Poncho Wood Rackets

[joe sch]

I believe that Pancho Segura and Pancho Gonzales were two of the greatest players of all time. Most tennis historians would not argue with the nomination of Gonzales as a possible GOAT and unfortunately for Segura, he was number two to Gonzales for a good part of his career. Both players won many major championships and could beat anybody in the game. They were very different players with Gonzales pretty much the big hitter and aggressive allcourt serve/volley player, and one of the biggest servers to ever play. Segura was a master technical player, great defender, and capable of almost any shot. He used dual hands for both FH and BH and many in the game, including Kramer believed his 2handed FH to be one of the greatest weapons ever in the history of tennis. Both players mostly played in the wood era, although Gonzales played and won many chapionships well past 40 years of age, at which time he was playing metal.

I made this post to show two very impressive autograph decal wood rackets for these two greats. Check out the pics showing how the manufactures, Spalding in this case, would use the signature and/or photo picture of the endorsing player.:

http://s920.photobucket.com/albums/ad46/woodtennis/tennis/rackets/Poncho wood rackets/

 

[coachrick]

Very nice. I believe the Gonzales Auto you have is the 'Austral' version...slightly smaller head, throat/shaft darned near symmetrical thickness vs width--quite boxy compared to the wide flat throats on most familiar woods of the time. Dunlop actually used the "Austral" name on their similar racket--used by Margaret Court at one time(and John Newcombe, IIRC).

I played a really cheap Gonzales Auto from Western Auto as my very first racket...stepped up to a NINE DOLLAR Gonzales a year or so later and then the Spalding Smasher as my answer to the ubiquitous T-2000. I played 'your' Gonzales Auto for a while after I started working in the tennis shop. Perhaps I was drawn to the Gonzales models since we shared the first name of Richard.

'Our' shop didn't sell a racket with the Segura name on it until the intro of the "Pancho Segura SweetSpot" wood(late '70s).

 

[joe sch]

Very nice. I believe the Gonzales Auto you have is the 'Austral' version...slightly smaller head, throat/shaft darned near symmetrical thickness vs width--quite boxy compared to the wide flat throats on most familiar woods of the time. Dunlop actually used the "Austral" name on their similar racket--used by Margaret Court at one time(and John Newcombe, IIRC).

I played a really cheap Gonzales Auto from Western Auto as my very first racket...stepped up to a NINE DOLLAR Gonzales a year or so later and then the Spalding Smasher as my answer to the ubiquitous T-2000. I played 'your' Gonzales Auto for a while after I started working in the tennis shop. Perhaps I was drawn to the Gonzales models since we shared the first name of Richard.

'Our' shop didn't sell a racket with the Segura name on it until the intro of the "Pancho Segura SweetSpot" wood(late '70s).

Coach, nice point on the austral racket characterists. The most famous model may have been the early maxply version that was popular with some of the Aussies like Laver.

The sweetspot is a very cool racket with the diagonal string patterm. Not many Segura rackets considering what a great player he was. Gonzales and Kramer had many different models that they endorsed. I sure do not know how Gonzales played soo well with that Smasher. I really did not like any of the metals except the aluminum composites which played more like woodys.

 

[coachrick]

I sure do not know how Gonzales played soo well with that Smasher. I really did not like any of the metals except the aluminum composites which played more like woodys.

Yep, the early extruded aluminum frames with the riveted throats were pretty shocking. Spalding made a couple of improvements in the Smasher by inserting the 'S' shaped throat bridge and going to a foam handle instead of the plastic. It was too little, too late as the most popular metal rackets in the mid-'70s had either a Zytel throat piece(Head Pro, Master, etc) or were welded like the Yonex 7500 and T2000.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

I have seen a Wright and Ditson Gonzalez that predates the Spalding version. (Spalding used the W&D brand until the latter 1940's/early 1950's when it was dropped. It is back of late as apparel brand, probably licensed by Spalding.)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737440,00.html

 

[joe sch]

I have seen a Wright and Ditson Gonzalez that predates the Spalding version. (Spalding used the W&D brand until the latter 1940's/early 1950's when it was dropped. It is back of late as apparel brand, probably licensed by Spalding.)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737440,00.html

The sporting goods company histories of the early 1900 is very interesting with Wright & Ditson being the major player and then Spalding taking the lead, after producing many of the same models with different branding. Wilson was even around in the early 1900s but was a smaller player producing only a few rackets. There were some other nice manufactures of sporting goods (tennis, baseball) in the early 1900s like Draper & Maynard, Reach, Horace Partridge, Pennant, Horsman, and Victor. Probably a good topic for another thread.

 

[joe sch]

Yep, the early extruded aluminum frames with the riveted throats were pretty shocking. Spalding made a couple of improvements in the Smasher by inserting the 'S' shaped throat bridge and going to a foam handle instead of the plastic. It was too little, too late as the most popular metal rackets in the mid-'70s had either a Zytel throat piece(Head Pro, Master, etc) or were welded like the Yonex 7500 and T2000.

My favorite metal riveted club of that era was the Rawlings Tie Breaker that John Newcombe played. It was a beast. Unfortunately any time a rivet got loose, the racket would not hit solid. The tiebreakers generally heldup very well, unlike some of the cheaper models like the Smashers. Wilson made a big metal improvement using the welding on those special t2000s which serve Jimbo soo well

 

[mctennis]

My first racquet purchase was a Spalding Pancho Gonzales wooden tennis racquet. I bought two of them. One for my girlfriend and one for me. It was a white ( or off white) and had green highlights. From what I remember. I think I donated that racquet to a charity that does traveling tennis demos in the SW area.

 

[dancraig]

I have a later Spalding Gonzalez wood racquet. It doesn't have a picture of him, has a globe instead.

 

[mctennis]

dancraig, that's probably the same model I had. It didn't have any picture of Poncho on it just his name.