Herbert L. Bowman (21 April 1897 – April 1980) was an American

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player in the early 20th century.”Anderson Reaches Semifinal Round; Holder of Castle Point Tennis Trophy Downs Emerson in Hard Fought Match,” New York Times (Sept. 23
1921
. See also, Wright & Ditson, Lawn Tenns Guide, Officially Adopted (Boston, MA 1920), “Singles Championship of the United States, Forest Hills, New York, on Aug. 30, 1920,” at
10
In grand slam tournaments his best result came at the 1922 U.S. National Championships where he reached the fourth round before losing to Vinnie Richards. He played in over 100 tournaments, and 225 matches in singles between 1915 and 1946, and won 40 career titles.

Career

Bowman was born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

, Bowman took his bachelor's degree at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1919. While at Cornell, he joined the

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...

fraternity in 1915, and through that affiliation, was a member of the Irving Literary Society. Bowman played in his first U.S. National Championships in 1915. In 1921 he won his first title at the Quaker Ridge Invitation held at New Rochelle, New York City. He continued to play at the U.S. National Championships (today's U.S. Open) multiple times, with his best result coming at the 1922 U.S. National Championships, where he reached the fourth round, but was beaten by

Vinnie Richards Vincent Richards (March 20, 1903 – September 28, 1959) was an American tennis player. He was active in the early decades of the 20th century, particularly known as being a superlative volleyer. He was ranked World No. 2 as an amateur in 1924 b ...

. Bowman was ranked as high as No. 13 in the United States. In 1929, he won the singles and doubles titles at the Tri-State Tennis Championships today known as the

Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...

. He was 32 years old when he won the singles title, making him to this day the fifth oldest player to win the title in Cincinnati, behind Edward Moylan,

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

(who was 33 when he won in 1926),

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) 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 101 ...

(34 when he won his third Cincinnati title in 2004) and

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former World number one male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 professional tennis player. Rosewall won 147 singles titles, including 23 majors: a record 15 Major professional te ...

(35 when he won in 1970). In 1943 he won his final title at the Seventh Regiment Tennis Club tournament. In 1946 Bowman played his final tournament at the U.S. International Indoor Championships. His career highlights included winning the New Jersey State Championships five times (1922, 1925–1927, 1930). He won the Bermuda Championships at Hamilton, Bermuda on hard courts a record five times (1924, 1926, 1928–1930), the Quaker Ridge Invitation three times (1921, 1924, 1927), the New York State Championships two times (1922–1923), the

Eastern Clay Court Championships The Eastern Clay Court Championships was a combined men's and women's international tennis tournament on clay courts founded in 1927 by the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association of the USLTA. The championships were held in various locations in the New Yo ...

three times (1927,1929,1930), the Seventh Regiment Indoor Championship on wood courts three times (1928, 1930, 1943), the Brooklyn Indoor (1923), the Long Island Indoor (1924), the Maryland State Championships (1922), the Atlantic Coast Championships (1927), Hudson Valley Championship (1929) and the Old Dominion Championship three times, (1932–1933, 1936) in Richmond, Virginia. Bowman died in New York City in 1980 at the age of 83.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Herbert 1897 births 1980 deaths American male tennis players Tennis players from New York City Date of death missing