Tennis has been a cherished sporting activity beginning in the earliest years of Nassau Country Club. The famed grass courts were a place of both friendly play and stiff competition. Other racquet sports were soon added, squash, paddle tennis and recently pickleball, all of which are an important part of club life at Nassau.
Nassau’s Grass Tennis Courts and the original Q.C.G.C. clubhouse.
1905 July 4 was a big event at the Nassau Country Club. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (July 5, 1915) reported, “Not for years has there been a cleverer piece of summer foolery than the burlesque tennis tournament at Glen Cove yesterday. Its scene was laid at the Nassau Country Club, and the affair was the piece de resistance at the club’s Fourth of July tea in the afternoon. Fifteen very prominent Brooklyn and Manhattan men masqueraded as girls in “get-ups” that were very complete and fetching and played a tennis match that was a wonder in tennis. Shouts of laughter came from the pretty frocked women and the summer-clad men who were in the audience. A greater surprise there never was. Not a dozen people present were in the secret. The first indication of the fun was in the very midst of the tea when Herbert L. Pratt’s prize-winning coach swept down upon the club with the costumed men aboard. It was a most gorgeous display of feminine frocks and frills. Several of the men made genuinely pretty women, others were comic. Herbert Pratt, W. Eugene Kimball, Howard Whitney, John Maxwell, Harry Baterman, Burling Cocks, Howard Maxwell, Parker D. Handy, John Pratt, Harold Pratt, and Daniel Loring, Jr. were some of the stars. Each and every man smoked as he came in on the coach, adding much to the effect. Parker Handy’s moustache made a huge hit.” The idea of the event was spurred on due to the lagging response from the women members to participate in the season’s women’s tennis competitions. The men decided to help out while at the same time teaching them a lasting lesson. The Nassau Bowl 1937 Davis Cup Finals: Donald Budge (right) defeats Gottfried von Cramm (left) Walter Pate holding the Davis Cup Dean Mathey
1914 Nassau Invitation Winner William J. Clothier
The Nassau Invitation was part of the Davis Cup trials this year and attracted two former National Champions – William J. Clothier (tennis grand slam champion) and William A. Larned (winner of the U.S. Singles title seven times from 1901 to 1911). They were joined by defending champion Dean Mathey and Theodore Pell (ranked number five). William J. Clothier took the win.
Karl H. Behr 1916 Winner of Nassau Invitation R. Lindley Murray Clothier and Mathey both had their eye on the Nassau Bowl, along with Karl Behr and R. Lindley Murray. In the final Murray defeated Mathey, winning with the prize. Robert Lindley Murray was a Stamford graduate with a degree in chemistry and a Masters in chemical engineering. He had a brief but successful tennis career, winning the 1917 and 1918 U.S. National Men’s Singles Championships. 1918 World War I Halted the Nassau Invitation Walter Merrill Hall
Nassau Invitation Winner Watson M. Washburn
Watson McLean Washburn was in the top 10 in the U.S. seven times between 1914 and 1922. In 1917 Washburn joined the American Expeditionary Forces and served during WWI in France as a Captain in the artillery. He was a Harvard grad and was one of the founders of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1965. He also competed at the Summer Olympics in 1924. After his tennis career, he became an assistant state prosecutor. R.N. Williams, II at Nassau Country Club Semi-Final Round in Singles NCC Invitation R.N. Williams, II (left) beats George King.
Nassau Invitation Winner S. Howard Voshell Howard Voshell was an American tennis player, promoter, and insurance broker. He served as Second Lieutenant in the air service in WWI. He was a left-hander and known for this “cannonball” serve. He won the 1917 and 1918 national Indoor Championships. Every year from 1919 to 1926 he lost early at the U.S. championships and retired in 1930. Bill Tilden 1926 Nassau Invitation Winner Lewis N. White Lewis Nelson White from Texas won two Southwest Conference singles titles and was the intercollegiate doubles champion in both 1923 and 1924. He was ranked as high as two nationally as a junior. His best national ranking was sixth in the men’s tennis.
1928 Nassau Invitation Winner John Van Ryn John Van Ryn was a Princeton grad and won the intercollegiate Doubles Championship in 1927. He won the men’s Doubles at Wimbledon three straight years (1929 – 1931) and became the first male player to win the French, British, and American doubles titles when he won the 1931 U.S. National Championships. He had a superb record competing for the U.S. Davis Cup, winning 22 of 24 encounters in a period of eight years. He was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1963. Helen Wills Joins NCC Honorary Member Roster Also known as Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, she was famous around the world for holding the top position in women's tennis for a total of nine years: 1927–33, 1935, and 1938. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles) during her career, including 19 singles titles. She was the first American woman athlete to become a global celebrity, making friends with royalty and film stars despite her preference for staying out of the limelight. She was said to be "arguably the most dominant tennis player of the 20th century", and has been called by some - the greatest female player in history. Wills won two Olympic gold medals in Paris in 1924 (singles and doubles), the last year that tennis was an Olympic sport until 1988. Wills was the U.S. girls' singles champion in 1921 and 1922 and won her first women's national title at the age of 17 in 1923, making her the youngest champion at that time. She had a winning streak of at least 158 matches, during which she did not lose a set. Wills was also a member of the U.S. Wightman Cup team in 1923-1924, 1925, 1927-1932, and 1938. In an exhibition "Battle of the Sexes" match in San Francisco on January 28, 1933, Wills defeated Phil Neer, the eighth-ranked American male player. Wills was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959. Wills wrote a coaching manual, Tennis (1928), her autobiography, Fifteen-Thirty: The Story of a Tennis Player (1937), and a mystery, Death Serves an Ace (1939, with Robert Murphy). She also wrote articles for The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. Wills appeared on the cover of Time Magazine twice.
