Dick Savitt
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Richard Savitt (March 4, 1927 – January 6, 2023) was an American tennis player. In 1951, at the age of 24, he won both the
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and
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
men's singles championships. Savitt was mostly ranked world No. 2 the same year behind fellow amateur Frank Sedgman, but he was declared world No. 1 by ''The New York Times'' following his Wimbledon victory. He retired the following year to concentrate on a career in business. Savitt is one of four American men who have won both the Australian and British Championships in one year, following Don Budge (1938) and preceding
Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 2 ...
(1974) and
Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...
(1994 and 1997). He won
gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
s in both singles and men's doubles at the
1961 Maccabiah Games The 6th Maccabiah Games were held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1961, with 1,100 athletes from 27 countries competing in 18 sports. The Games were officially opened in an Opening Ceremony on August 29, 1961, in Ramat Gan Stadium by Israeli president Yi ...
in Israel. Savitt is enshrined in the
International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, the
USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and devel ...
Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.


Early life

Savitt was born in Bayonne, New Jersey to a Jewish family. He taught himself tennis at the age of 14 and never took a tennis lesson in his life. The self-taught Savitt made the finals of the New Jersey Boys Championship, and for two years, the National Boys Tennis Tournament before moving to the junior ranks. He and his family moved to El Paso, Texas, in 1944, as his mother had a bad skin condition and needed the warmer weather. His first love was basketball, and when his family moved to Texas, he was an All-State forward and a co-captain of the basketball team at
El Paso High School El Paso High School is the oldest operating high school in El Paso, Texas, and is part of the El Paso Independent School District. It serves the west-central section of the city, roughly south and west of the Franklin Mountains and north of Int ...
in 1944. Despite considering tennis his "second" sport after basketball, he won the Texas
University Interscholastic League The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organ ...
boys singles championship in 1944–1945. Nationally he was the 8th-ranked junior tennis player, and the 17th-ranked amateur overall. In 1945, Savitt entered the Navy, stationed at the Naval Air Station in Memphis, Tennessee.


College

Beginning in 1946, Savitt attended Cornell University, where he majored in economics, was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, and he was elected a member of the Sphinx Head Society. However, two injuries, one to his knee, curtailed his basketball career. Savitt resumed playing tennis. He became Cornell's tennis team captain and its #1 singles and doubles player. In 1947, he was ranked # 26 in the U.S., and two years later he was ranked # 17. In 1949 and 1950, as a junior and a senior, he won the Eastern Intercollegiate Tournament, and he won the doubles title with Leonard Steiner from 1948 to 1950. He was 57–2 in singles for his college career, and he graduated in June 1950.


Post-college tennis career

Savitt ranked in the world's top 10 four times between 1951 and 1957 (# 2 in 1951); and in the U.S. top 10 six times between 1950 and 1959. That was despite the fact that Savitt did not compete in 1953–55. Among Savitt's major victories were the 1951 Wimbledon singles championship and the 1951 Australian Open. He also won the 1952, 1958, and 1961 USLTA National Indoor Championships, becoming the first player to win that crown three times, and won the Italian doubles. He won the
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
singles and doubles championships in 1952.


