Introduction
The Trinity University tennis program has a rich history of excellence. From defeating Stanford’s Women’s team in 1985 for the quarterfinal match at the national tournament, to recognizing legends such as Butch Numan, Bob McKinley, Gretchen Rush, Dick Stockton, and highlighting an outstanding performance by Larry Gottfried after handing John McEnroe his only collegiate loss on Trinity courts, the Trinity University Tennis program has proven to be a powerhouse across the eras. The 1978 Men’s Tennis Program in particular is a team worthy of being highlighted. Lead by former player and now head coach, Bob McKinley recruited the freshman class of 1976 by bringing in four star Junior players, one of them being All-American Larry Gottfried. According to Gottfried, Trinity was the last college he was interested in attending because his brother was a former player and his desire was to create an identity for himself elsewhere. However, after choosing to play at Trinity, Gottfried created this new identity for himself by beating Stanford’s John McEnroe who is now a seven time Grand Slam Champion. Despite this extraordinary victory over a tennis celebrity, Gottfried was not moved internally and refused for his character to be defined by a single match. “As far as what it did for me personally, it did nothing, because we knew we had a lot of season to go,” (Larry Gottfried interview.)