1929 Nassau Invitation Winner John Doeg John Thomas Godfray Hope Doeg won the singles titles at the 1929 Seabright Invitational defeating Richard Norris Williams in three sets. A year later he won his first and only major singles tournament, the 1930 U.S. National Championships at Forest Hills. In the same year, he reached a career-high singles world ranking of number four. In 1962 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Nassau Invitation Squash Racquets Tournament in Play with J. Lewis Luckenbach Trophy as the prize. Francis T. Hunter 1931 Nassau Invitation Winner W.F. Coen, Jr. Wilbur Franklyn Coen, Junior – also known as Junior Coen – was an American tennis player who, in 1928 at the age of 16, became the youngest player to ever represent the U.S. in the Davis Cup. He also competed at Wimbledon in 1928 and 1929, twice reaching the third round. In the 1929 and 1930 French Championships he reached the fourth round, and in 1929 reached the fourth round of the U.S. Championships. He was mentored by Bill Tilden, and in 1930 won the doubles title with Tilden at the Italian Open in Milan. John Lewis Luckenbach
1933 Nassau Invitation Winner Manuel Alonzo Alonso was born in Spain and won the Spanish Tennis Championships in 1915, 1919, and 1920. Also in 1920, Alonso took part in the Summer Olympics at Antwerp. In singles, he reached the quarterfinals. He played in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and reached the fourth round in singles. In 1921, at his first appearance at the Wimbledon Championships, Alonso made his way through to the all-comers final before losing to Brian Norton in five sets). He played at Wimbledon in 1922 and 1924 again, but couldn't repeat this success and dropped out of the competition in the early rounds. From 1921 to 1925, Alonso was a member of the Spanish Davis Cup team and reached the finals. He moved to the United States in 1923 which made him eligible for a U.S. ranking. He regularly played at the U.S. Championships until 1927 and reached the quarterfinals in 1922, 1923, 1925, and 1927. In 1977, Alonso was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Betty Nuthall comes to Nassau. Betty Nuthall, a young British tennis superstar, wowed her fans on both sides of the Atlantic. So admired here in the States Betty was even given a screen test in Hollywood. She was credited with a powerful forehand that was remarkably impressive, especially for a young teen. Before taking part in the Wimbledon Championships, she is pictured on the right on June 23, 1933, while being presented at the last Court of the Season at Buckingham Palace by Lady Crosfield.
A month later she and members of the English team practiced at Nassau Country Club before the annual Wightman Cup matches at Forest Hills. On the right, Betty is seen at the NCC’s pool on July 27, 1933, relaxing after a practice. Nuthall ranked on the world’s tennis top ten list in 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1933, with a career-high of the world’s number 4th top player in 1929. In 1930 she won the women’s singles title at the U.S. Championship.
James Cameron Maiden, Jr.. the son of James Maiden, Nassau’s beloved Golf Pro and the man who gave Bobby Jones his famous Calamity Jane putter, recounted a story of Betty Nuthall and Walter Pate back in the late 1920s. Cam, as he was called, recalled an exhibition match at the Club. Pate and Nuthall were partnered at a mixed doubles exhibition match. Their opponents were Helen Wills and Hunt T. Dickinson. It was Nuthall’s first serve of the match; Pate was ready at the net, bent at the waist and knees with racquet ready. Nuthall wound up for her famous forehand and hit a fast and hard cannonball. It did not clear the net, instead, it collided head-on and struck Pate in the rear end. The result was a slight embarrassment for the two teammates, and a bit of subdued giggles from the onlookers. It did not end there (no pun intended). Four games later, Nuthall gave a repeat performance. This time the crowd roared and even Pate could not control his laughter. Betty had faced and lost to Helen Wills in the U.S. Open in 1927 but came back in 1930 to win the title. We need also to note that she did have quite the success in her doubles career, winning in 1930, 31, and 33, and the mixed doubles with George M. Lott, Jr. in 1929 and 1931.
1935 Nassau Invitation Winner R. Berkley Bell
Bobby Riggs 1937 Nassau Invitation Winner Gilbert Hunt
Gilbert Agnew Hunt, Jr. at age 16 became a national tennis star and was ranked No. 1 in national junior indoor tennis. Hunt was one of the top 10 national players during his college years. As a young player, he was known to play barefoot and sometimes wore a floppy farmer’s hat. If he had a bad day at the tennis, he at times would walk off the court. He left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for two years to play tennis. In 1938 he defeated Bobby Riggs, the No. 2 player in the U.S. NCC Squash Invitation won by Willard K. Rice of the Harvard Club. 1939 Nassau Invitation Winner Wayne Sabin Wayne Sabin ranked in the top ten U.S. Singles in 1937, 1939, and 1941. He was a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1937. He took the U.S. Indoors Singles Championship in 1939. Sabin was ranked No. 6 among the U.S. amateurs in 1937 and 1941. In 1939 Sabin won the singles title at the National Indoors Tennis Championships, played at the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York. In 2009 he was inducted into the USTA Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame. Frank Kovacs 1941 Nassau Invitation Winner Wayne Sabin The Invitation in 1941 included such tennis competitors as Pancho Segura, later National Clay (1944) and Indoor (1946) champion, and 18-year-old Vic Seixas, later National (1954) and Wimbledon (1953) champion, Ecuadorian tennis star Sydney Wood, as well as Gilbert Hunt and Wayne Sabin. In the final Sabin took Wood the first set in just 15 minutes. Wood came back with a fight in the second set and they battled for an hour. Sabin took his second win of the Nassau Invitation, the first in 1939. NCC’s Pro Am Begins Nassau began a Pro-Am in 1941 which was renamed the Harry Geidel Pro-Am in 1964. The Pro-am was often a fundraiser for muscular dystrophy. 1943 NCC Hosts Eastern Invitation Grass Court Championship for Girls. The Eastern Grass Court Championships included both men and women and were held from 1927 to 1969. 1950 Luckenbach Squash Tournament Winner Richard S. Rothschild Arthur D. Larsen 1953 Nassau Invitation Winner Tony Trabert The competition was back and with it came some tennis greats, including Arthur Larsen (1950 National champion), Tony Trabert (ranked number three in 1951 and number 1 in 1953, Kurt Nielsen of Denmark, and many top foreign players. It came down to Trabert and 20-year-old Bob Perry of Los Angeles. Both were scheduled to compete in the nationals that started that day, and the final was reduced to the best of three sets. Trabert, the more experienced player, won over Perry. Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner Hal Baker. 1955 Nassau Invitation cancelled 1955 and 1956 due to scheduling issues.
