2006 Hall of Fame Inductees
Grant Connell, Mayme MacDonald, Pat Galbraith and Jonathan Stark
Grant Connell
Grant Connell was raised in Vancouver, Canada, and has participated in sports since he was a teenager. He attended Texas A&M University on a tennis scholarship and was an All-American in doubles in 1984 and in singles in 1985.
Joining the professional circuit in 1986, Connell won 22 career doubles titles during his eleven seasons on the ATP tour. He won his first four with fellow Canadian Glenn Michibata. Upon Michibata’s retirement from the tour, Connell joined Pat Galbraith. The Connell-Galbraith tandem won 12 titles together including the 1995 season ending Doubles Championship tournament. Connell was a three-time Wimbledon doubles finalist, once each with Michibata, Galbraith and Byron Black, and was ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles with Galbraith in 1993.
A lefthander, Connell’s best singles ranking was No. 67 in the world which he reached in June 1991. His best tour singles results were reaching the semi-finals of the 1991 Chicago, 1991 Singapore and 1992 Auckland Grand Prix events.
Connell played Davis Cup matches for Canada on numerous occasions posting a career 15-6 record in doubles and an equally impressive 8-3 record in singles. He was a member of Canada’s 1991 and 1992 teams.
Connell retired from the tour in 1997 and served as Executive Director of Tennis BC from 2002-2004. He also served as captain of the Canadian Davis Cup team. Connell is a member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and has contributed significantly to the interest and development of tennis in British Columbia.
Mayme MacDonald
The late Mayme MacDonald of Seattle was a multi-sport star while attending the University of Washington where she played field hockey, basketball and rowed crew. But it was on the tennis court where she excelled and was twice ranked in the United States Top 10. MacDonald achieved a No. 6 national ranking in 1923 and was ranked No. 7 nationally in 1924.
MacDonald also had an exceptional record in Pacific Northwest tennis tournaments winning the Oregon State singles championship five straight times from 1918-1922 and four straight Washington State singles titles from 1919-1922. Her other tournament victories included two Pacific Northwest titles and one British Columbia victory.
Off the court, MacDonald graduated from University of Washington with a degree in science and the earned a Master’s degree in education from Columbia University.
Pat Galbraith
Pat Galbraith was a dominating tennis player through his high school years. Galbraith who grew up in Tacoma, won three consecutive Washington State boys singles titles and led Bellarmine Prep to four consecutive Narrows League championships. His three state crowns tied the record held by Seattle Prep’s Tom Gorman.
Galbraith earned a scholarship to tennis powerhouse UCLA and in 1988 paired with Brian Garrow to win the NCAA doubles championship. The championship gave the duo a wild card into the US Open where they reached the semi-finals. Galbraith was the Pac-10 singles champion in 1989 and turned pro the same year. He continued on the ATP tour for 12 years.
During his career, Galbraith won 36 ATP Tour doubles championships and was twice a finalist at Wimbledon. He and Grant Connell were the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the world in 1993 and Galbraith ranked No. 1 individually among doubles players during parts of the 1993 and 1994 campaigns.
Also successful in mixed doubles, Galbraith won the 1994 and 1996 US Open titles with Elna Reinach of South Africa and Lisa Raymond of the United States, respectively. In 1999, he captured an ATP Tour doubles title for the 11th consecutive year making Galbraith the holder of the second-longest streak behind Rick Leach’s 15.
Jonathan Stark
Jonathan Stark grew up in Medford, Ore. By the age of 12 he was traveling the country, playing in national junior events and was consistently ranked in the top of his age group. Stark won two Oregon State high school tennis titles and might have won two more if he had not twice skipped the state tournament to play in the Junior French Open.In 1988, Stark captured the US Open Boys’ doubles title with John Yancey and in 1989 won the US Open Boys’ singles title.
At Stanford University, Stark was named an NCAA All-American in 1990 and helped the Cardinals to the NCAA team title. The following year he was again named an All-American and decided to turn pro shortly after.
Stark captured a singles Challenger title in his first year on tour and at age 22 proved himself to be a force as he defeated then-world No. 1 Jim Courier 6-4, 6-2. Six months later Stark beat No. 12 Cedric Pioline for his first ATP singles title.
1994 may have been Stark’s best year on tour. After capturing his first Grand Slam title with a doubles win at the French Open, he became the world’s No. 1 ranked player in doubles. Combined with his career-high ranking of No. 36 in singles, Stark was an easy pick for a spot on the 1994 US Davis Cup team. He went on to represent the U.S. in Davis Cup action three other times.
Teaming with Martina Navratilova, Stark claimed the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title in 1995. He won the World Doubles Championship in 1997 and played in his last ATP tour event in January of 2002 at the Australian Open.
Stark ended his career with two ATP singles titles, 19 men’s doubles titles and one mixed doubles Grand Slam trophy. In addition to those 22 titles, he appeared in the doubles finals of another 21 ATP events. Currently, Stark serves as the Director of Junior Tennis at the Seattle Tennis Club.