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Irvin "Irv" Sherrod Dorfman (September 3, 1924 – October 8, 2006) was an outstanding
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
American
tennis player 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 ...
in the 1940s and 1950s. He was ranked No. 15 in singles in the United States in 1947, and No. 3 in doubles in the U.S. in 1948.


Early and personal life

He was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, the son of Belle and Nat Dorfman, and was Jewish. During World War 2, he was in the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
. He was married to Eileen Merl Dorfman and Jane Randall (originally Rosenbaum), with whom he had a daughter, Andrea Dorfman. He had a younger sister, Marcia Katz. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia.


Tennis career

Dorfman played his collegiate tennis at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. In 1946 he won the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Title. He also won the 1947 Connecticut State Tournament in singles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles. He graduated from that
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
school in 1947. At 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 ...
, Dorfman reached the 1948 singles final, only to fall to Herbert "Buddy" Behrens in a match that lasted 64 games: 5–7, 9–11, 6–2, 8–6, 4–6. To this day, it is the longest final in games in the history of the Cincinnati tournament, which started in 1899 and is now the oldest tournament played in its original city in the United States. Dorfman also won the doubles title in 1948 in Cincinnati, partnering with future
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 ...
enshrinee
Pancho Gonzalez Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 Professi ...
. Dorfman reached the quarterfinal of the 1950 French Championships in which he lost to eventual champion and compatriot
Budge Patty Edward John Patty (February 11, 1924 – October 4, 2021), better known as Budge Patty, was an American world no. 1 tennis player whose career spanned a period of 15 years after World War II. He won two Grand Slam singles titles in 1950. He wa ...
. He died in
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...
in 2006.


See also

* List of select Jewish tennis players


References


External links

* American male tennis players Tennis players from Brooklyn Yale Bulldogs men's tennis players 1924 births 2006 deaths Jewish American tennis players American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Jews from New York (state) 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-tennis-bio-stub