The USTA offered Nassau the week before the U.S. Open and the Club felt that many of the ranking players would not compete in another event just before the nationals at Forest Hills. NCC hosted the Davis Cup Semi Final Tie.
The final was played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. Australians Lew Hoad and Rex Hartwig beat out Tony Trabert and Vic Seixas.
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner Bob Dewey 1957 Nassau Invitation Winner Herb Flam
Reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. championships in 1950. Ranked number 2 in the U.S. In 1951 and 1952 Flam made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon. He made the finals in the 1957 French Championships, and to the U.S. championship semifinals.
NCC Squash Invitation Winner Arthur B. Treman
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament won by Robert Dewey. 1959
The Junior Girls Wightman Cup matches, the U.S. Davis Cup team practices, and the Seniors Eastern Championship were all hosted at Nassau Country Club.
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner John E. Brownell 1961
A very successful exhibition match was held in August, the week before the nationals, featuring top U.S. and foreign tennis greats.
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner Dr. William Manger Gene Scott Nassau Country Club Grass Tennis Courts, 1963 Walter L. Pate 1964 Nassau Invitation Winner Charles R. McKinley The field of players for the Nassau Invitation included Chuck McKinley (the 1963 Wimbledon Champion), Mike Sangster (Britain’s number one player), Nassau’s defending Champion Gene Scott (ranked number four), and Marty Riessen (number five player). Also competing was the young Arthur Ashe, Jr., winner of the Eastern Grass Court title the previous week and later ranked number three the following year. There was an overflow crowd of 1,500 to 2,000 in the gallery during the matches, but in the end, McKinley took the win.
McKinley was a former world number 1 amateur champion of the 1960s and an inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He won the 1963 Men’s Singles Championship at Wimbledon. He paired with Dennis Ralston to win the 1963 Davis Cup and the U.S. Men’s Doubles Championship in 1961, 1963, and 1964. In 1961 he earned the singles title at the Eastern Grass Court Championships. In 1962 and 1964 McKinley won the singles event at the U.S. National Indoor Championships. Luckenbach Squash Memorial Tournament Winner Donald Louria
Dr. Donald Louria, Harvard Grad with honors earned 11 varsity letters in soccer, wrestling, and lacrosse. He went on to graduate from Harvard Medical School with Honors and became a prominent physician and medical author. At 40 years of age, his new athletic interest was squash; he went on to rank 14th overall in the U.S. and 2nd in the over-40 category. Roy Emerson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986. Chuck McKinley serves at the 1965 Nassau Bowl 1966 Nassau Invitation Winner Gene Scott
Gene Scott is back again for his second win of the title, the first in 1963. A vast crowd looking on, he took the win in just under two hours. His challengers included Tony Roche, the 1965 Wimbledon doubles champion and 1966 French singles champion, Chuck McKinley, Ray Ruffells of Australia, and Ray Moore of South Africa. Before the doubles final there was an exhibition match between Australia’s Karen Krantzcke and Kerry Melville. During the doubles, Army Second Lieutenant Arthur Ashe, ranked number 2 partnered with Chuck McKinley but lost in the semi-finals to the South Africans. Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner George H. (Pete) Bostwick, Jr.
Pete Bostwick was a former world champion and one of the greatest amateur athletes of the 20th century. His tennis wins include the 1966, 1968, and 1971 U.S., Open Doubles. His brother Jimmy claimed the title in 1972. He won the U.S. Amateur Singles in 1965 through 1971, and the U.S. Amateur Doubles in 1969, 1973 (with partner and brother Jimmy), and 1983. He also won the U.S. Parent & Child in 1989 with Peter, III), the U.S. 50s in singles in 1994, and the U.S. 55 doubles from 1990 through 1998 as well as 2000 and 2001. He took the U.S. 60s in singles from 1995 through 1997. Bostwick also served on the Board of the USCTA and was an inductee of the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame. He also excelled in other sports, including golf and lawn tennis – participating in both national championships He won the Gold Racquets in tennis and racquets and on the very same weekend won the U.S. Open in racquets (1969 and 1970). He was a highly-ranked squash player and won three age-group titles. He tried out for the 1960 Ice Hockey Olympic team. John Newcombe
1968 The Directors announced that the “Nassau Bowl” has been canceled. Elliot Berry
1972 Ray Widelski and J. Khan gave a squash exhibition at Nassau. Ray Widelski taught squash at NCC and Piping Rock as well as Greenwich Country Club in Connecticut. He also worked as an assistant pro at the Harvard Club. He was a top Squash player for many years and lost in the finals of the Tournament of Champions four times. He took the U.S. Professional title in 1960. Jahangir Khan holds a former world no 1 professional Pakistani squash title. He won the World Open title six times and the British title ten times. Winning 555 consecutive matches, a Guinness World Record for the longest winning streak by any athlete, he has been called the greatest squash player of all time. Luckenbach Memorial Squash Invitation Winner Roland Oddy 1975 Walter Pate, Captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, brought the Davis Cup and the Mexican Davis Cup team to his home club here at Nassau Country Club.
