Connors quickly made his mark in the college tennis world at UCLA, becoming in 1971 the first freshman to ever win the NCAA men’s singles title (John McEnroe duplicated the feat in 1978). If Connors had been able to accept prize money for the pro events he played in 1971, he figured he would have made $50,000. He told his mother that he was reluctant to give up so much money, but she wanted him to stay in school in case he ever needed a fallback if a tennis career didn’t pan out.
As it happened, it was actor Lloyd Bridges, who gained fame as the star of the TV show “Sea Hunt,” who convinced Connors to leave school. Bridges was an avid tennis player at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club and his daughter, Cindy, dated Connors at the time. Connors quit school and promised his mother that he’d go back to college eventually, but he never did.
