There’s a lot that’s new about this year’s Legg Mason Tennis Classic—not one but two huge video board displays in the stadium for watching players challenge close calls, five new hard courts to accommodate the second year of the tournament’s women’s division and a major media advertising campaign—but one thing remains the same: the behind-the-scenes presence of Donald Dell, the tournament’s co-founder and indefatigable booster.
A lawyer for more than 35 years, Dell had only been in practice for two years—as an associate with Washington’s Hogan & Hartson—when he was asked by Sargent Shriver to join him in the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) as his special assistant. “I did,” says Dell, “and basically just carried his briefcase—but it was a hell of an interesting briefcase.” By then Dell was already beginning to see that his “goal in life was not to become a partner in a law firm.” In March of 1968, Shriver urged Dell, who’d been a top-ranked amateur tennis player (No. 4 in U.S. men’s), to take on the job of captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team. He did, and before long found himself deeply involved in another passion, the presidential campaign of Robert F. (“Bobby”) Kennedy. Dell says, “When he was assassinated, I pulled out of politics and threw myself into the Davis Cup team.”
The young lawyer-tennis player didn’t realize it, but his vocation and his avocation were about to merge. In 1968, American tennis had “gone open”—amateurs and professionals could compete in the same tournaments—and as a result the game was about to enter its boom years. The game benefited in no small part from the TV coverage of tennis by the inspired pairing of the rather dry Dell with the ever-so-colorful Bud Collins. Dell remained a close friend and adviser to two of his former Davis Cup players, Stan Smith of California and a tall, thin and talented African American from nearby Richmond named Arthur Ashe. In 1970, Ashe decided to turn pro and sought out Dell for advice.
“We were in a cab on the East Side of New York,” recalls Dell, “coming back from our third meeting with the sports agent Mark McCormack, who represented golfer Arnold Palmer and had just signed Olympic skier Jean-Claude Killy. Arthur turned to me and said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’” Dell asked, “Do what?” and Ashe said, “Manage my affairs, be my lawyer? If you do, Stan will join us and we can all work together.” That was the beginning. Today, several hundred clients later, Dell oversees a sports-related empire that has made him a wealthy man. He says proudly, “I was Arthur’s lawyer for 23 years—until his death in 1993—and I still represent Stan Smith.”
In 1969, Davis Cup captain Dell and fellow Washingtonian John Harris co-founded the big-draw tournament here. They ran it for three years until 1972 when Dell got the idea of giving it to the Washington Tennis Patrons, now called the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation (WTEF), but retaining management of the tournament by his company, later known as ProServ (which he eventually sold to SFX).
“Today,” explains Dell, “the net profits are shared between WTEF and the management company, SFX. My concept was very simple: I wanted to bring in tennis fans and their dollars and promote something in Washington to give the money to tennis, and the profits back to funding junior tennis programs in the city—and that’s exactly what the WTEF is all about.”
This year’s Legg Mason Tennis Classic (its official name for the last 13 years) will again have a boldfaced roster of male stars. (As the women’s tournament is new, and its prize money of $100,000 is about a tenth that of the men’s purse, it cannot, under The Association of Tennis Professionals rules, attract the biggest names. Instead, it is a smaller, different tournament in the USTA Women’s Challenge Series). Who will return? Andy Roddick, last year’s winner who is ranked No. 5 by the ATP; local favorite (and comeback kid) James Blake, from Harvard University; Australian champion Lleyton Hewitt (winner of Legg Mason Tennis Classic in 2004); and the number one player in Asia, Paradorn Srichaphan.
Other champions will include the world’s top doubles team, the fun-to-watch Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, from California; exciting young player Sam Querrey, also from California; and Andy Murray of the United Kingdom. But what about Washington’s tennis sweetheart, Andre Agassi? “Andre called us last week,” says Dell, “and told us he will be here if he is fit. He loves the Legg Mason Classic.” If Agassi doesn’t make it, the loss will also be felt at the gate. According to Dell, “Andre draws five times more fans than anyone else.”
Dell says he has few, if any, regrets about his long-ago decision to concentrate on tennis courts instead of lawyering. “I don’t miss the daily practice of law at all because I often found it boring and tedious, but I use my experience in law
every day, reading contracts, different letters of agreement governing player contracts, endorsement contracts and advertising deals.”
Dell, who has done so much for the sport, brings it all full circle by giving back in another area. “About five years ago, I went back to the University of Virginia Law School,” his alma mater, “and started teaching a law course called Professional Sports and the Law.” Serving up an appropriate tennis analogy to describe the experience, he says, “I love it.”