The Davis Cup teams were invited to work out the membership was treated with an exhibition match. The American players were not up to form that day and had much work ahead of them in facing the Australians in a Davis Cup tie at Forest Hills the following week. Wayne Sabin, who was working with the team, played in the match, as well as Don Budge, Gene Mako, Bryan Grant, and Frank Parker.
1979 Junior Tennis Team North Shore Tennis League Champions The Club’s Junior Tennis Team were the champions of the North Shore Tennis League from 1979 through 1985 (including a 60-match winning streak), and were champions again from 1987 through 1990, and in 1993 to 2023. Vitas Gerulaitis at Nassau Country Club, 1981 1982 NCC hosted the Long Island Open, including the top professional players on Long Island. 1987 Tennis Pro Am begins at Nassau. The Tennis Pro Am was a tournament of the top area pros and the top players at NCC. Tim Mangan, NCC Racquet Pro, won from 1991 to 1994. The Pro Am ran from 1987 through 1996.
1989 NCC Men’s B Team winners of the Long Island Paddle league NCC Squash Invitation USSRA NCC Squash Invitation hosting the top singles players in the Met area was held at NCC. 1992 NCC Co-Hosts the National Platform Tennis Championships NCC co-hosted with Huntington Country Club the National Platform Tennis Championships. Following the event, NCC hosted the National Dinner Dance, attracting over 350 players from all over the country. Nancy Mangan, the mother of Racquets Pro Tim Mangan, was honored and inducted that evening into the APTA Hall of Fame. Nancy Mangan’s service to the game spanned decades of teaching, promoting junior play, serving as president of the New Jersey Women’s League, and assisting the APTA Women’s Tour director. She won a number of New Jersey State mixed tournaments and the Women’s 50+ in 1981.
APTA Paddle Matches at Nassau Country Club Host to the APTA Paddle Matches every 10 years. Last one was held in 2022. 1993-1994 Women’s Flight 1 Team winners of the Long Island Paddle league. 2000 APTA adds Husband/Wife Platform Tennis Tournament Club Pro, Tim Mangan and wife and Club member Tonia Mangan created the Husband Wife tournament and were the runners-up in 2000 and 2001. This tournament is now run all over the country. 2015 APTA National Doubles 60 & Over Tim Mangan and John McMillen won. 2020 APTA National Doubles 65 & Over Tim Mangan and John McMillen won. |
1913 The Nassau Invitation had its first run from 1913 through 1941 and was picked up again in the 1950’s and 60’s. The trophy of the event, the Nassau Bowl, was famed throughout the 1900’s as the oldest known of its kind. Made of solid silver, it was designed by Tiffany & Co. (Charles L. Tiffany was a member of Nassau Country Club and the grandson of the founder of Tiffany & Co.) If you won the trophy three times, it was yours to keep – it is still in the Club’s possession. Among the winners engraved on the trophy include William Clothier, Robert L. Murray, R. Norris Williams, II, William T. “Big Bill’ Tilden II, John H. Doeg, Robert L. “Bobby” Riggs, Arthur Larsen, Tony Trabert, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe, all of whom had won the USTA Singles Championship. Walter Pate began the Club’s first open tennis tournament on Nassau’s reputable grass courts. Pate was a Wall Street lawyer, but his passion was tennis. He was the President of the Brooklyn Tennis Club as well as Nassau Country Club’s 13th President. He became most noted for his role as Captain of the United States Davis Cup Tennis Team both before and after World War II.
In 1937, while serving as non playing Captain, Pate’s team went on to win the Davis Cup with Don Budge beating Germany’s Baron Gottfried von Cramm. Considered one of the greatest tennis matches of all time, Queen Mary was watching from her royal box. Bill Tilden, a friend of Cramm, was coaching the German team. Budge and Cramm had been friends since they first met at Wimbledon in 1935. Pate reported that on the morning of the match von Cramm received a call from the Reich Sports Commissar relaying that the Fuehrer demanded victory. Budge came out the victor. In 1938 Pate and the U.S. Davis Cup team brought home another win, beating Australia. Australia took the win back in 1939, but after the war-years layoff, Pate’s team restored the cup to the U.S. in 1946.