1950–1953

In 1950, he won the Eastern Clay Court Championships defeating Don McNeill in the final in four sets and the New York State Championships defeating McNeill in a five-set final. Still without any coaching, in 1950 Savitt reached the U. S. Tennis Championship semifinals at Forest Hills, losing to Art Larsen. In 1951, at the age of 24, Savitt won the
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
Singles Championship. Along the way he beat Larsen, the No. 1 U.S. player, in straight sets, and Herbert Flam, the No. 2 U.S. player. He won the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
Singles title, winning in straight sets in the 61-minute final against Ken McGregor. He became the first American since Don Budge, 13 years earlier, to win both Wimbledon and the Australian Open in one season. Savitt became the first Jewish male player to win either tournament. In the Jewish parts of North London, Savitt said "Nobody knew tennis there, but after I won people started picking up rackets". In addition, he became the first Jewish athlete to appear on the cover of ''Time'' magazine. The significance of a Jewish tennis player succeeding was rooted in the fact that tennis was still at the time primarily a country club sport, and many country clubs often did not allow Jews in as members and did not allow them to use their courts. This, in turn, kept many Jewish tennis players from obtaining the training they needed to compete at the highest levels. Savitt was ranked second in the world in 1951. He was ranked the No. 1 player on the United States
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
Team. He made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open in January 1952. In February 1952, he beat
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 from 1941 to 1954, and he was ranked World No. 3 in 1949 by John Olliff of ''The D ...
to win the U.S. National Indoor championship. He won the
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
singles and doubles championships in 1952, defeating Kurt Nielsen in the singles final in three straight sets. In September 1952, he beat Art Larsen to win the Pacific Coast men's singles tennis championship.


Davis Cup snub and retirement

Savitt had played and won his three early 1951 matches in an exhibition against the Australian Davis Cup team, winning 9 of 10 sets as the American team beat Australia in the event. Allison Danzig, the senior American tennis writer, called him America's best hope for victory. He had defeated Frank Sedgman, Australia's best player, in the 1951 Australian Open.
Ted Schroeder Frederick Rudolph "Ted" Schroeder (July 20, 1921 – May 26, 2006) was an American tennis player who won the two most prestigious amateur tennis titles, Wimbledon and the U.S. National. He was the No. 1-ranked American amateur player in 1942 ...
, who had lost all three of his Davis Cup matches while losing 9 out of 10 sets in the process the year before and who was in semi-retirement, was chosen by non-playing captain Frank Shields. Five of the top 10 players in the U.S. publicly accused Shields of "obvious prejudice" in his choosing the team. Without Savitt playing singles, and with Schroeder losing two of his three matches, the United States lost the 1951 Davis Cup to Australia. The controversy spilled over into the next year when the 1951 nationally ranked players were bitterly debated at the January 1952 U.S. Lawn Tennis Association annual meeting. Members of the Association's Eastern, New England, Southern, Florida, and Texas delegations, whose chief spokesman was
Gardnar Mulloy Gardnar Putnam "Gar" Mulloy (November 22, 1913 – November 14, 2016) was a U.S. No. 1 tennis player primarily known for playing in doubles matches with partner Billy Talbert. He was born in Washington, D.C., and centenarian, turned 100 in Novem ...
, were in favor of Savitt being named the No. 1 tennis player in the U.S. However, Shields attacked Savitt in a "biting", "unprecedented" speech, which observers said swung the vote against Savitt. As it was reported by ''Time'' magazine, "the loudest talker was Frank Shields, non-playing captain of the losing U.S. Davis Cup team. Shields had ignored Savitt in the Davis Cup matches, had put his confidence in aging (30) Ted Schroeder ... who turned out to be the goat of the series. Shields was intent on keeping Savitt ranked ... at No. 3. Cried Shields: 'Never once in the past three months has Savitt looked like a champion. Don McNeill, the 1940 U.S. champion, answered Shields' outburst by pointing out that players are ranked on their tennis ability, that personal prejudice should have nothing to do with ranking, and that Shields' remarks were "uncalled for". That met with "resounding applause" from the delegates. Australian Davis Cup team
Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, New South Wales, Glebe, Sydney as the third c ...
called his arguments as to why Savitt should not be ranked No. 1 "weak

Still, a never-before-required proxy vote was needed to decide the No. 1 spot. Savitt was ranked the No. 2 player in the U.S. by the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association, behind Vic Seixas and directly ahead of Tony Trabert. In February 1952, Savitt announced that he would play only one more tournament, the National Indoor Championships, and then retire from tournament tennis—at age 25. He later explained that there was insufficient money in the amateur game to support his needs, requiring him to pursue his business career.Commentary: Schwartzman Unrestricted. https://www.commentary.org/articles/rick-marin/schwartzman-unrestricted/ Savitt did not believe that anti-Semitism was the cause of his problems with Shields. Savitt had beaten Shields badly in the quarterfinals of the New Jersey State Championships in 1948. Also, Shields had been excluded from the 1933 U.S. Davis Cup team despite being ranked U.S. No. 1 for that year by the USLTA.


