Francisco Segura

Pancho Segura was one of the most colorful characters in the history of men’s tennis, and he had one of the greatest collegiate careers, as well. A three-time NCAA singles champion at Miami from 1943-45, and the doubles champion in 1945 with Thomas Burke, one of Segura’s greatest weapons was his two-handed forehand. Tennis legend Jack Kramer called the two-hander “the single greatest shot in the history of tennis.” A native of Ecuador, Segura went on to be ranked among the top 10 in the U.S. six times. He won the U.S. Clay Court singles title in 1944 and the doubles title (with fellow Hall of Famer Billy Talbert) in 1944 and ’45. He reached the semifinals of the U.S. Nationals four straight years (1942-45) and made it to the third round of Wimbledon and the French Open in 1946. After his playing career ended, Segura became the tennis director at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, where one of his students was a young Jimmy Connors. More than 50 years after arriving as a freshman at Miami, Segura became a U.S. citizen in 1991. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Segura died in 2017 at age 96.