Carl Earn (March 7, 1921 – April 4, 2007) was an American

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player who competed on the amateur and professional circuits in the 1940s and 1950s. He reached as high as world No. 7 in the professional ranks in 1946.

Biography

Earn grew up in Los Angeles, and was Jewish. He graduated from the

Manual Arts High School Manual Arts High School is a secondary public school in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Manual Arts High School was founded in 1910 in the middle of bean fields, one-half mile from the nearest bus stop. It was the third high sch ...

in 1939. He played tennis at

Compton Junior College Compton College is a public community college in Compton, California. From 2006, when it lost its regional accreditation, to 2017, when it regained that accreditation, it operated as a part of El Camino College. Before and after the partnership ...

. In 1940 he won the doubles at the

Ojai Tennis Tournament The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and l ...

with Walter Bugg. He joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

at the start of World War II and served until 1945. At the

Pacific Southwest Championships The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in September 1945 he reached the semifinals, after a victory in the quarterfinal over U.S. Championships finalist

Bill Talbert William Franklin Talbert (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 1999) was an American tennis player and administrator. Tennis career He was ranked in the U.S. top 10 13 times between 1941 and 1954, and was ranked World No. 3 in 1949 by John Olliff ...

. Earn turned professional in early 1946, a year after being honorably discharged from the Navy, and joined

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional b ...

's Professional Players Association. He won his professional debut match against

Bobby Riggs Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December ...

in Omaha. The left-hander reached as high as world No. 7 in the professional ranks (confirmed by Tilden) in 1946. He reached the quarter-finals of the 1950 U.S. Pro Championships, where he lost to Jack Kramer. He was the head professional at the Beverly Hills' Hillcrest Country Club and the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. Earn was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002, and the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

in 2004. The

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA) established a grant in his name in 2007 for student-athletes on their tennis team. He died at his home in Los Angeles.

References

External links

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earn, Carl American male tennis players American tennis coaches 1921 births 2007 deaths Professional tennis players before the Open Era Tennis players from Los Angeles United States Navy personnel of World War II