Some say Michael Landon fell in love with Tucson while filming at the University of Arizona and Old Tucson in 1981 for “Father Murphy” and “Little House on the Prairie” and his friend, and former local developer/businessman, Ron Janoff took full advantage of that fondness. Janoff, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 85, purchased and developed land and apartments close to Arizona and the far northwest part of town with Landon but he also convinced Landon to host a yearly gathering of celebrities in Tucson for charity – “The Michael Landon Celebrity Tennis Classic.”
Sponsored at times by Republic Airlines, The Doubletree and CIGNA, the Celebrity Tennis Classic was held at the Randolph Tennis Center/Reffkin Tennis Center from 1982-1999 with Connie Stevens being the host in 1982, Landon from 1983-1991, Beau Bridges from 1992-1995 and Rick Springfield from roughly 1997-1999 but it was Landon that most associate the celebrity gathering with.
The Celebrity Tennis Classic raised a lot of money for a variety of local charities including 88-Crime and the Food Bank but the local media, and a few fans, often poked fun at the continual list of “B-List” celebrities that attended but did they really think Harrison Ford was going to play tennis? This was not Dean Martin calling in his top-level pals for a golf tournament in the 1970’s. No, you were going to get various members of the Brady Brunch and Buddy Hackett and what’s wrong with that?…