Nassau Invitation First Winner Dean Mathey
The Nassau Invitation brought with it a field of fierce, talented, and competitive tennis greats. The first of these events was played in September. The following events were scheduled around the 4th of July. The 1913 competitors included such tennis greats as Harold H. Hackett (Captain of the American Davis Cup team and winner of four national doubles championships from 1907 to 1910), Gustave F. Touchard (Middle States champion and then twice and later four times the National Indoor Champion), Theodore R. Pell (three-time National Indoor Champion). and Dean Mathey (Princeton star and later the 1915 and 16 National Clay Doubles Champion). Rain, unfortunately, stopped the first day of the competition. With soggy courts and exhausted players, Mathey took the win William Jackson Clothier Tournament Tennis Match, in front of present clubhouse, 1914. 1915 Nassau Invitation Winner Karl H. Behr William J. Clothier was in competition defending his champion title from the year prior. Also competing were Theodore R. Pell, Fred C. Inman, Alrick H. Man, Jr. (the former Yale star) and Frederick C. Baggs (who would later become a member of Nassau Country Club). Clothier was in terrific form, but Behr’s forcing tactics brought Clothier to the net where Behr passed deadly accurate shots to the sidelines. Robert Lindley. Murray 1917 World War I Halted the Nassau Invitation 1919 Nassau Invitation Winner Walter Merrill Hall
Walter Hall was ranked U.S. Top Ten in 1911, 1915, and 1918. He won the U.S. Clay Court Doubles title in 1912, and runner up in the singles in 1910 and 1913. Hall reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. National Championships in 1918 and 1919 and was the Middle States singles winner in 1911, 1918, and 1919. After his playing career ended Hall served as an administrator with the U.S. Tennis Association as treasurer and later as president from 1933 to 1936. Watson M. Washburn
Nassau Invitation Winner R. Norris Williams, II Richard “Dick” Norris Williams II was an American tennis player, born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Philadelphia parents and a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin and Lydia Biddle White. He began playing tennis at 12 years old, learning the game from his father. Williams won the Swiss Championship in 1911, a year prior to entering Harvard. While there he held the intercollegiate tennis singles champion title in 1913 and 1915, and the doubles title in 1914, 1915. He took the singles title in the U.S. Championships in 1914 and 1916. The New York Times tennis writer, Allison Danzig, wrote that Williams had “one of the most daring attacks tennis had seen. He never played safe. He stood in close, took the ball on the rise, often on the half volley, and played for the lines. At his best, he was unbeatable, and more dazzling than Tilden.” Williams was the 1924 Olympics Gold Medalist in the mixed doubles. He captained several winning Davis Cup teams from 1921 through 1926 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1957.
S. Howard Voshell
1925 Nassau Invitation Winner William T. Tilden, II “Big Bill” Tilden had learned to play tennis at age 6 or 7 at their family summer home in the Catskills, and tennis is what helped him with his recovery. He became one of the most famous athletes in the world for many years. As an amateur (1912 – 1930) he won 138 of 192 tournaments, giving him a 93.6% winning percentage. He won four consecutive Grand Slam titles and was the first American to win Wimbledon. Bill Tilden died of a heart attack at the age of 60 in 1953 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959. Lewis N. White 1927 Nassau Invitation Winner Wallace F. Johnson
Wallace Ford Johnson played collegiate tennis at U Penn and won the 1909 CAA championship in both singles and doubles. In the U.S. National Championships, he reached the finals in 1910 and 1921. He won the U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship in 1907, 1909, 1911 and 1920. Johnson was ranked the U.S. number 4 in 1922 and the World number 8 in 1913. He played on the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1913. He coached the University of Pennsylvania Men’s Tennis Team from 1929 until 1960, serving also as the university’s Squash Coach John Van Ryn Hellen Wills Moody Wills at San Francisco “Battle of the Sexes” Match in 1933 Hellen Wills Moody on the Cover of Time Magazine in 1926 and 1929 John Doeg 1930 Nassau Invitation Winner Francis T. Hunter Francis "Frank" Townsend Hunter was an American tennis player who won an Olympic gold medal. He graduated from Cornell University in 1916 and was a member of the Quill and Dagger Society and the ice hockey team. Hunter was a singles finalist at Wimbledon in 1923, and won a gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics, in the men's doubles event. He reached the U.S. championships singles final in 1928. He reached his third Grand Slam singles final at the U.S. championships in 1929 (where he beat R. Norris Williams, losing in five sets to Bill Tilden). He was ranked World No. 4 in 1929 and World No. 5 in September of the same year. Hunter was also a promoter, including promoting the first Perry-Vines tour in 1937 with S. Howard Voshell. W.F. Coen, Jr. 1932 Nassau Invitation Winner Dr. Eugene H. McAuliff
Eugene Henry McCauliff played collegiate tennis for Fordham University. He was a four-time national indoor doubles champion and featured at Wimbledon in 1930. The Luckenbach Squash Tournament
The Luckenbach Tournament was first held at Nassau Club in 1932 and ran until 1974. It began as a handicap tournament and made a scratch tournament in 1969. It was named after member John Lewis Luckenbach, a member of Nassau Country Club from 1921 through 1938. Luckenbach Squash Tournament Winner Beekman Pool
Beekman Pool graduated from Harvard in 1932. He was one of the hardest hitters in the history of collegiate squash. After Harvard he attended Columbia Law School and served in the Air Force, reaching the rank of Captain. Upon his return, he continued with his law practice. Pool was friends with the Polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth. They traveled to the poles together and later he published a biography of Ellsworth called “Polar Extremes.” He is an inductee into the College Squash Association’s Hall of Fame. Manuel Alonzo Betty Nuthall Betty Nuthall at Buckingham Palace on June 23, 1933 Betty Nuthall in the NCC Pool on July 27, 1933 1934 Nassau Invitation Winner R. Berkley Bell
Richard Berkeley Bell ranked No. 7 among the U.S. amateurs in 1934. He twice reached the final of the men's doubles competition at the U.S. National Championships (now the US Open). His best singles performance came in 1931 when he reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. National Championships but lost in three straight sets to Fred Perry Luckenbach Squash Tournament Winner Raymond de Voe
1936 Nassau Invitation Winner Robert L. “Bobby” Riggs
Bobby Riggs, an 18-year-old from California competed and won the title of the Nassau Invitation, and took the doubles honors with partner Wayne Sabin. He played on grass for the first time. He was the national clay court and junior champion and was observed by the New York Times as being “heralded as the most gifted youngster following in the footsteps of Donald Budge.” There were a number of new players that caught attention as well, including Charles Mattman who later became a prominent Nassau Country Club member, as well as Gregory S. Mangin (1936) Luckenbach Squash Tournament Winner Herbert Lancaster. Gilbert Hunt 1938 Nassau Invitation Winner Gilbert Hunt Wayne Sabin
1940 Nassau Invitation Winner Frank Kovacs Frank Kovacs was an American amateur and professional tennis player. He won the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championship singles title in 1941 and the World Professional Championship Tournament in 1945. He was successful on clay and won the Great Lakes Professional Clay Court Championship in 1946, defeating Riggs in the final, and five U.S. Professional Clay Court Championships from 1948 to 1953. Kovacs won the International U.S. Professional Championships in 1951 and the U.S. Professional Challenge Tour in 1947 against Bobby Riggs.
