Sometime ago, I came into possession of a haul of McEnroe memorabilia; racquets of his, furniture, stereo equipment, kitchen knives, photographs. It's a long story. Among the photos were a few portraits of a much younger Mac, wearing a James Dean t shirt and a Cartier Tank watch. The prints are signed, illegibly. The photographer's identity remained elusive for years. Until last week...While going through a box of old Interview Magazines, from when Andy Warhol was still Publisher, and there it was. A 1982 issue with McEnroe on the cover, the twenty-three year old "enfant terrible" of the Tennis world. His first real print interview. He'd won Wimbledon in '81 and the US Open three years in a row. The cover illustration was taken from a photo from the same session. I opened the magazine and there it was, the photographers name. The illegible signature that had me mystified for years: Peter Strongwater.Case Closed. Finally.
Love John. Love that he went to Stanford.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Mac's the greatest and those prints you have are really cool. Years ago I had his Nike "Rebel with a Cause" poster and got rid of it at a garage sale--stupid. Though his tantrums were pretty ridiculous, he loved and loves the sport, had unreal talent--especially at the net--and is now a terrific commentator.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite a bit younger than him but I grew up just up the 101 from Stanford and I have great memories of watching his brother Patrick play and in later years sneaking into the box seats at the tennis stadium to sit in the McEnroe Family box.
Dude, I wanna hear the long story on how you got this stuff.
ReplyDeleteLove John. Hate that he went to Stanford. Go Bears.
ReplyDelete@AB I second.
ReplyDeletelong story please.
ReplyDeleteany chance you also came across his sergio tacchini warm up gear?
affirmative on the Sergio warm ups.
ReplyDeletetook a look at the racquets as well.
ReplyDeleteshakes fist at the sky and curses the gods.
nice score!