Richard "Dick" Gould : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Dick Gould, the John L. Hinds Director of Tennis at Stanford University, the men’s tennis coach for thirty-eight years, and a Stanford alum, discusses his student days at Stanford, highlights from his years as a tennis coach, and the evolution of the Stanford tennis program and the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation.
- Summary
- Gould begins his interview by describing the extensive connections between Stanford University and five generations of his family. He speaks about his early life in Ventura, California, and discusses Stanford student life in the 1950s, playing on the men’s tennis team, and his decision to pursue a master’s degree in education and become a teacher and tennis coach. He describes his first teaching and coaching position at Mountain View High School and working as the head tennis coach at Foothill Junior College, where his teams won two state team championships. Hired as the Stanford men’s tennis coach in 1966, Gould explains the factors that led him to believe that the men’s tennis team could attract top quality players and win national championships. He describes the steps he took to build intercollegiate championship tennis teams at Stanford, emphasizing the primary role of recruiting and the methods he used to attract the top tennis players in the country to Stanford, successes that led to Stanford’s first NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship in 1973. Gould reflects on factors common to the seventeen NCAA championship teams he coached and memorable performances by his players and teams. He also talks about his transition in 2004 from the men’s head tennis coach to the John L. Hinds Director of Tennis. Reflecting on his style of coaching, Gould talks about the challenges of coaching high-level players, the interplay between professional and collegiate tennis, and the values he tried to impart to his players. Women’s involvement in collegiate athletics changed substantially during Gould’s lifetime, and he discusses the significant impact Title IX had on Stanford’s athletics programs in general and the Stanford tennis program specifically, ultimately resulting in the merger of the men’s and women’s tennis programs. Gould talks about hiring Anne Hill (who later became Gould’s wife) as the women’s tennis coach, and her success in building championship women’s tennis teams at Stanford. Describing Stanford’s athletic programs more generally, Gould offers his opinion on how the successes of the men’s and women’s tennis teams in the 1970s, coupled with the football team’s 1971 and 1972 Rose Bowl victories, helped launch the “decades of excellence” of Stanford athletics that have continued up to this day. He discusses the contributions of Stanford coaches in other sports and offers his impressions of the various athletic directors with whom he worked. Turning to the financial and entrepreneurial aspects of athletics at Stanford, Gould describes his methods of fundraising for the tennis program and some of the sports-related innovations he pioneered, including personal seat licensing and high tech scoreboards. Gould also talks about the tennis facilities at Stanford, describing their evolution from his student days to the construction of the Taube Family Tennis Center. Gould concludes the interview by commenting on some of the current problems facing college athletics, the most significant changes in Stanford athletics since he joined as coach in 1966, and the contributions for which he would most like to be remembered.
Description
| Type of resource | sound recording-nonmusical, text, still image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 6 video files; 6 audio files; 1 text file; 1 photograph |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | October 4, 2016 - 2016-10-10 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Gould, Richard | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Gould, Richard | |
| Interviewer | Gamlen, Tod | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Athletics |
|---|---|
| Subject | College sports |
| Subject | Tennis coaches |
| Subject | Tennis > Coaching |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Richard “Dick” Gould is the John L. Hinds Director of Tennis at Stanford. As the head coach of the men’s tennis team for nearly four decades, he has coached teams that have won numerous national men’s tennis championships and many successful players including John McEnroe. Gould was Class of ’59 at Stanford and received his MA in education in 1960. He became Stanford men’s tennis coach in the fall of 1966 and coached teams for thirty-eight years through the 2004 season when he became the director of the tennis program. |
|---|---|
| Transcript |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/mr565dd1627 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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