Luckenbach Squash Tournament Winner Arthur H. Baker.
Wayne Sabin 1942 Nassau Invitation was halted during WWII through 1951. 1949 Luckenbach Squash Tournament Winner Joseph J. Haggerty
1952 Nassau Invitation Winner Arthur D. Larsen August 26, 1952, New York Times article reported on the comeback of the Nassau Invitation, “On the beautiful turf of the Nassau Country Club one of the most attractive of all lawn tennis tournaments was revived today and competition was renewed for one of the oldest and most prized trophies in the game.” Included in the country’s list of top players in the competition were high-ranked players from England, Belgium, Japan, Denmark, and Chile. Tennis Hall of Famer Arthur Larsen took the win. Larsen was ranked among the world’s top ten male tennis players in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954. He is most remembered for his victory at the U.S. Championships in 1950 and his eccentricities.
Tony Trabert 1954 Nassau Invitation Winner Tony Trabert 1956
NCC hosted an exhibition match between the English and French Davis Cup teams.
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner William Tully.
William Tully defeated NCC Club member H. Robert Reeve of Nassau Country Club. 1958 Nassau Invitation cancelled 1958 until 1963 due to scheduling issues.
NCC hosted the Junior Davis Cup International Team matches August 8 and 9.
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner Malcolm Roberts. 1960
The Club granted Junior Wightman Cup players use of the courts the week before the National Championship matches at Forest Hills.
Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner W. Alston Flagg 1963 Nassau Invitation Winner Gene Scott
After a five-year hiatus, the Nassau Invitation was back on the schedule, with Gene Scott taking the title. He went on to win it again in 1966. Eugene Lytton Scott, a Yale graduate and a member of Skull and Bones, lettered in tennis, ice hockey, soccer, and lacrosse and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1964. He was a tennis player, tournament director, author, and publisher. He was a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team and teammate and roommate of Arthur Ashe. They remained friends and helped to found the National Junior Tennis League in 1969. He also founded Tennis Week magazine in 1974. He made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills in 1967, losing to John Newcombe, and the quarterfinals of the French Championships in 1964. He was a mentor to John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis and was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008. The 1963 Nassau Invitational Grass Court Tournament was fortunate to have Walter L. Pate as its Honorary chairman. Mr. Pate put the Nassau Bowl into competition exactly 50 years ago. He not only founded the tournament but he was also instrumental in attracting the most famous names in tennis history to Nassau. Mr. Pate, who is the oldest living member of Nassau Country Club, is the man most responsible for making “Nassau” a recognized name in U.S. tennis. Charles R. McKinley
Donald Louria 1965 Nassau Invitation Winner Roy Emerson The Nassau Invitation brought to competition Australian Roy Stanley Emerson (Winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles). His 28 major titles gave him the all-time record for a male player. He was a member of the winning U.S. Davis team six times. He remained an amateur player, declining pro status. Also seeded were Chuck McKinley (defending champion, and ranked number two), Gene Scott (1963 winner of the Invitation and ranked number five, also a member of the 1964 U.S. Davis Cup Team), Roger Taylor of the British Davis Cup, and Edward “Butch” Newman (Captain of the U.S. Junior Davis Cup Team. The New York Times August 8, 1965, article reported that “a crowd of nearly 3,000 overflowed the lawns of the club.”
Gene Scott making a return in the 1965 Nassau Bowl Tournament
George H. (Pete) Bostwick, Jr.
1967 Nassau Invitation Winner John Newcombe
Arthur Ashe, then ranked number one, was back again at NCC among the field of competitors. Australian John Newcombe prevailed. Aside from having his name inscribed on the Nassau Bowl, he was also the winner of a maroon jacket. Nassau’s Tennis Chairman, Sheridan G. Snyder, was looking toward the future of the Nassau Invitation becoming the “masters” tournament of tennis. The golf masters receive a green jacket. John David Newcombe was an Australian professional tennis player. He received a number 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. He won seven singles titles at the majors, 17 men’s doubles titles, and two mixed doubles titles. He competed and won five Davis Cup titles for Australia and was team captain from 1995 to 2000. He is listed as one of the greatest players of all time and was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986. Luckenbach Memorial Squash Tournament Winner John Halpern
Halpern was an amateur tournament player and past president of the Metropolitan Squash Racquets Association. He, together with Arnold Moss, opened The Broad Street Squash Club in New York. 1971 Luckenbach Memorial Tournament Winner Eliot Berry.
