CMC75 Landmark Years (2009): Biszantz Family Tennis Center Opens
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments and landmark years from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you would like to add to the memories of one of these moments, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moment, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments Featured in This Story
1956 Men's Basketball: Biszantz Earns First-Team All-SCIAC Honors
1963 Men's Tennis: Stags Win First SCIAC Title
1981 Men's Tennis: Stags Win National Title
2006 Women's Tennis: Athenas Reach NCAA Quarterfinals
2006 Men's Tennis: Stags Defeat UC Santa Cruz in Regional Finals
2011 Women's Tennis: CMS Wins Regional Title at Biszantz
By the end of the 2000s, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps had established itself as a Division III powerhouse in sports, but there was some thought that the athletics infrastructure needed an upgrade to reflect the success of its teams.
Ducey Gymnasium celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007, and a lot had changed in the five decades since it opened up to welcome ten new Claremont-Mudd varsity programs in 1958-59. The athletic department had more than doubled to 21 teams, with Athenas added to the Stags beginning in 1976-77, doubling the need for locker room space.
CMS made some slow and steady progress, adding Pritzlaff Field for soccer in 1984, and upgrading to the regulation-sized Axelrood Pool in 1993, but there was still a way to go. In addition to Ducey, the CMS tennis courts had been around since the early days. Both the CMS men's and women's tennis programs had become nationally prominent, including a national championship for the Stags in 1981. And right around the time the blueprints were being passed around in 2006, both teams reached nationals, as the Athenas finished third after reaching the NCAA Semifinals and the Stags beat the defending national champions to reach the quarterfinals.
There wasn't enough of a footprint to expand both facilities, without taking away Parents Field, an important part of campus and athletics life. So the first step in the grand plan was creating a new tennis center, utilizing the space south of Sixth Street and freeing up some space on the north side.
One of the top early athletes in the history of CMC helped make that happen. Gary Biszantz was actually not a tennis player at CMS; golf was his spring sport of choice (pictured swinging an iron at right), as he conistently shot in the low 70s and finished second at the SCIAC Golf Championships in 1955.
He was also a heck of a basketball player, earning first-team All-SCIAC honors for Pomona-Claremont (head shot below). He was the first Claremont Men's College athlete to earn first-team All-SCIAC in basketball, after two previous CMC representatives on the Sagehens (Bob Essig and Pete Welsh) were second-team selections.
Biszantz stayed involved with golf, and added horse racing to his list of passions, after graduating from CMC in 1956 and starting a successful business career. He won numerous club championship at El Dorado Country Club, Rancho Santa Fe Country Club and Glendora Country Club, and became a trustee at Claremont McKenna.
While serving on the board of trustees, Biszantz was at the forefront of pushing for the athletics facilities to be upgraded in order to get CMS Athletics to the next level, and he made it his goal to get "shovels in the ground" to start making that progress. He teamed with some of the CMC alumni from the early years from various sports, including football player/track and field star Ernie Smith '56, football player Rusty Grosse '57, tennis player Dave Moffett '64, who was part of the first great tennis team for the Stags, and men's soccer player John Pritzlaff '76 to coordinate the fundraising to help bring about the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
The new facility opened for business in January of 2009, and served as the host facility for the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships that spring. It was named the Biszantz Family Tennis Center, largely since Gary wasn't the only CMC alum in the family when the facility opened. Gary's daughter Suzanne Biszantz graduated from Claremont McKenna in 2008, and was present for the groundbreaking ceremony in April, right before her commencement.
The Biszantz Family Tennis Center was anything but an afterthought to create room for an indoor facility on the other side of the street. Far from it, in fact. When it opened, it immediately became the envy of most Division III programs around the country. The state-of-the-art training and competition center, considered one of the finest in collegiate tennis, opened with 12 Plexipave courts complete with professional standard lighting, a centrally located observation deck overlooking all courts, a team room, medical services area and two electronic scoreboards displaying results from each of the twelve courts.
People outside of the Claremont community also took notice, as Biszantz won the 2009 Outdoor Tennis Facility of the Year Award presented by the American Sports Builders Association, while the United States Tennis Association (USTA) chose it as one of seven winners of its 29th annual USTA Facility Awards Program, recognizing excellence in construction and/or renovation of tennis facilities throughout the country.
"The Center is incredibly spectator-friendly, either for college dual matches or tournament play," says CMC Head Men's Tennis Coach, Paul Settles at the time. "And there really isn't a place at the facility where you don't have a great view of several courts. It is the ideal facility to play, watch, or coach tennis."
After hosting the men's NCAA Tournament in 2009, Biszantz Family Tennis Center was quickly chosen again to serve as a host site, this time under a new format with both the men's and women's championships taking place together. The Athenas and Stags hosted regionals first, and both came through against tough competition (the Stags defeating UC Santa Cruz 5-3 and the Athenas defeating Pomona-Pitzer 5-2, avenging a loss in the SCIAC Championship) to qualify for nationals at their new home facility.
The week ended on a high note, as Kristin Lim (pictured at right playing at Biszantz) became the first CMS Women's Tennis player to win a national championship, taking the NCAA Division III singles title. Lim dominated the tournament, winning all five matches in straight sets, and only one of those 10 sets was as close as 6-4.
Lim's performance was the first of many great tennis moments after the building of Biszantz, as both the Stags (2015) and Athenas (2018) won team national championships over the last decade, with the Athenas doing so at home with a 5-4 win over Emory. Warren Wood and Skyler Butts won back-to-back singles championships for the Stags in 2015 and 2016 (Wood and Joe Dorn won the doubles title in 2015 as well, giving Wood the Division III triple crown).
In 2019, CMS had an All-Athena doubles championship with Caroline Cox and Catherine Allen defeating Sarah Bahsoun and Nicole Tan in three sets, only the second time ever that two doubles teams from the same school have met in the women's final.
The last full season of tennis, both the Athenas and Stags ended as national runners-up in 2019, and in the last interrupted season, the CMS Women's Tennis team was ranked No. 1 in 2020 and the CMS Men's Tennis team was ranked No. 2.
CMS was also going to serve as host of the 2021 NCAA Division III Championships again before the pandemic forced it to be relocated, and it recently earned the right to bring the championships back in 2025.
"We are thrilled to be picked to host NCAAs again in 2025," said Head Women's Tennis Coach David Schwarz. "We think we have one of the best college tennis facilities in the country, if not the best, and hosting the NCAA championships is a perfect way to showcase that. I know all the Athenas and Stags are excited about this opportunity."
The excellence of the Biszantz Family Tennis Center has clearly fueled the excellence of the CMS tennis programs who call it home. Which was Gary Biszantz' plan all along.