BALTIMORE BANNERS--WORLD TEAM TENNIS
The Baltimore Banners were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT) founded in 1974. The Banners lasted only one season but made a big splash by signing Jimmy Connors to a contract for $100,000 which obligated Connors to play in 22 of their 44 matches. Despite the presence of Connors, the Banners had 16 wins and 28 losses, and finished in third place in the Atlantic Section missing the playoffs. The Banners were contracted by WTT on February 1, 1975.
The Banners were originally founded as WTT's charter franchise for Phoenix, Arizona in 1973, by Gary Davidson. Before the team ever had a name in Phoenix, Davidson sold it to Howard Fine, Gerald Klauber, Joseph Rivkin and Robert E. Bradley, Jr. The new owners relocated the team to Baltimore, Maryland with a plan to have it play its home matches at the Baltimore Civic Center starting with the league's inaugural season in 1974 season and name it the Baltimore Banners.
The first match in Banners history was a 35–20 home victory against the Hawaii Leis on May 8, 1975. The Banners started the season strong and had a record of 5–3 after eight matches. However, after a quarter of the season had passed, the Banners lost 23 of their final 33 matches to finish with 16 wins and 28 losses, third place in the Atlantic Section. Connors’ signing with the Banners was controversial. The International Lawn Tennis Federation viewed WTT as a rogue organization, afraid that the garish American league (which encouraging very un-tennis behavior like heckling and cheerleaders) would lure top touring pros away from prominent summer tour events such as the Italian and French Opens. The French Tennis Federation retaliated against Connors and WTT by banning him from entering the French Open in 1974. Connors sued unsuccessfully to play and was ultimately excluded. Connors had the highest game-winning percentage in men's singles for the 1974 WTT season. His exclusion from the French Open denied him the opportunity to become the first male player since Rod Laver to win all four Major singles titles in a calendar year.
Besides Connors, the Banners also featured Bob Carmichael, Joyce Hume, Kathy Kuykendall, Audrey Morse, Jay Mukerjea and Betty Stove. Aussie Don Candy was the Banners’ coach. The club did not perform well and finished the 1974 season with a 16-28 record. Only four of the league’s sixteen teams fared worse. The team also fared poorly at the box office – only 761 fans showed up at the 11,000-seat Baltimore Civic Center for the team’s second home match, on a Saturday night in May 1974. The Banners’ final home appearance on August 17, 1974 drew an announced crowd of only 1,065.
During the ensuing off season, seven of the original sixteen World Team Tennis franchises went out of business, reducing the league from 16 to 10 franchise for 1975. The Banners were among the casualties.
At the WTT owners meeting on February 1, 1975, each team was required to post a $500,000 letter of credit. The Banners failed to do so and were contracted by WTT. A dispersal draft was conducted to distribute the players among the remaining teams in the league. (Source Wikipedia and Fun While It Lasted)
