Donald Dell – Tennis Icon and Sports Agent

Our Town with host Andy Ockershausen - Homegrown History

"There are a few people in the world you can say you’ve known for over 50 years and Donald Dell is one of them." says Our Town host Andy Ockershausen. Donald Dell, Tennis Icon Andy reads a description of Donald Dell from a Washington Post article that pretty much sums up who he is: Arguably the most powerful man in his sport, Dell is a political animal. He was an advance man for Robert Kennedy in 1966 and in RFK's presidential campaign in 1968, and in style and substance he remains a Kennedy man, equally idealistic and well-versed in practical politics. He has Establishment credentials - Landon School '56, Yale '60, Virginia Law '64 - but can wear brass sknuckles with his Ivy League suit. He is polished, sometimes charming, but not bashful about using strong-arm tactics. As a sports agent and founder of ProServ (now known as SFX), he’s represented some of the biggest names in sports such as Michael Jordan, Arthur Ashe, Moses Malone, Stan Smith, James Worthy, and John Lucas . . .In 1972, Jack Kramer and Donald Dell founded the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The bylaws were written in Dell's offices, and he was the first Executive Director. He ran the ATV and was the general counsel for eight year. Donald Dell as a Tennis Player, Advance Man for RFK and Lawyer As the youngest captain ever of the US Davis Cup Team, Donald talks about the early years and how he got started in tennis. He was fortunate to have lived across the street in Bethesda from Edgemoor Tennis Club. “I lived about 50 yards away from the club and I’d play all day long, all summer long.” Andy added that Edgemoor was a hotbed of good players like Fred McNair and Fred Kovaleski. One of the great things about Edgemoor was that they had a rule, if you were a good player - highly ranked, you could get right in without having to wait, so that great players wanted to play there and Donald got the benefit of playing with the best in the sport. Playing championship tennis opened the world up to Donald to associate with movers and shakers which allowed him to take advantage of opportunities he wouldn't have otherwise. He tells a funny story about his experiences as a player in Russia, over the course of 4 years, Donald went to Russia 8 times. He was approached by the CIA to help with the defection of two top Russian players. Just as he was about to close the deal to help one of the players defect, his Russian player came home to find his beautiful wife in bed with the gym teacher. The player pulled a gun out of the night stand and shot the teacher dead. The Russian was sentence to 8 years in jail. The late Robert Kennedy was a very dear friend of Donald's. Kennedy hired Donald as his advance man of his 1968 presidential campaign. Donald was responsible for hiring Rosie Greer and other football players as part of his security detail. Bobby and his wife Ethel loved tennis and Donald played with them on a regular basis and taught him how to hit a backhand. Andy asked about Donald’s decision to go out on his own after his former law firm invited him to set up shop at Hogan & Hartson representing top tennis players. Donald said, “I decided to do my own thing with one other person." "I was really ironically the first tennis agent anywhere in the world January 1970, when I retired from the Davis Cup. . . what really helped me the most was having been a player, and being a winning captain on the Davis Cup Team." Gonzales v. Pasarell, Wooden Tennis Rackets Andy and Donald swap stories about the two day, no tie breaker Wimbeldon match between 41 year old Pancho Gonzales and a much younger Charlie Pasarell. At the time it was the longest match in history of Wimbledon. Donald and Andy continue to discuss the way tennis has changed in the past 40 years. Donald remarked that the game was all different then - equipment, surface, and how the players play, are the difference. The matches were also much shorter.