Richard Gallien

Richard Gallien
Country (sports) United States
CollegePepperdine University
Singles
Career record1–1
Highest rankingNo. 433 (Nov 26, 1984)
Medal record
Universiade
Gold medal – first place 1983 Edmonton Men's singles

Richard Gallien is an American college tennis coach and former professional player.

Raised in Sunland, Los Angeles, Gallien won a City section singles title while a senior at Verdugo Hills High School.[1]

Gallien played collegiate tennis for Pepperdine University, where he twice earned All-American honors. He was a member of the team which finished as runners-up in the 1982 NCAA championships. In 1983 represented the U.S. at the World University Games and won the singles final against Dan Goldie to become the first American tennis singles gold medalist in games history (along with Cecilia Fernandez who won the women's event).[2]

Competing briefly in professional tennis, Gallien had a best singles world ranking of 433. He featured in the main draw of the 1983 Pacific Southwest Open and had a win over Ben Testerman, before falling to world number six Gene Mayer.[3]

Gallien was head coach of the USC Trojans women's team for 22-years, from 1995 to 2017, during which time he was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year on five occasions.[4] He is a former men's co-head coach of Pepperdine (with Allen Fox from 1988 to 1990) and is now the women's head coach of Cal State LA.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Farmer, Sam (August 16, 1989). "Burning Desire". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ "Soviet swimmer still critical". The Montana Standard. July 11, 1983.
  3. ^ "Mayer stops Gallien in 2 sets". Pacific Daily News. April 14, 1983.
  4. ^ Poe, Julia (April 27, 2017). "Richard Gallien looks back on 22 years of coaching". Daily Trojan.