COLIN ROBERTSON

CLASS OF 2006
 

Colin Robertson was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1945.  He began his tennis career at age 12 at the Victor Edwards Tennis School, the biggest tennis school in Australia.  He benefited from exposure to good coaching and top international tennis players like John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Bob Hewitt, Eyvonne Goolagong, and many other players who went into international tennis from this school.  When he left Australia for the USA on a tennis scholarship in 1966, he was co-ranked # 8 in Australia with Phil Dent.

In 1967 and 1968, he reached the second round of the US Open, played in the Australian Open, and was accepted into the main draw at Wimbledon without qualifying.  He played continuously for fifteen years in the Missouri Valley Section and was ranked # 1 in the Open division three times and was later ranked # 1 in the Section in the 30s, 35s, and 40s. He was ranked # 1 in Oklahoma ten times in various age divisions.

His tennis related career fields included co-owning a Tennis Court Construction Co.; managing a tennis shop; owning and building from the ground up two tennis clubs; and co-owning a tennis consulting business.  During this period, The Oklahoma City Tennis Center grew from 20,000 players in 1970, its first year, to 118,000 players in 1977 when he left the facility.  When he was at The Greens Golf and Country Club, they expanded from three covered and five outdoor courts to six indoor and twelve outdoor courts when he left in 1984.  He was instrumental in restoring the Santa Fe Fitness and Racquet Club to one of the premier clubs in Oklahoma City.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he played in the following doubles exhibition matches:

     John Newcomber and Bjorn Borg at the Myriad
     Roscoe Tanner and Ken Rosewall at the Myriad
     Vitas Gerulaitus and Illie Nastase at the Tulsa Convention Center
     John Newcombe and Tony Roche at the Bartlesville Phillips Center

As head Tennis Coach at Oklahoma City University, he won five National NAIA Tennis Championships and his teams were ranked in the top ten every year except one.  He was named Head College Coach of the Year five times by the NAIA and was named Head Intercollegiate Tennis Association Coach of the Decade for the nineties.

He is a Certified Professional Category # 1 by the United States Professional Tennis Association.  He has been inducted into the Oklahoma City University Sports Hall of Fame and the Missouri Valley Tennis Hall of Fame.  He and his wife Phyllis live in St. Croix.