Pierce’s Xanthos, 72, Says He Will Resign

Pierce College men’s tennis Coach Paul Xanthos, who led the Brahmas to 23 conference championships in 29 seasons, will resign Thursday.

Xanthos said he will make the announcement at the State Community College tournament seeding meeting at De Anza College. Xanthos, 72, who retired from the Pierce athletic staff in 1989 but continued to coach on a walk-on basis, said he will join the Burbank Parks and Recreation District as director of tennis.

Xanthos, who is being nominated for induction into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994, said he considered leaving Pierce the past few years and is finally doing so because his nationally recognized credentials can be better utilized elsewhere.

“I’m going to be putting my time into something that’s going to be more productive,” he said. “It’ll be like when I was teaching at Pierce and I had 200 students each semester.”

Xanthos is entering a partnership with Steve Starleaf, 36, a former Pierce tennis player. The two have contracted with the Burbank park district with hopes of building a tennis stadium at McCambridge Park and founding a tennis academy, using Xanthos’ name and corporate sponsorships.

“The kids in the Valley deserve a top-notch tennis program,” said Xanthos, who plans to offer free tennis to underprivileged youths in one of his initial programs. “I think I’ve got a few years left where I can get these things set up.”

Xanthos had a 548-103 lifetime record at Pierce, where he built at least two dynasties. From 1973-1987, Pierce won 15 consecutive Metropolitan Conference championships and 96 consecutive conference matches during one stretch. His teams also won 50 Western State Conference matches in a row from 1965-68.

Xanthos, who started coaching tennis in 1947 at North Hollywood High, was named national junior college coach of the year in 1988 and state coach of the year seven times. His 1993 Pierce team was No. 1 in the state before it lost in the Southern California Regional semifinals two weeks ago.

His desire to continue the dominance at Pierce has dwindled since he retired from the athletic staff over a scheduling dispute. Simultaneously, Xanthos and Starleaf have been plotting a personal venture for five years. In 1989, their bid to build a $10-million club in the Burbank foothills was voted down by the City Council, 3-2.

“We’ve been recovering from that the last three years,” said Starleaf, former teaching pro at The Racquet Centre at South Pasadena and Cabrini Villas. “We put a lot of time, effort and money into it. But I’ve always wanted Paul to realize his full potential as a tennis expert.”

Xanthos was asked if he was sad about his resignation.

“It’s always sad when you leave behind something that you’ve devoted most of your life to,” he said. “But things have changed (at Pierce), and I don’t want to go into details.”