Berry coached squash in Munich and Monte Carlo. He played in several International Squash Players Association tour events. Berry won a match in the 1977 British Open qualifier but lost the next match. He tried to qualify for the 1978 and 1979 British Open but lost in the first round. Berry played NO. 1 on the U.S. team at the World Amateurs, winning America’s only match by beating Lars Kvant of Sweden. In 1980 he returned to New York and played in various amateur hardball tournaments and also wrote two books and a novel.
Ray Widelski (left) - Jahangir Khan (right)
1974 Luckenbach Memorial Squash Invitation Winner Juan de Villafranca Juan de Villafranca, 19, from Mexico City, captured three U.S. Squash Rackets tiles in 16 days – the University Club intercollegiates in New York, the Luckenbach Memorial in Glen Cove, NY and the Apawamis Invitational in Rye, NY. The Davis Cup at Nassau Country Club The Mexican Davis Cup team with Neale Fraser and Ken Roswell (Fraser was Australia’s Davis Cup Captain – Roswell was an Australian tennis legend.) 1978 Grass Courts converted to Har-Tru Grass courts had become obsolete and were difficult to maintain. Four of the grass courts were converted to Har-Tru between 1978 and 1980. Two remained grass for the enjoyment of those members who did not favor the Har-Tru conversion. 1981 Exhibition Match at NCC An exhibition match between Vitas Gerulaitis and Tim Mangan (NCC Tennis Pro), Tony Graham (a newcomer to the pro circuit), and Tom Thompson (teaching pro). Gerulatitis was 26 years old at the time and had been practicing at NCC while readying for Wimbledon. Tom DiBartolomeo, Chairman of the Tennis Committee, presented Gerulaitis and Graham with small replicas of the great 100-pound sterling silver Nassau Bowl. Champagne flowed and the Club’s chef whipped up a cake inscribed “Good Luck at Wimbledon.” John McEnroe got the title. But Gerulatis's career highlights included the Men’s Doubles title at Wimbledon in 1975. He was the Singles semi finalist at Wimbledon and 1977 and 78. In 1977 he won the Australian Open and in 1978 he won the year-end championship WCT Finals for the World Championship Tennis tour. By 1978 he was the third-ranked men’s singles player in the world. He was a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team, winning in 1979.
1985 Last of Grass Courts converted – it was the end of an era. In October of ’85, the last two remaining grass courts were converted to Har-tru. It was the end of an era. Nassau’s grass courts were the envy of the neighboring clubs so much so that it became the common practice ground for players preparing for the National Championships at Forest Hills (also played on grass courts through 1977) and top players preparing for Wimbledon. Fred Baggs, Charlie Mattman, and Chuck McKinley all played at Nassau as members. Arthur Ashe, Rod Laver, John McEnroe, and Vias Gerulaitis also played at the Club in preparation for Forest Hills or Wimbledon. 1988 NCC Squash Invitation United States Squash and Racquets Association (USSRA) NCC Squash Invitation hosting the top singles players in the Met area was held at NCC. 1990 NCC Squash Invitational named the John J. White Memorial Invitational The former NCC Squash Invitational had a name change with its new title, the John J. White Invitation. John White was a member and Squash Chairman at NCC for many years. The format changed to a doubles tournament which is now the John White Member/Member Member/Guest and is still currently being played. All in the Family Match at NCC John McMillan, Tim Mangan, Bobo Mangan-Delaney, and Tonia Dillon hosted an “All in the Family” intermixed doubles platform tennis mixed doubles exhibition. All four players were nationally ranked platform players. Women’s Flight 1 Team winners of the Long Island Paddle league. 1993 NCC Tennis Men’s Team were the champions of the North Shore Tennis League
NCC hosts L.I. Platform Invitational Tournament for over 50 years to current times. 1994-1995 NCC Men’s A Team winner of the Long Island Paddle league.
2012 APTA President’s Cup hosted at Nassau Tim Mangan, Racquets Pro won the Silver Medal.
2016 APTA Women's Long Island Invitational was held at Nassau Country Club |
Mathey was born in Brooklyn and a Princeton graduate where he played in their ice hockey and tennis competitions. He and B.N. Dell won the national intercollegiate tennis doubles championship for Princeton and in 1911 won when partnered with C.T. Butler. He won the National Clay Court Tennis Doubles Championship twice and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. National Championship in 1910 and the final of the doubles in 1914. He served as a first lieutenant in the field artillery in France during World War I and rejoined an investment banking firm upon his return home, eventually becoming a partner of Dillon, Read & Co. in 1924. In 1945 he became chairman of the Empire Trust Company. He has also authored two autobiographies, “Fifty Years of Wall Street,” and “Men and Gothic Towers.”
Clothier was a famed tennis star, reaching the singles final of the U.S. Championships three times. He won the intercollegiate tennis singles and doubles championship in 1902 while playing for Harvard. He was also a member of the winning US Davis Cup Team in 1905 and 1909, winning both his singles matches in the 1909 final. Together with his son, William J. Clothier, II, they won two national father-son titles. He is an inductee in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Karl Howell Behr was the brother of Max H. Behr, the famous golfer. He was a Yale graduate and was a well-known lawn tennis player, playing on the U.S. Davis Cup Team in 1907 and was runner up in the 1907 Wimbledon Championship. He reached the number three ranking in the U.S. in both 1907 and 1914. Behr had been one of the survivors of the Titanic in 1912. His later-to-be wife, Helen Newsom, was also a passenger. Sometime after Behr’s death, Helen went on to marry his friend, Dean Mathey (also a Titanic survivor and the first winner of the Nassau Invitation).
