Dell, who won a gold medal at the
1965 Summer Universiade in the men's doubles with
Allen Fox, attended the
University of Michigan from 1965 to 1969. A member of the
varsity tennis team, Dell was the
Big Ten Singles Champion in 1969. As he was beginning a law degree at the
University of Virginia his number was called out in the
Vietnam War draft. Following basic training, Dell became a squash and tennis coach at the
United States Military Academy at West Point. On the
Grand Prix tennis circuit he won two titles, both in the doubles with
Sherwood Stewart. They won their first title together in Tokyo in 1972 then a second in
Cincinnati in 1974. As a singles player he made the second round of the
US Open on three occasions and came close to getting a win over
Rod Laver in
Hong Kong in 1973 when he was a set and a break up. He had his most noted singles performances on tour in 1974, when he upset
John Alexander at a
WCT tournament in Washington DC and made the semi-finals in Chicago, after beating
Raúl Ramírez in the quarter-finals. At the
1975 Wimbledon Championships, Dell and Stewart made it to the third round of the doubles, where they took former champions
Bob Hewitt and
Frew McMillan to five sets. ==Grand Prix career finals==