Arizonaโs womenโs tennis program was in such disarray in 1990 that coach Becky Bellโs Wildcats went 0-11 in the Pac-10 and completed a 1-28 stretch in dual matches.
If someone had said that by 1992 the Wildcats would produce three first-team All-Americans, reach the NCAA quarterfinals and sweep the Pac-10 singles and doubles championships, it wouldโve been met with laughter.
No way.
After all, Stanford ruled Pac-12 womenโs tennis with greater success than John Wooden ruled the leagueโs basketball empire from 1964-75. The Cardinal won every NCAA championship from 1986-2006.
Yet in โ92, Arizona rose from the ashes with three of the most unlikely tennis standouts in league history: Canyon del Oro High School state champion Banni Redhair, Orange County Californiaโs Danielle Scott โ who chose Arizona over modest offers from Pepperdine and UC-San Diego โ and New Yorkโs Alix Creek, who had burned out and retired from tennis as a 16-year old.
If you thumb through the Pac-12 womenโs tennis record book, itโs all Stanford, with a Cal and UCLA sprinkled in periodically. But your eyes stop when you see the following:
1992 singles champion: Alix Creek, Arizona
1993 singles champion: Alix Creek, Arizona
1992 doubles champions: Alix Creek and Danielle Scott, Arizona
Creek, Scott and Redhair all were chosen first team ITA All-Americans.
โFrankly, I was astonished,โ said Arizona assistant athletic director Ted Kissell, who had been the UAโs menโs tennis coach in the 1980s. โPac-10 tennis is at the elite level. Thereโs been nothing else like it in the 20 years Iโve been in tennis around here.โ
It all began when Bell, a 1979 All-American at UCLA, recruited Creek from the famed Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. After leaving her New York home and competing nationally since she was 11, Creek quit tennis. Burned out. She gained 30 pounds, sat out a year, and then returned briefly, as a pro, with her fire burning again.
When Creek indicated she wanted to play college tennis, Bell was on top of it. Creek regained her amateur status and committed to the long-struggling UA program.
โI was doing double flips,โ Bell told me at the time. โIt was party time.โ
A year later, 1993, Creek won the NCAA doubles championship with Michelle Oldham, the only singles or doubles national title ever by Arizona.
Creek then turned pro and played successfully for about a decade. She competed in the U.S. Open, the French Open and the Australian Open. She then retired to create Alixandra Collections, a Scottsdale-based shop and online venture that features the latest trends in womenโs jewelry, clothing and accessories.
Alixandra Collections has grown to seven locations across three states with more than 50 employees.
Scott also played professionally for about 10 years before retiring and returning the Los Angeles.
Redhair โ now Banni Redhair Bunting โ was also a first-team academic All-American at Arizona, has gone on to be an FBI agent, a CPA, a tennis instructor and an author. She is perhaps the top girls tennis player in Tucson prep history, growing up in an athletic-based family. Her father, Jack Redhair, a prominent Tucson attorney, was a starting running back on Arizonaโs 1957 football team. Her brother, Mike Redhair, became a starting point guard for ASUโs basketball team in 1989 and 1990.
Banni, who is a mindfulness therapist in Bend, Oregon, was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. She remembered the โ92 Wildcats fondly.
โIt all just came together, almost out of nowhere,โ she said last fall. โAlix and Danielle were as good as anybody. We had a great coach in Becky Bell. As I look back over the years, I get so proud to know that we were part of something that special. We just all seemed to peak at the same time.โ
Redhair wouldโve won back-to-back state singles titles at CDO but as a sophomore in 1986 injured an ankle and had to withdraw in the finals match while leading in the final set. She sat out her senior year of high school tennis to play in national events on the USTA and Southwest circuits. She then signed with Arizona.
Bell was Arizonaโs womenโs tennis coach from 1985-96. She then accepted a position as director of the CATS Lifeskills program until her retirement a year ago.
โThat year was something you never forget,โ said Bell. โThose young womenโs names will be in the record books forever.โ