Part-time comeback

Savitt returned to the competitive tennis scene part-time in 1954. In April 1954 he won the clay court River Oaks Championshipsin Houston, Texas defeating
Sven Davidson Sven Viktor Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Sweden, Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957 French Championships – Men's singles ...
,
Gardnar Mulloy Gardnar Putnam "Gar" Mulloy (November 22, 1913 – November 14, 2016) was a U.S. No. 1 tennis player primarily known for playing in doubles matches with partner Billy Talbert. He was born in Washington, D.C., and centenarian, turned 100 in Novem ...
, Vic Seixas, and
Ham Richardson Hamilton Farrar Richardson (August 24, 1933 – November 5, 2006)"Former tennis sta ...
in the final, the latter three members of the U.S. Davis Cup team. In August 1957 he won the Eastern Grass Court Championships at South Orange, New Jersey defeating U.S. Davis Cup players Ham Richardson and Vic Seixas in the final two rounds in best-of-five set matches. In 1958, Savitt moved back to New York for business reasons and launched a part-time comeback in tennis. That year, he won his second National Indoors title, defeating Grant Golden, Kurt Nielsen, and Budge Patty in the final three rounds. In 1961, he captured his third—while remaining a weekend player, defeating Pierre Darmon, Chris Crawford, and U.S. No. 1 Whitney Reed in the final. In 1981, he and his son, Robert, won the U.S. Father-Son doubles title.


Maccabiah Games; Israel

In 1961, he won gold medals in both singles (defeating American Mike Franks in the final), and doubles (with Franks, defeating South Africans Rod Mandelstam and Julie Mayers), at the
1961 Maccabiah Games The 6th Maccabiah Games were held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1961, with 1,100 athletes from 27 countries competing in 18 sports. The Games were officially opened in an Opening Ceremony on August 29, 1961, in Ramat Gan Stadium by Israeli president Yi ...
in Israel, the third-largest sporting event in the world. He was also very active in the Maccabi movement. Savitt in addition helped develop the Israel Tennis Centers, beginning in 1973. In 1998, he was the ITA overseas tennis director. In his 2007 book ''The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History and The 150 Greatest Jewish Sports Stars'', author Peter S. Horvitz ranked Savitt the 9th-greatest Jewish athlete of all time.


Halls of fame

Savitt was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
in 1976. Savitt was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986. Savitt was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and into the
USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and devel ...
Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.


After tennis

Following his competitive tennis career, Savitt entered the oil business in Louisiana. He then worked for
Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...
, and in 1985, he joined
Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1804, it employs over 6,000 people worldwide in 38 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is traded on ...
. Savitt died on January 6, 2023, at the age of 95.


Grand Slam finals


Singles (two titles)


Doubles (two runner-ups)


Grand Slam performance timeline


See also

* List of select Jewish tennis players


References


External links

* * * *
Hall of Fame Magazine bio

American Jewish Historical Society bio

Jews in Sports bio


{{DEFAULTSORT:Savitt, Dick 1927 births 2023 deaths Jews from New Jersey Jews from Texas American male tennis players Australian Championships (tennis) champions Cornell Big Red men's basketball players Cornell Big Red men's tennis players Jewish American tennis players Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Sportspeople from Bayonne, New Jersey Sportspeople from El Paso, Texas International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis players from New Jersey Tennis players from Texas Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Competitors at the 1961 Maccabiah Games American men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) United States Navy personnel of World War II Military personnel from Hudson County, New Jersey Military personnel from Texas 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American sportsmen