50th Anniversary of when Rosie Casals won the first Family Circle Cup

I was reminded that besides WTA’s 50th Anniversary it is also the 50th Anniversary of the first Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head, South Carolina at Harbortown. The one that Rosie Casals won.

 

 

The lighthouse that was part of the landscape  It was a beacon to both tennis & golf. I came to know Hilton Head and Family Circle Cup very well. I had the distinct pleasure to have been the first winner of the largest prize money ever paid to a man or woman…$30,000 smackers. How did this happen? The two hombres from Los Angeles,  Jack Jones by way of NY and John Moreno.

 

 

They were the Promoters who said “yes we can sell women’s tennis on tv”….enter NBC & “live” TV. Never before had a network solely televised women’s tennis. Family Circle Cup, their advertisers and owner by NY Times Gruener & Yahr.

 

 

I beat my friend and rival Billie Jean King in the semis on Clay. In the finals I was to play Nancy Richey, one of the best clay court players in the world. I know I was not but I was playing well and wasn’t half bad on clay. I would win in 3 long sets because clay is never fast!! This is my story, the one I like to tell.

 

 

“I’m down 5-2 in the third, Nancy is on a role and she’s got me where she wants me, or at least I let her think that. Never say die…. I decide that I should try some drops shots and they worked suddenly 5-2 becomes 3, 4, 5 & finally 7-5. The score was 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. The drop shots worked and I got the $30,000 check. Where did I spend it? I like to tell this story too.

 

I was living in L.A. for World Team Tennis & playing for the L.A. Strings. I was driving on Wilshire Blvd one day and saw in the window of the Beverly Hills MZB Dealer a l 450 SL bright red. It was a beautiful car and moment. I parked whatever it was that I was driving…told the salesman I wanted to buy the red car….how much?  About $22,000. I said I’ll take it. I paid and drove it out of the showroom into my garage. I was the coolest tennis player in town. I was a cruiser with the top down and white interior. I had reached the top of my ladder.

 

 

Thank you, Family Circle, Jack & John and everybody that made my victory so memorable!!

 

– Rosie Casals