In April of 1912, the then-21-year-old Dick Williams boarded first class on the Titanic with his father Charles Duane William. Father and son remained on the Titanic until the very end when forced to jump into the freezing water below. When the first funnel fell from the ship into the water below, he witnessed his father’s death. He made his way to a partially submerged collapsible and held onto its sides until finally getting in. Knee-deep in frozen water for hours, he was finally rescued by the Carpathia. Suffering from frostbite, the doctor aboard planned an amputation of both legs. He refused the operation unwilling to end the early stages of his successful tennis career. He withstood the pain and forcibly walked around the ship in two-hour intervals to restore circulation to his legs. Later that year he won his first U.S. Tennis Championship.
William T. Tilden, II was born to a wealthy Philadelphia family. Tragedy struck the Tildens when they lost three of their children (4, 3, and 1 year old) to diphtheria within 15 days of each other in 1884. Tilden’s older brother, Herbert, was born in 1885, and Bill was born 8 years later in 1893. At 18 years of age, he lost his mother (53), and four years later his father passed (60). Seven weeks later his last remaining family member, his older brother Herbert died at 29 years of age of pneumonia. Bill was just 22 and the loss of his father and older brother sent him into months of deep depression.
Helen was an artist and briefly worked on the art staff of the New York World. Wills met painter Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera at the San Francisco studio of her friend sculptor Ralph Stackpole in 1930. Rivera sketched Wills and asked her to model as the main figure of "California" for the 30-foot-high mural Allegory of California he was painting for the City Club of the San Francisco Stock Exchange. The committee of the Stock Exchange found out that Wills was being portrayed and insisted that no living person be represented in the mural. Subsequently, Rivera darkened the hair, broadened the eyes, changed the corners of the mouth, and angled the jawline to remove any specific resemblance to Wills. A portrait of Stackpole's son Peter Stackpole holding a model airplane remained unnoticed in the mural.
Wills painted all her life, giving exhibitions of her paintings and etchings in New York galleries. She personally drew all of the illustrations in her book.
Wills remained an avid tennis player into her 80s. In 1998, Wills bequeathed US $10 million to the University of California, Berkeley to fund the establishment of a Neuroscience institute. The resulting institute, the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, began in 1999 and is now home to more than 40 faculty researchers and 36 graduate students.
Gilbert Hunt drew great publicity as a player as his eccentricities made good stories for the newspapers. A Washington Post sports writer wrote of him that “He is an extraordinarily gifted mathematics scholar and teacher, but somewhere in his curious makeup is a streak of daffiness that occasionally prompts him to remove his shoes in the middle of a match and entertain his galleries by picking up objects with his toes. This, we might add, is done with a strange faraway look in his brooding black eyes, and an air of complete detachment. But shoeless or shod, when he is hot he is the hottest thing in an otherwise cold and clammy crop of cup defenders.”
He returned to college and attended George Washington University, earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He continued his studies at Brown University until he was drafted into the Army during WWII. Hunt achieved the rank of captain, and upon his return from duty, he completed his doctorate at Princeton in 1948. He taught first at Cornell and then returned to teach mathematics at Princeton University. He was one of the world’s most recognized authorities in the fields of probability theory and analysis. The Hunt process is named after him. His daughter Margaret Hunt shared that it was tennis that was “the great love of his life.”
Frank Kovacs had a reputation as an eccentric tennis player and was known to be a showman on the court. Once, serving for a match point, he tossed three balls in the air - hitting the middle one for an ace. He was known to jump into the stands to applaud his opponents and once staged a sit-down strike during a match.
After being evicted from the amateur ranks, Kovacs and Riggs turned professional at the same time, both signing a professional contract in November 1941 for $25,000 guarantees.
Kovacs joined the U.S. Army from 1943 to the end of WWII. (His cousin was the entertainer Ernie Kovacs – showmanship seemed to run in the family.)
Jack Kramer, tennis player, and long-time promoter, stated in his 1979 autobiography that "Larsen was fascinating to watch. He had concentrated on tennis as mental therapy after serving long stretches on the front lines during World War II. He was called Tappy because he went around touching everything for good luck, and sometimes he would chat with an imaginary bird that sat on his shoulder. This was good theater, but it could never have made Larsen a candidate for a professional tour. He was the first to win all of the recognized USLTA (USTA) national titles, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (grass), the U.S. Clay Court Championship in 1952, the U.S. Hard Court Championships in 1950 and 1952, and the U.S. National Indoor Championships in 1953.
Marion Anthony Trabert was an American amateur world No. 1 tennis champion and long-time tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivational speaker. Trabert was ranked the world No. 1 amateur by many sources in 1953, by Ned Potter and The New York Times in 1954, and by Lance Tingay and Ned Potter in 1955. He was the winner of ten Grand Slam titles – five in singles and five in doubles. He won two French singles championships, two U.S. National Men's Singles Championships, and one Wimbledon gentlemen's singles championship. Trabert was the last American to hoist the championship trophy of the French Open until Michael Chang won it in 1989. He turned professional in the fall of 1955. He won the French Professional Championships at Roland Garros in 1956 and 1959.
