Barry MacKay is a former American
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player and
tournament directorTournament directors typically perform a number of key functions at competitive sporting and gaming events of all kinds. The extent of the tournament director's duties varies depending on the size of the tournament, the nature of the competition, and the number of other officials to whom roles can...
and a current tennis broadcaster. While competing in college for the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, he won the singles title at the 1957 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship to clinch the team title for Michigan. He was also a finalist in the 1957 NCAA doubles competition with Dick Potter. He competed on five United States
Davis CupThe Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
teams from 1956 to 1960 and was a doubles finalist at the U.S. Open in 1958, with Sammy Giammalva. He reached the singles semifinals at
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
in 1959, losing to
Rod LaverRodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...
. He was seeded #1 at the French Championships in 1960, after winning the Italian Championships in early May, beating defending champion,
Luis AyalaLuis Ignacio Ayala is a Major League Baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He is 6' 2" and weighs 190 lbs. and bats and throws right-handed.-Mexican League:...
, in five sets. MacKay has twice won the Pacific Coast Championships, now the SAP Open, first in 1959, and again in 1960, when he won ten more tournaments, to earn the No. 1 ranking in the United States. Also in 1960, he won the Bob Hope Award for the Amateur Athlete of the Year.
Festina lente.
Make haste slowly.
Ther nis no werkman, whatsoevere he be, That may bothe werke wel and hastily.
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales|The Canterbury Tales, "The Merchant's Tale|The Merchant's Tale"
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
Max Ehrmann|Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata|Desiderata" (1927)
The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing that we ought to do, we have no time for anything else—we are the busiest people in the world.
Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition (1973), § 156
Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.
John Wesley (1703–1791). Letter to a member of the Society, 10th December 1777, Select Letters (1837)
Haste makes waste.
English proverb. Reported in John Heywood, Dialogue of Proverbs (1546), part 1, ch. 2
Category:Themes
el:Βιασύνη
Barry MacKay is a former American
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player and
tournament directorTournament directors typically perform a number of key functions at competitive sporting and gaming events of all kinds. The extent of the tournament director's duties varies depending on the size of the tournament, the nature of the competition, and the number of other officials to whom roles can...
and a current tennis broadcaster. While competing in college for the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, he won the singles title at the 1957 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship to clinch the team title for Michigan. He was also a finalist in the 1957 NCAA doubles competition with Dick Potter. He competed on five United States
Davis CupThe Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
teams from 1956 to 1960 and was a doubles finalist at the U.S. Open in 1958, with Sammy Giammalva. He reached the singles semifinals at
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
in 1959, losing to
Rod LaverRodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...
. He was seeded #1 at the French Championships in 1960, after winning the Italian Championships in early May, beating defending champion,
Luis AyalaLuis Ignacio Ayala is a Major League Baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He is 6' 2" and weighs 190 lbs. and bats and throws right-handed.-Mexican League:...
, in five sets. MacKay has twice won the Pacific Coast Championships, now the SAP Open, first in 1959, and again in 1960, when he won ten more tournaments, to earn the No. 1 ranking in the United States. Also in 1960, he won the Bob Hope Award for the Amateur Athlete of the Year.
Early years
MacKay was born in Cincinnati and grew up in
Dayton, OhioDayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. He was a Ohio state high school tennis champion.
Playing career
MacKay enjoyed a 20-year career as an amateur and a professional tennis player. He started in the early 1950s as the Ohio state high school champion. From there, he enrolled at the University of Michigan and played under tennis coach
William E. "Bill" MurphyWilliam E. "Bill" Murphy was an American championship tennis player and coach. In 1938 and 1939, Murphy and his twin brother, Chet, won consecutive Big Ten Conference doubles championships while competing for the University of Chicago. Murphy also won a 1939 singles title at the Western Tennis...
. He won five
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
championships while at the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
-- singles championships in 1956 and 1957, and doubles championships with partner, Dick Potter, in 1955, 1956, and 1957. In June 1957, when MacKay won the singles title at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, defeating Sammy Giammalva in five sets at Salt Lake City, the
Michigan WolverinesThe Michigan Wolverines comprise 27 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except men's ice hockey which competes in the NCAA D1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and women's water polo, which...
captured their first and only
NCAA Team ChampionshipThe NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...
