McEnroe's Celebrity Status

John McEnroe gaining a celebrity status in college athletics after making it to the semifinal round of Wimbledon his freshman year of college in 1977. McEnroe was the first amature to reach such status in the history of tennis 

McEnroe had become a celebrity figure across the nation. Nate Ashton, a student marshal for College of Health and Human Development at Penn State addresses the issue of the celebrity status of college athletes. “We have seen through statistics and through personal experience as college students that super-star athletes are given celebrity status not only by the media but also by us as fellow students. Should we be bolstering these athletes up on pedestals? Are we as a culture making this worse? Or is this even a bad thing?” (Ashton, “Celebrity Status,” Nate’s Nook, April 20, 2018.) These questions proposed by Ashton show that the process of naming the college athletes “celebrities” is natural and a part of recognizing people for their hard work and skills. Despite McEnroe’s celebrity status, Gottfried was not intimidated.