San Francisco Golden Gaters
 |
|
| Sport | Team tennis |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 22, 1973 |
| Folded | March 1979 |
| League | World TeamTennis |
| Division | Western |
| Team history |
San Francisco Golden Gaters 1974–1978 |
| Based in | Oakland, California |
| Stadium | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena |
| Colors |
Purple, Orange |
| Owner(s) | Dave Peterson Larry King Cathie Anderson Jerry Diamond |
| President | Dave Peterson |
| Head coach | Frew McMillan |
| General Manager | Bob Horowitz |
| Championships | None |
| Division titles | 1975, 1976 |
| Playoff berths | 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 |
Purple, Orange
The San Francisco Golden Gaters were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The Golden Gaters won two Western Division Championships and lost in the WTT Finals both times. The team was founded in 1973 and made the playoffs in each of the five seasons in which it participated in the league. Following the 1978 season, eight of the then 10 WTT franchises folded leaving only the Golden Gaters and the Phoenix Racquets prepared to participate in the 1979 season. WTT suspended operations of the league in March 1979, ending the Golden Gaters existence.
The Golden Gaters were originally founded as WTT's charter franchise for San Francisco, California in 1973, by former tennis player Cathie Anderson and attorney Larry King, then the husband of tennis superstar Billie Jean King. Anderson was the team's first president. The team played its home matches at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California starting with the league's inaugural season in 1974 season. While the team was founded as a San Francisco franchise, it ended up playing its home matches across the San Francisco Bay in Oakland. The Golden Gaters' management sought to cultivate a San Francisco rather than an Oakland image for the team, and it did not put "Oakland" in front of its name. Nevertheless, the team did not want to alienate East Bay fans by using San Francisco as part of its name. The first name the franchise used was the Golden Gate Otters before settling on simply calling itself the Golden Gaters in its dealings with the general public. Since it would have been absurd to call the team the Golden Gate Golden Gaters, and the league used a location to identify all its teams, WTT reverted to using San Francisco, the location for which the original charter was issued, when referring to the team. They were listed in official WTT standings as the San Francisco Golden Gaters.
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