All-American Monday - Eddie Dibbs
EddieDibbs (1971-72)
CoralGables, Fla. – “He’s only 5-7 but has six feet ofheart” is how men’s tennis coach Dale Lewis described the Miami Beach native.Eddie Dibbs came to the University of Miami as the reigning two-time state ofFlorida high-school champion and a national juniors ranking in the top-6.
Continuing in his winning ways, Dibbs began hisHurricane career by winning his first 31 regular season singles matches. As afreshman in 1969-70, Dibbs posted a perfect 20-0 regular season and an overallrecord of 22-1 in singles matches. Partnering primarily with freshman andfuture All-American Raz Reid, Dibbs posted a 12-2 regular season and an overallrecord of 13-3 in doubles competition. In 1970, Dibbs won the Florida ClayCourt Championship, the Bahama Invitational singles title, and claimed avictory over Gardner Mulloy.
Building off his freshman success, Dibbs won hisfirst 11 matches of singles play posting a regular season record of 11-1 and anoverall record of 16-2. In doubles competition, Dibbs posted a regular seasonrecord of 11-1 and an overall record of 14-2. In the 1971 NCAA tournament,Dibbs advanced to the quarterfinals for both singles and doubles play.
For the second time in three years, Dibbs posted aperfect mark in regular season singles play (15-0). Overall, his record insingles play was 19-1. In doubles competition, Dibbs went 7-4 in the regularseason but 12-5 overall. For the second consecutive season, Dibbs advanced tothe doubles quarterfinals of the 1972 NCAA tournament. In singles play of theNCAA tournament, Dibbs advanced to the fifth round. For his performance on thecourt, Dibbs was named the 1972 University of Miami Athlete of the Year.
As a Cane, Dibbs holds an overall mark of 46-1(.979) in regular season of singles play. He also holds victories over GeorgeGoven, France’s No. 1 player, Juan Gisbert, Spain’s No. 2 netter, JimmyConners, the 1972 NCAA Champion, Roscoe Tanner, a 1971 NCAA finalist,All-American’s Haroom Rahim, Harold Solomon and All-American teammate PatCramer. Dibbs was induced into the University of Miami’s Hall of Fame in 1987.
UM Hall of Fame Bio: Eddie Dibbs
As a professional, Dibbs collected 22 singles careertitles and one doubles title. He was the runner-up in 20 other singles titleand 3 other doubles titles competitions. In 1978, Dibbs earned a top-10ranking, No. 5 overall. In 1975 and 1976, Dibbs was a semi-finalist in theFrench Open. Although he had never won a grand slams title, Dibbs has collectedover $2,000,000 in career prize money. He currently resides in North MiamiBeach, Fl., with his wife Jo.
