Watching Clint Eastwood in his latest role in “The Mule” brought to mind when the superstar lent his presence to the Northern Nevada Area in a big way. It was in September of 1975 nearly 44 years ago that Clint hosted his Celebrities Tennis Tournament at the Hyatt Hotel at Incline Village Lake Tahoe.
Although I had played several Tennis Matches with Clint and hoisted a few beers at the bar with him the biggest treat I had was when he invited me aboard his state of the art RV and we toured the North Shore for a couple of hours. He explained that he used the vehicle as his dressing room when he was on location so it was well stocked with adult libations.
The tennis event came about because of two unrelated occurrences. Eastwood had canceled his annual tennis tourney, which was previously held in Carmel, California because his tennis pro, Don Hamilton, had been let go by the facility there. The other event was the purchase of the King’s Castle Hotel/Casino at Incline by the Hyatt Corporation. When Hyatt decided to plan for a Grand Opening at the end of the summer season it seemed a natural “fit” to propose to them that they make the Eastwood tennis tournament a part of the celebration.
Working with my tennis partner from the Bay area, former 49er Ed Balatti, we set up a meeting with the head of the Hyatt Corp., Hugh “Skip” Friend. After a four hour “pitch” we convinced Skip that the tennis tourney would garner lots of press and give the Hyatt a strong entry into the Tahoe market. The next step was to approach Eastwood and convince him that Tahoe was the best spot which to move his well-established tournament. Indeed at the time his Carmel/Monterey tennis event was beginning to do for the racquet sport what the Bing Crosby Clambake Golf Tournament was doing for the links game.
Eastwood, no stranger to the North Shore of the lake because he often vacationed there many times as the guest of Incline realtor Rod Campbell, who along with developer Art Wood pioneered the affluent community was a relatively easy “sell” after we had played a spirited doubles match at the Tahoe Racquet Club.
We then enlisted the aid of Don Hamilton to do the “nuts and bolts” of running the tournament and contacting the thirty or forty celebrities that gave the tournament its drawing power.
George Sayre, the premier contractor at Incline, set about building grandstands and a box seat area at the Tahoe facility and the publicity began to grind out-particularly in the Bay area adjacent to Northern California. We were immensely helped in this phase due to the fact that the country’s best columnist at that time, Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle, was a tennis buff himself and one of the first celebrities that we booked.
Other stars began accepting and soon we had a list that contained names like Merv Griffin, Lorne Green, Dan Rowan, Doug McClure, Gene Hackman, Pilar Wayne, Glen Campbell, R.C. “Alley Oop” Ovens, Cornel Wilde, Rick Barry, Donna Mills, Lloyd Bridges, Bernie Kopel, Frankie Albert and a dozen more entertainers and sports figures. The format for the program was a Men’s Doubles and a Mixed Doubles competition that lasted for three days. Tennis Club pros from Northern and Southern California were also invitees and they were paired for the celebrities. The other teams were made up of “high roller” types that did their best playing at night on the tables of the Hyatt Casino. A number of high profile California politicians of that era were also guests and they provided the Society Page fodder for the major Bay Area newspapers that sent sports and society reporters and editors to cover the event.
Since most attendees wanted to see the host, Eastwood, in action along with the enormously popular Merv Griffin, it was an easy matter to make sure the two featured stars would advance through the tournament-they were paired with the best pros.
Off of the court, highlight of the event was the Saturday night “Gala” which was put on in the spacious showroom that existed at the time at the Hyatt. Ebullient Merv Griffin was the MC and he cajoled even stoic figures like Eastwood onstage to participate in the humorous hijinks. One newspaper columnist quickly tallied up the pay scale of all the stars involved and said it was probably the most expensive floor show ever held in Nevada up to that point in time-had the Hyatt not picked up the tab.
Attendance wise it was the largest event ever staged at the lake, with stands packed to over flowing and cars parked on both sides of the road from the Mt Rose highway to Country Club Drive.
Now that Eastwood has redefined his career as a solid, first-rate director, as well as a star, he has eschewed the tennis game and is focused on more esoteric pursuits. However, in 1975 and for three years following he gave the North Shore of the lake a tremendous shot in the arm and firmly established the Hyatt as an “in” place for jetsetters of that era.