Sammy Giammalva - 1957

Giammalva was the first student on the first tennis team at St. Thomas and lettered all four years. A student council member his junior and senior years, he was the state junior champion in singles and doubles in 1951, and became the youngest player to win the state men’s tennis title the same year. While attending St. Thomas, Giammalva won the Orange Bowl junior championship and the River Oaks junior championship. He won the national junior indoor championship in both singles and doubles in Florida in 1952 and repeated as champion in both singles and doubles in 1953.

He attended the University of Texas in Austin and was almost unbeatable as a collegian in the mid 1950s. Giammalva is still the only Longhorn to sweep conference singles and doubles titles for three consecutive years (1955 – 1957). He reached the NCAA doubles finals in 1956 and the NCAA singles finals in 1957. Giammalva is one of only 130 men to represent the United States in Davis Cup play in the over 100 years of competition. He participated in seven ties between 1956 and 1958, going 4-1 in singles and 3-2 in doubles.

After turning professional in 1958, Sammy became the tennis coach at Rice University. In 14 seasons he led Rice to 10 SWC championships and two second place finishes at the NCAA Championships. He produced 15 All-Americans during his tenure as head coach. After leaving Rice, Sammy served as general manager and tennis director of the Metropolitan Club in downtown Houston until his retirement.