More than one dozen tennis Hall of Famers with a combined 170 Grand Slam titles (singles/doubles/mixed), legendary newswoman Barbara
Waltersand more than 600 tennis aficionados were on-hand to honor Billie
Jean King, Sony Ericsson and the Hall of Fame Class of 2008 - Michael
Chang, Eugene L. Scott and Mark McCormack - at the 28th annual "Legends Ball" to benefit the International
Tennis Hall of Fame on September 5 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
Lead by Martina Navratilova's 59 Grand Slam titles, the Hall of Fame guest list also included Ms. King (39), Pam
Shriver (22), Vic Seixas (15), Tony
Trabert (10), Stan Smith (7), Virginia
Wade (7), Jim Courier (4), Guillermo
Vilas (4), Richard "Dick" Savitt (2), and Michael
Chang (1).
The Legends Ball, emceed by ESPN's Cliff Drysdale and held
annually since 1980, brings the tennis world together to celebrate the history
of the game and honor some of the sport's great contributors all while raising
money for the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum. EMI/ERG recording
artist Wendy
Moten performed for the crowd which included; the event's Player co-chairs
Jim Courier, Monica
Seles and Owen Davidson plus co-chairs, Phil
de Picciotto, president of Octagon Athletes & Personalities, Alexander
M. Seaver, managing director of Stadium Capital Management LLC
and his wife Christine Seaver,
and Peter
Palandjian, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation
and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame Board of Directors and
his wife Minou Palandjian. In addition to honoring the "Class
of 2008" the
event also featured Ms. Walters presenting the third annual Eugene L. Scott
Award to Billie Jean King.
Guests also had the opportunity to bid upon once-in-a-lifetime experiences and unique items in a silent and live auction with all proceeds benefiting the International Tennis Hall of Fame. More than $170,000 was raised from the 50 items. Highlights included a hit session with Andre Agassi ($16,000); a 2009 Wimbledon get-away ($14,000); a trip to South Africa ($13,000) a VIP package for the 2009 U.S. Open ($10,000) and golf packages to Winged Foot Golf Club, the Stanwich Club, Plainfield Country Club and Trump National.
The mission of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, based in Newport, RI, is to preserve the history of tennis, inspire and encourage junior tennis development, enshrine tennis heroes and heroines and provide a landmark for tennis enthusiasts worldwide.
