Xanthos to Retire as Pierce Teacher

If there is a trophy or plaque made with a mini tennis racquet embossed on it, chances are that Paul Xanthos owns one.

In his 25 years of coaching at Pierce College, Xanthos’ men’s teams have won 436 matches and 18 conference championships. A state team championship is about the only major title missing from his resume.

He may have only one more year in which to do it.

Xanthos, whose 68th birthday is today, said Tuesday that he is retiring as an instructor at Pierce at the end of the school year. He will remain as tennis coach on a walk-on basis through the 1990 season and, possibly, beyond.

“It was a tough decision,” Xanthos said, “but I’m at a point where I’d like to be free to do a few other things.”

Such as teaching more tennis.

In October, Xanthos plans to take a trip to Korea to instruct at a series of clinics for coaches. He has taken part in similar sessions all over the world.

“My wife said, ‘What are you going to do with yourself?’ I’m not going to be sitting around, that’s for sure,” Xanthos said. “If there weren’t plenty of things to do I wouldn’t retire.”

Among Xanthos’ current projects is a proposed $10-million tennis and family sports complex in Burbank. The center, which will be discussed at the Burbank City Council meeting next week, would be one of the largest of its kind in Southern California. Xanthos and his partner in the project, former Pierce player Steve Starleaf, are hopeful that it might become one of five regional training centers for the United States Tennis Assn.

The center would include some 20 indoor and outdoor tennis courts, facilities for racquetball, basketball and weight training, along with a swimming pool and clubhouse. “It looks good right now,” Xanthos said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to build at the start of next year.”

Previously, Xanthos was a consultant in the development of the Warner Center Club, a sports facility in Woodland Hills.

Xanthos, who is in his 43rd season as a coach, learned to play tennis by the book as a teen-ager. Literally.

Reading the book “Budge on Tennis,” written by tennis great Don Budge, was his only form of instruction.

He has gone on to become an author himself. Xanthos, who was born in Greece, also has won three national coaching awards. In 1974, he received the United States Tennis Assn.’s Award of Merit; in 1984, he was the United States Professional Tennis Assn.’s Coach of the Year; and last year he was selected national junior college coach of the year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn.

Xanthos came to Pierce from North Hollywood High, where he coached for 18 seasons. Pierce had never won a conference tennis championship before Xanthos took over but has been practically a lock for the top spot ever since.

Xanthos’ first team finished third in the state and in his first four seasons as coach the Brahmas won 50 consecutive matches. That feat was topped by a state-record 97-match conference winning streak that spanned more than nine years.

Since 1976, Pierce has lost only nine conference matches--two of those this season--and won or shared 12 consecutive Western State Conference championships. That streak will end this season. Pierce is 13-2 overall, 11-2 in the WSC and, barring a major upset, will finish in second place behind Santa Barbara City College.

“He’ll be a hard one to replace,” said Marian McWilliams, Pierce’s athletic director. “He’s built a dynasty here. Paul has so much to offer the students. We have students from all over the country and also out of the country who come here just to play for him. I guess from now on we’ll just have to take it a year at a time.”

Bringing home a state championship would be a nice way to bow out but it’s not mandatory.

“It’d be nice, but if we don’t, so what?” Xanthos said. “We’ve won a pretty good percentage of our matches. I think I can be proud of that.”