. The person setting up court time said he'd make some calls to see if any members would like to play. As it was very warm, few adults wanted to come out that time of day in the heat. He said if I wouldn't mind, he had some very good junior players.

I said fine. At about 10:30, I was introduced to and shook hands with a young lad named Andre. We had a great time, and the only thing that saved me was that I was bigger and stronger. I won the first set, he won the second set, and we were on serve in the third. I was exhausted due to the heat and how much work it took to win a point and hold my own serve. I was never so glad to see someone's mother come to pick up their child as I was that day. We weren't able to finish, and that was fine with me. Little did I know that I was playing with a young man that would become a legend in the game: Andre Agassi