STAN SMITH??? I KNOW THE SHOE

Stan Smith can be found - wearing shoes with his name on them - on Hilton Head Island, S.C., where he has lived for 37 years. Since 1971, he has had an endorsement contract with Adidas, and the shoes are consistently among the most popular in tennis circles worldwide, perhaps the biggest seller ever. He never thought it would last this long.

"No way," Smith said. "It was a lucky sort of thing. Most of the people who see the shoe don't know who I am. It's been a nice run."

The shoe in recent years has come in different colors, but the "Adidas Originals" line carries the classic white with a little green or blue trim.

"That's the reason it has lasted so long," Smith said. "You can wear it with anything. I like the basic look."

Smith, 61, basically looks a lot like the rangy 6-foot-4 Californian who was one of the dominant players in men's pro tennis from the late 1960s through the 1970s. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987, Smith was the world's No. 1 in 1971 and 1972, and has singles wins at the U.S. Open (1971) and Wimbledon (1972) to his credit.

He was even more of a juggernaut when paired with Bob Lutz, a former teammate at the University of Southern California, where they won two NCAA doubles titles and Smith captured the 1968 singles crown. The duo won the U.S. Open four times and the Australian men's doubles once.

Smith earned 39 singles and 61 doubles pro titles, and $1,774,811 in prize money - or a bit more than the $1.4 million winner's purse in 2007 at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon tournaments. He has played those venues for 40 years, including the senior division.

His first-place prize money at Wimbledon, he recalled, was $14,000 in American dollars, and was $20,000 at the U.S. Open. That's about what winning a first-round match is worth now.

"It was one of the bigger purses," said Smith, acknowledging that time and prize money moves on, and some aspects of the sport have changed.

"It's definitely more of a business now. It's more of an international business," Smith said.

"When I was playing, there were mainly Australians and Americans, and a few Europeans. Now players are from all over Europe, eastern and western. Africa and Asia now have good some players, and we still have Americans and Australians. It's the second-most international sport in the world after soccer."

Tennis also ranks in the top five in terms of popularity in many countries, Smith said, but by his count is only 10th or 11th in the United States.

While the sport will not supplant football, baseball and basketball, it could do more things like the development of Tennis Channel. He pointed to the spectacle of the U.S. Open, and the March 10 exhibition match between No. 1 Roger Federer and retired legend Pete Sampras.

Smith said the top three players, Federer, Spain's Rafael Nadal and Serbia's Novak Djokovic, are personable. They have separated themselves, as of now, from the pack, which is not that much different from other eras, he said.