George Andrew Toley was an American collegiate
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...
coach at the
University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
from 1954 to 1980. His teams won ten
NCAA team championshipsThe 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...
(1955, 1958, 1962–64, 1966–69, 1976), nine individual titles and twelve doubles titles, and included stars such as
Alex OlmedoAlejandro "Alex" Rodríguez Olmedo is a former tennis player from Peru, who was ranked as the top amateur player in the world in 1959. Although born and raised in Peru, he came to Southern California and was mentored by Perry T. Jones, President of the Southern California Tennis Association at the...
,
Rafael OsunaRafael Osuna Herrera is the most successful tennis player in the history of Mexico. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico, and is best remembered for his singles victory at the U.S. Open Championships in 1963, winning Wimbledon Doubles championships twice, the U.S...
,
Dennis RalstonRichard Dennis Ralston is an American former professional tennis player. He attended the University of Southern California and won NCAA championships under their legendary coach, George Toley. He was coached in his earlier years by the legendary tennis player, Pancho Gonzales...
,
Joaquin Loyo-MayoJoaquin Loyo-Mayo played amateur and professional tennis in the 1960s and 1970s.Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Loyo-Mayo's playing career was coming to an end as the ATP Rankings were coming into being. He achieved a World No...
,
Raúl RamírezRaúl Ramírez is a retired Mexican professional tennis player. He was active during the 1970s and 1980s, and is regarded as one of the great all-around players of the modern era. Ramírez was also the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing...
,
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...
, and Bob Lutz.
Born in
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Toley graduated from
Los Angeles High SchoolLos Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans....
and attended the
University of MiamiThe University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
before returning to his hometown and graduating from USC in 1942 with a degree in
EducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. He was a nationally ranked tennis player during his college years, rising as high as 7th and 10th in doubles in 1939 and 1940 with partner,
Gardnar MulloyGardnar Putnam Mulloy is a tennis player primarily known for playing in doubles matches with partner Billy Talbert. When he was the Tennis Coach of the University of Miami, he recruited Pancho Segura for the tennis team. Pancho won three straight NCAA Singles Titles in 1943, 1944, and 1945,...
, and 20th in
singlesTraditionally, tennis is played between two people in a singles match, or two pairs in a doubles match.-Standard types of match:Singles involves two players competing against each other, usually two men or two women, although games between a man and a woman may be played on an informal...
from 1940 to 1942.
In 1941-42, Toley served for a brief time as a USC tennis coach, and also as a club pro at the
Beverly Hills Tennis ClubBeverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
. After World War II, he became club pro at the
Los Angeles Tennis ClubThe Los Angeles Tennis Club is a private tennis club opened in 1920 at 5851 Clinton Street, between Wilcox and Rossmore, one block south of Melrose Avenue. It is the home of the Southern California Championships....
(LATC) from 1947 to 1972. He was also an instructor at the
Marlborough SchoolMarlborough School is a private, all-girls, college-preparatory secondary school for grades 7th through 12th located at 250 South Rossmore Avenue in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Marlborough was founded in 1889 by Mary Caswell and is the oldest independent...
from 1947 to 1970, and added the coaching position at USC in 1954 until retiring in 1980. He wrote a book on college tennis entitled "The Golden Age of College Tennis" in 2009.
Toley was named the
Intercollegiate Tennis AssociationThe Intercollegiate Tennis Association is an organization of 1,500 coaches and 15,000 collegiate tennis players, encompassing more than 1,000 college tennis programs...
National Coach of the Year for NCAA Division I men's tennis in 1978. Toley's teams at USC were highly successful, winning 82% of their dual matches (430-92-4). Toley's 1963 and 1967 teams were named the #1 and #3 greatest all-time men's teams, respectively, by
Inside TennisInside Tennis is a sports magazine that covers news from the world of tennis. It is published 10-times a year in Northern California, Southern California, Nevada, and Atlanta....
magazine.
In 1983, Toley was one of the 15 initial inductees to the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame (along with Olmedo, Osuna and Ralston), was elected to the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000, and to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. Toley died at age 91 in
Pasadena, CaliforniaPasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
.