. He was the first Big Ten player to win the NCAA singles title, was a runner-up for the doubles title with Dick Potter, losing in four sets to
Crawford HenryCrawford I. Henry is a former professional tennis player.A high school tennis star in Georgia, Henry won the high school championship as a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. He never lost a match in high school and won the National High School tournament in 1955...
and Ron Holmberg of
TulaneTulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, and was the first Michigan player to be named as an All-American.
MacKay also played on five United States Davis Cup teams in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960. The 1958
Davis CupThe Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
team beat Australia for the championship.
After winning the NCAA Singles Title in June 1957, MacKay played amateur tennis for three additional summers. In 1959, at
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, he lost in the Semifinals to
Rod LaverRodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...
in
87Year 87 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Saturninus...
games over five sets (11-13,11-9,10-8,7-9,6-3). In 1960, he was ranked as the No. 1 amateur in the U.S. after winning these eleven tournaments: Atlanta, Buffalo, Dallas, River Oaks, River Forest (U.S. clay courts), Rome (Italian), New York Indoors (Nationals), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tuscaloosa, and Victoria, Australia.
In 1961, MacKay turned professional in 1961. He played for three years with the Jack Kramer Professional Tennis Tour. MacKay recalled the Kramer Tour, "Matches were played in one city after another on a nightly basis across the country and around the world. It was a barnstorming type of tour."
Directing tournaments
In 1964, MacKay moved to California and worked for Jack Kramer on the International Professional Tennis Tour. He reamined with Kramer through the late 1960s. In 1970, MacKay bought a controlling interest in the Pacific Coast Championships at
BerkeleyBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, in Northern California. In 1973, he started a company called BMK Sports, which organized a major tennis event until MacKay sold the business in 1995. MacKay owned, promoted, and directed what is now the
SAP OpenThe SAP Open is a men's tennis tournament held annually in San Jose, California. It is the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States, which is still played. It is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour...
from 1970 until 1995, when he sold the tournament. MacKay has served as tournament director and promoter for more than 12 annual events, highlighted by promoting two U.S. Davis Cup finals.
Broadcasting career
Since the 1970s, MacKay has been a tennis broadcaster. Over his broadcasting career, MacKay has teamed with
Arthur AsheArthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...
,
Bud Collins-External links:*** 2001 interview with Collins*...
,
Donald DellDonald Dell is an attorney and was a professional tennis player, U.S. Davis Cup captain, and administrator. Dell was one of the first professional sports agents, having represented professional tennis players Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl during pro tennis' golden age...
,
Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
,
Martina Navratilova,
Jimmy ConnorsJames Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
,
Chris EvertChristine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
,
John McEnroeJohn Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
,
Pam ShriverPamela Howard Shriver Lazenby , is a former professional tennis player and is currently a sports broadcaster from the United States for ESPN2. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments...
,
Tracy AustinTracy Ann Austin Holt is a former World No. 1 female professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.-To 1980:Austin defeated...
, and
Leif ShirasGeorge Livingston "Leif" Shiras is a former professional tennis player from the United States and now a tennis journalist....
. He has been the on-air voice for American broadcasts of the U.S. Open,
WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, French Open,
Australian OpenThe Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
,and many
ATPThe Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...
and
WTAThe Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
tournaments. He currently provides color commentary, play-by-play, and lead analysis for
The Tennis ChannelTennis Channel is an American speciality channel with programming devoted to the game of tennis. Founded in 2003, the network is owned by a group of investors including sports marketing firm IMG. Well known tennis professionals Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are two of the many investors in this...
and
DirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
tennis coverage. He spent 30 years broadcasting Wimbledon for HBO and the US Open on the
USA NetworkUSA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
. He provided color commentary on
Fox Sports NetworkFox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
, and served as the play-by-play announcer for the
NBC SportsNBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
coverage of tennis at the
2008 Summer OlympicsThe 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in China.
Honors
- Inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...
in 1980.
- Inducted into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame in 2003.
- Inducted into the NCAA Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
- Presented the Bob Hope Award for "Amateur Athlete of the Year" in 1960.
External links