CMC75 Moments: 1981 Men's Tennis Wins First NCAA Title
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College, which begins on July 1, we are reliving many of the great moments from our athletic department history over the 75 days from April 17 to July 1. After the 75 days are complete, we will be publishing more great moments from your submissions all throughout the 75th Anniversary year. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
1981 Men's Tennis Earns First NCAA Championship for CMS
The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps athletic department had a national championship to its credit at the NAIA level in men's swimming and diving in 1967, but the men's tennis program was the first to break the ice at the NCAA Division III level, taking a share of the 1981 national championship. The Stags finished second to Redlands in the SCIAC, but earned their way to the NCAA Division III Nationals at Salisbury, Maryland, where they competed with Swarthmore, Bates, Gustavus Adolphus and Kalamazoo.
The format was different at nationals back then, where instead of having teams go head-to-head in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, all of the entrants competed in singles and doubles tournaments and points were given towards the team total based on each individual match win. CMS was one point behind Swarthmore entering the singles finals, when Donovan Jones came back fo defeat Bud Schultz of Bates in the finals, giving the Stags the nine points needed to share the title and for CMS to put the first NCAA Championship trophy in its case.
In addition to the national title for Jones, Steve Poorman, Bob Mullen and Mike Krems were members of the All-SCIAC team, while Bill Konya teamed with Jones to win the SCIAC doubles championship. The nucleus came close to a second title in 1983, when the format was switched to the more familiar quarters-semis-finals format, defeating Gustavus Adolphus 5-4 and Kalamazoo 5-4 to reach the finals, before Redlands won a 5-4 match in an All-SCIAC national finals as Poorman and Jones earned All-America honors again, along with Alex Cioth and Mark Nys. Head Coach Hank Krieger was inducted into the CMS Hall of Fame after his retirement in 1999.
Bill Konya:
That was one of the coolest things that has happened in my life. In the previous year (1980) we hosted the D3 Championships and finished No. 2 nationally. We lost seniors A.J. Shaka & Derek Werner, who played No. 1 & No. 4 singles, respectively, and were our No. 1 dubs team. At first it seemed unlikely that we would be as successful in '81, but then came one of our best groups of freshmen ever. Donovan Jones, Mike Krems, and Barry Shaka would all go on to be All-Americans at some point in their careers, although for Barry it would be as a Sagehen (We still love you, Barry!). Jeff Gamer would go on to be Wall-of-Famer. Rob Case, Steve Talley and Jerome Haig would be varsity lettermen. The freshmen alone would have been a good D3 team. Returning lettermen included sophomores Steve Poorman and Willie Konya; junior captain Bob Mullen; and seniors Bob Taylor and Henry Welsh.
According to my records for that season, we went 2-7 against D1 and 14-6 against the rest. We had the toughest schedule of any of the four years I played. Steve Poorman, who played No. 1 most of the time, probably played the toughest group of opponents faced by any Stag player ever. During March 13-14, we played against New Mexico Military, Swarthmore, Notre Dame, and Yale. After semi-recovering, during March 21-22 we played against U. of Washington, U. of Colorado, Dartmouth, and Northwestern. The two D1 wins came against Dartmouth (6-3) and CS Fullerton (7-2). Probably one of our best results was a 3-6 loss to CS Long Beach. Thanks to Coach Krieger for that amazing schedule! A highlight of the season came during our road trip to San Diego when we went to see U.S.A. vs. Mexico in Davis Cup play at La Costa.
Krems played a lot at No. 4 but as a redshirt from the Naval Academy was banned from post-season play. So for the national championships in singles, we sent our No. 1 Poorman, No. 2 Jones, No. 3 Mullen, and No. 5 Konya. In dubs we sent Mullen/Poorman and Taylor/Welsh. Off we went to Salisbury State, Maryland. Coach Hank Krieger, the most organized person I know, arranged a scrimmage for us at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. It was a great warm up to the tournament and an unforgettable experience just to be there. Another great memory is of a classic seafood dinner in Ocean City with newspaper table covers, crab cracking tools, and little else.
I think that there were a lot of upsets in round 1 of the singles tournament, but Jones won, Mullen won, and I pulled out a 3 setter. Poorman/Mullen won their 1st match in dubs. With 4 points after round 1, we must have been near the top of the standings. No Stags got past the second round except for Jones, who just kept winning, as he often did. Jones only dropped two sets in the tournament. In the second round against Eugene Jones (no relation) from UCSD, Donovan lost the first set 0-6. The second set was tight with a tiebreak at 6-all. I recall an amazing point which seemed to have about 50 strokes. It must have been one of the best points Eugene ever played, but he lost it. Donovan went on to win the tiebreak, and then the 3rd set 6-3.
Back in my dorm room I had some old Peanuts comic books, which I would occasionally read to escape the Mudd grind. I decided to take them to nationals, just in case. I was rooming with Jones (my dubs partner for most of the year), and one afternoon I returned to our room to find Donovan laying down and cracking up with a comic book in hand. I thought to myself, "he sure seems relaxed". In the singles final, Jones played Bud Schultz from Bates, who would play on the ATP tour and achieve a career high of No. 40 in the world in 1986. Jones was one of the most amazing players I've ever seen. Lacking size and a big serve, he was steady, had uncanny shot selection and sublime volleys. Jones lost the first set to Schultz 3-6, but then won 11 of the next 13 games to serve for the match at 5-2 in the third set. Are we about to be champs? Not so fast. Schultz breaks, holds, and breaks again to tie the set at 5-5. Are we about to be runners-up? Not so fast. Jones breaks and holds for the 7-5 third set win!!!
The match was covered by a fledgling ESPN, and I watched the match a couple more times at home that summer. After Jones's win, we were on cloud 9. On the plane ride home, they announced that the national champs were on board, and we got a nice ovation. It was so sweet! With the win, Jones qualified for the NCAA D1 singles tournament where he lost in the first round to singles & doubles All-American Nduka Odizor, 4-6, 4-6. Odizor would go on to the ATP tour and reach a career high of No. 52 in the world in 1989. In summary, the best thing I did at nationals was win a singles match. The second-best thing might have been bringing those Peanuts comic books.
My academic experience at Mudd was like the main course of a dinner, and playing tennis for the Stags was the dessert. Imagine a big ole banana split w/ four scoops of ice cream, 1 for each year. You better believe that the cherry is on top of that sophomore scoop!
Thanks to my teammates, Coach Krieger, Asst. Coach Kronseder, and the entire CMS Athletic Program!
1981 CMS Men's Tennis Roster
Head Coach: Hank Krieger
Assistant Coach: Steve Kronsender
Norm Bowling (So., CMC)
Rob Case (Fr., CMC)
Mike Colbert (Jr., CMC)
Jeff Gamer (Fr., CMC)
Jerome Haig (Fr., CMC)
Donovan Jones (Fr., CMC)
Bill Konya (So., HMC)
Mike Krems (Fr., CMC)
Peter Larkham (Fr., CMC)
Dave Metzler (Fr., CMC)
Mike Mleko (Fr., CMC)
Bob Mullen (Sr., CMC)
Steve Poorman (So., CMC) - pictured
Dean Powelson (So., CMC)
Rob Pulver (Fr., CMC)
Rob Stempler (Fr., CMC)
Steve Talley (Fr., HMC)
Bob Taylor (Sr., CMC)
Henry Welsh (Sr., CMC)