The Two Panchos – By: Jack Neworth

Written by: Staff on 7th November 2012

The Two Panchos - By: Jack Neworth |

It was on the tennis courts at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1969, that the “rankest amateur U.S. Champion,” now 41-years-old, and his closest friend, a once impoverished bow-legged rickets-survivor from Ecuador, plotted to take on the greatest player in the world, Rod Laver, in a winner-take-all $10,000 match at Madison Square Garden.

Pancho Gonzalez and Pancho Segura, two charismatic pioneers in men’s professional tennis, had a friendship that lasted forty-five years. But, as much as these two had so remarkably in common, they couldn’t have been more different. Even in the name Pancho.

Segura was born Francisco Olegario Segura in 1921 in the impoverished section of the seaport village of Guayaquil, Ecuador. By the time he was ten he had suffered from malaria and rickets, which left him severely bow-legged. He came by the name Pancho naturally, however, as it was a common nickname for Francisco.

Gonzalez was born Richard Alonso Gonzalez in 1928 in a working-class section of Los Angeles. At 7, he suffered a gash in the face from the door handle of a passing car, which left him with a prominent scar on his cheek. He came by Pancho not so naturally as it was the name many Caucasians derisively gave to Mexicans.

The two Panchos, both handsome and dark-skinned, born 3,500 miles and worlds apart, would become stars in the all-white, country-club sport of tennis. (At 6′ 3,” Gonzalez was known as “Big Pancho” whereas 5’6″ Segura was “Little Pancho.”) They would face each other dozens of times throughout their illustrious careers, five times for the Professional World’s Championship.

Segura, nicknamed “Sneaky” because he was deceptively fast and ever-tenacious, won the Championship twice while Gonzalez,cat-quick and with a cannonball serve, won three times. (Gonzalez would be #1 in the world for eight years, which is still a record.)

Big Pancho and Little Pancho had remarkably different personalities. “Segoo” was gregarious and affable. He believed that tennis was the ultimate test of democracy, “It doesn’t take more than a racket and heart to play this game.” Gonzalez, however, was moody and had a temper that made John McEnroe seem like a choir boy. Segura joked about Gonzalez’ fiery demeanor, “Pancho was very even-tempered…always angry!”

With childhoods scarred by the Depression, tennis for both Panchos would become far more than a game. Skinny and frail, six-year-old Segura helped his father, an overworked and underpaid caretaker at an exclusive tennis club in Ecuador.

One day little Pancho found a racket in the trash and miraculously taught himself to play. (So small that he could barely hold the racket, he developed a two-handed forehand that would one day be among the most feared shots in all of tennis.)

As a young boy with six siblings in an impoverished family, Pancho would often stare at the luxury liners in the harbor and dream of one day sailing to America. As portrayed in Little Pancho: The Life of Tennis Legend Pancho Segura by Caroline Seebohm, young Pancho’s skill and victories on the courts grew over the years to where he became a national Ecuadorian sports hero.

As fate, luck, and his extraordinary tennis talent would have it, Segura would sail to New York City without being able to speak a word of English. Later, he was discovered by the coach for the University of Miami tennis team and offered a full scholarship.

Imagine going from a small village in Ecuador to a major American university. Undaunted, Segura would win the NCAA tennis singles championship three years in a row, ’43, ’44, and ’45, which is still a college record.

Meanwhile, 12-year-old Pancho Gonzalez’s first racket was a birthday present from his mother. (Bought at the May Company on sale for $0.51.) Living in the shadow of the L.A. Coliseum constructed for the 1932 Olympics, Pancho taught himself to play on the concrete public courts at Exposition Park, which were within walking distance of his house.

If young Segura was obedient (at 12 went to work to help his family) young Gonzalez was ever-rebellious. (Quit school at 15 and in trouble with police.) Finally, after a stint in the Navy (AWOL/dishonorable discharge), at 19 Pancho devoted himself to tennis. Remarkably, at 20 he was the last seed in the 1948 U.S. Championship, which he won, much to the dismay of the tennis establishment. (Thus the sports page headline, “The rankest amateur champion ever.”)

In ’49 Gonzalez, with his movie-star good looks, reached the U.S. Championship final again, this time against the heavily-favored Ted Schroeder. Down two sets to love, Pancho shocked the world with a thrilling comeback victory that was the longest in Championship history.

With families to support, both Panchos turned professional and were banned from Grand Slam events. Had the Open Era come ten or twenty years earlier, there’s no telling the number of major titles each might have won.

As it was, with their tremendous tennis talents, the two Panchos traveled the world and kept company with the rich and famous. (Whom Gonzalez often didn’t care for but Segura became the teaching pro to the Hollywood stars, a long way from Guayaquil.) Oh yes, as for that winner-take-all match at Madison Square Garden? Gonzalez at 41, beat Laver at 31 in five thrilling sets.

But In 1995 Gonzalez finally met an opponent that he couldn’t defeat, cancer. A day before his death, he spoke from his hospital bed to Segura who was at Wimbledon. So it was that Big Pancho and Little Pancho said a final goodbye. (Segura couldn’t book a flight from London but later confessed to friends, even if he had, he couldn’t bear to see Gonzalez die.)

Both Panchos are rightfully in the Tennis Hall of Fame. And, in 2011, Pancho Gonzalez was inducted into the prestigious U.S. Open Court of Champions. Meanwhile, Pancho Segura is 91 and lives in La Costa, California.

Against all odds, overcoming life-threatening childhood illnesses and accidents, poverty and discrimination, the two Panchos changed the face of tennis forever.

(Jack Neworth is a freelance writer in Santa Monica, and co-author of the screenplay, Men in White about the unique friendship between Pancho Gonzalez and Pancho Segura. Jack can be reached at jnsmdp@aol.com.)

Topics: 10sballs.com, Francisco Olegario Segura, Jack Neworth, Pancho Gonzalez, Pancho Segura, Richard Alonso Gonzalez, Sports, tennis legends, Tennis News