Sam Giammalva, Sr. was an amateur tennis player in the mid-20th Century.

Giammalva played for the United States Davis Cup

Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...

 team, earning a 7–3 record in match play between 1956 and 1958. He was on the victorious U.S. teams of 1957 and 1958.

In 1958, he teamed with Barry MacKay

Barry MacKay

Barry MacKay is a former American tennis player and tournament director and a current tennis broadcaster. While competing in college for the University of Michigan, he won the singles title at the 1957 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship to clinch the team title for Michigan. He was also a finalist...

 to reach the doubles final at the U.S. Nationals

U.S. Open (tennis)

The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

. The pair fell to Alex Olmedo

Alex Olmedo

Alejandro "Alex" Rodríguez Olmedo is a former tennis player from Peru, who was ranked as the top amateur player in the world in 1959. Although born and raised in Peru, he came to Southern California and was mentored by Perry T. Jones, President of the Southern California Tennis Association at the...

 and Hamilton Richardson

Hamilton Richardson

Hamilton "Ham" Farrar Richardson was a American tennis player in the 1950s and 1960s.Born August 24, 1933 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Richardson was ranked No. 1 in the United States in 1956 and 1958, and was ranked in the top ten in nine other years...

, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4.

It was Michigan’s MacKay who beat Giammalva, of the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

, in the final of the 1957 NCAA Championship, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. Giammalva also reached the NCAA doubles final in 1955. He won three straight Southwest Conference singles titles from 1956-1958.

Giammalva reached four finals at the tournament in Cincinnati

Cincinnati Masters

The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...

. In 1958, he knocked off Crawford Henry

Crawford Henry

Crawford I. Henry is a former professional tennis player.A high school tennis star in Georgia, Henry won the high school championship as a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. He never lost a match in high school and won the National High School tournament in 1955...

, Gustavo Palafox, and Donald Dell

Donald Dell

Donald Dell is an attorney and was a professional tennis player, U.S. Davis Cup captain, and administrator. Dell was one of the first professional sports agents, having represented professional tennis players Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl during pro tennis' golden age...

 before falling to fellow Texan Bernard Bartzen

Bernard Bartzen

Bernard "Tut" Bartzen was an outstanding American tennis player in the mid-20th century, who later became a winning college tennis coach....

 in the singles final, 7–5, 6–3, 6–2. He also reached the singles final in 1954 and doubles finals in 1952 & 1958. Giammalva's best grand slam singles result was reaching the quarter-finals of the 1955 U.S. National Championships, where he lost to No. 4 seed Lew Hoad

Lew Hoad

Lewis Alan Hoad was a champion tennis player....

 in four sets.

Giammalva went on to coach at Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 for 14 years (1959–1972), leading the Owls to 10 Southwest Conference titles and second-place NCAA tournament finishes in 1968 and 1970.

Giammalva’s sons, Tony Giammalva

Tony Giammalva

Tony Giammalva , is a former professional tennis player from the United States.During his career he won 4 doubles titles and achieved a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 32 in 1985. His best singles ranking was reached in February, 1981, at World No...

 and Sammy Giammalva, Jr.

Sammy Giammalva, Jr.

Sammy Giammalva Jr. , is a former professional tennis player from the United States.During his career he won 2 singles titles and 4 doubles titles. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 28 in 1985 and a career-high doubles ranking of World No...

, were also touring tennis players. Sam Jr. won two singles titles and four doubles titles on the ATP Tour, and was ranked as high as No. 28 in singles and No. 22 in doubles during his career. Elder son Tony won 4 doubles titles as well and reached a career high singles ranking of 70 in 1981.