Donald Dell is an attorney and was a professional tennis player, U.S.
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...
captain, and administrator. Dell was one of the first professional sports agents, having represented professional tennis players
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...
,
Stan SmithStanley Roger "Stan" Smith is a former American tennis player and two time Grand Slam singles champion who also, with his partner Bob Lutz, formed one of the most successful doubles teams of all time. Together, they won many major titles all over the world...
,
Jimmy ConnorsJames Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
, and
Ivan LendlIvan Lendl is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player. Originally from Czechoslovakia, Lendl became a United States citizen. He was one of the game's most dominant players in the 1980s and remained a top competitor into the early 1990s. He is considered to be one of the greatest tennis...
during pro tennis' golden age (1975 to 1985). He was also the founder of
Professional Services (ProServ)Professional Services Inc., was one of the first sports management firms. Initially focused on tennis, the company would grow to become among the world's largest sports marketing, athlete management, event production, and TV companies....
, one of the nation's first sports marketing firms established in 1970 with co-founder, Frank Craighill, a fellow law partner. His younger brother, Dick, worked for ProServ, and played Number One Singles for the University of Michigan. He was Big Ten #1 Singles Champion in 1969.
Dell is considered one of the fathers of
sports marketingSport marketing is divided into three sectors. The first is the advertising of sport and sports associations such as the Olympics, Spanish Football league and the NFL. The second concerns the use of sporting events, sporting teams and individual athletes to promote various products. The third is...
and the
sports agentA sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...
business with IMG's
Mark McCormackMark Hume McCormack was an American lawyer, sports agent for professional athletes and a prolific writer...
. Based on his vast experience, Dell wrote a book in 2009 entitled: "Never Make the First Offer."
Dell, was also very instrumental in establishing the
Association of Tennis ProfessionalsThe 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...
(ATP) in 1972 with Jack Kramer and
Cliff DrysdaleCliff Drysdale is a former top-ranked professional tennis player of the 1960s and early 1970s who became a well-known tennis announcer. He was one of the Handsome Eight, signed by Lamar Hunt in 1968 for the newly formed World Championship Tennis group...
, according to Kramer in his book: Jack Kramer, The Game, My 40 years in Tennis, (1979). Clients of
ProServProfessional Services Inc., was one of the first sports management firms. Initially focused on tennis, the company would grow to become among the world's largest sports marketing, athlete management, event production, and TV companies....
dominated the leadership roles of the ATP in its formative years. ProServ and one of its young agents,
David FalkDavid B. Falk is an American sports agent who primarily works with basketball players in the National Basketball Association. Falk began his career representing professional tennis players for Donald Dell's ProServ and is best known for representing sports icon Michael Jordan for the entirety of...
, would go onto to represent professional basketball players such as:
Patrick EwingPatrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...
,
John LucasJohn Lucas is the name of:*John Lucas , philosopher*John Lucas II , retired American professional basketball player*John Lucas III , his son, current professional basketball player...
.and
Michael JordanMichael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
selected Dell's ProServ and Falk as his first sports agent after leaving the University of North Carolina.
ProServ was acquired in 1999 by SFX Sports Group, which later became a subsidiary of Clear Channel Entertainment.
Playing career
Dell played his collegiate tennis at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
where he was a three-time All-American (in 1958, '59 and '60). He reached the NCAA singles finals in 1959 (falling to
Whitney ReedWhitney Reed was a tennis player in the 1950s and 1960s.Reed was ranked No. 1 in the United States in 1961 and was ranked in the U.S. top ten in 1957 , 1959 , 1960 , and 1962 Whitney Reed (born August 20, 1932, in Oakland, California) was a tennis player in the 1950s and 1960s.Reed was ranked No....
of
San Jose State UniversitySan Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
), and was a semifinalist in 1960.
He played on the United States Davis Cup team in 1961 and 1963 and was the captain of the winning Cup teams of 1968 and 1969.
He was a quarterfinalist at the U.S. National championships (now known as the
U.S. OpenThe US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
), in 1961, and at the
Cincinnati MastersThe Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...
he was a singles finalist in 1959 and a semifinalist in 1958.
Continued involvement with tennis
Dell received his undergraduate degree from
YaleRapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
in 1960 and his law degree from the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1964. He was an associate for the law firm of Hogan & Hartson from 1966 to 1967, was Special Assistant to
Peace CorpsThe Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
founder
Sargent ShriverRobert Sargent Shriver, Jr., known as Sargent Shriver, R. Sargent Shriver, or, from childhood, Sarge, was an American statesman and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family, serving in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations...
from 1968 to 1969, and founded
ProServProfessional Services Inc., was one of the first sports management firms. Initially focused on tennis, the company would grow to become among the world's largest sports marketing, athlete management, event production, and TV companies....
, Inc., (now known as SFX) in 1970 and served as its chairman until 1997. He was also a co-founder of the ATP players' union, and was co-founder with childhood friend, John A. Harris, Head of Potomac Ventures, of the Legg Mason Classic tennis tournament in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1969.
Dell is the Vice Chairman of the
International Tennis Hall of FameThe International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
and a member of the board of directors for the
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...
Institute of Urban Health. Dell broadcast tennis for
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
and
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television in the 1970s and '80s with
Bud Collins-External links:*** 2001 interview with Collins*...
and
Barry MacKayBarry MacKay is a former American tennis player and tournament director and a current tennis broadcaster. While competing in college for 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...
, and makes appearances on the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
local affiliate station, WUSA. His last interview was July 31, 2007 with Andrea Roane.
Awards and honors
He was enshrined into the ITA College Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. He was elected to the
International Tennis Hall of FameThe International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
in 2009.