Education
Franks attended the University of California-Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles), where he was coached by Juris Doctor Morgan and played #1 Singles for 3 years on a team consisting of Mike Green, Franklin Johnson(former USTA President), John Cranston, John Lesch, and Joe Blatchford(former Director of the Peace Corps).
Career
He was the #1 seeded Junior player in 1954 in the United States Nationals at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He played #1 Singles for University of California, Los Angeles from 1956 to 1958 and was one of 8 All Americans. Mike was ranked #3 in doubles in the United States in 1956, 1957, and 1959 and was ranked # 7 in singles in 1959.
Born on December 23, 1936 in Beverly Hills, California, Franks started playing tennis in 7th grade and continued at Beverly Hills High School.
He took lessons from Frank Feltrop at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. He often practiced with Bill Tilden and Pancho Gonzales.
In 1954, Franks was seeded #1 in the Junior Singles draw at the National Tennis Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan and lost in the 4th round and in the finals of Doubles with Jon Douglas. In 1956,he was runner-up to Alex Olmedo in the Pac-8 Singles Championships and he lost to him in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Singles semifinals and Doubles finals.UCLA was on National Collegiate Athletic Association probation in 1957 and 1958.
Franks only singles losses in college were to Alex Olemedo.
He was one of eight college All Americans. After college Franks lived with clothing designer and tennis player Oleg Cassini while serving part of his Navy commitment in New York City. In 1961, Franks and Donald Dell were the first Americans to play tennis in Russia for the United States State Department.
In his tennis career he defeated the following tennis champions: Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Hugh Stewart.
Gil Shea, Alex Olemedo, Ulf Schmidt, Jon Douglas, Barry MacKay, Herb Flam, Mike Green, Warren Woodcock, Ray Moore, Donald Dell, Pancho Contreras, Allen Fox, Charlie Pasarell, Tom Brown, Dennis Ralston, Ron Holmberg, Bob Hewitt, Fred Stolle, Vic Seixas, Rafael Osuna, Mal Anderson, Billy Knight, Sammy Giammalva, Armando Viera and others In 1957, he and Mike Green reached the Quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Mens Doubles losing to Lew Hoad and Neale Fraser.
Franks married Gloria Delson Cahn, former wife of songwriter Sammy Cahn in 1965. He was inducted into the Beverly Hills High School Hall of Fame on October 10, 2013.
He was nominated for the Industry Training Authority Mens Collegiate Hall of Fame in January 2016.