William Larned
William Augustus Larned (December 30, 1872 – December 16, 1926) was an American male tennis player.
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[edit] Biography
Larned was raised in Summit, New Jersey on the estate of his father, William Zebedee Larned.[1] Larned Road in Summit honors both father and son. He came from a family that could trace its American roots to shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower. He was the eldest child of a wealthy lawyer and his wife. In 1890 he came to Cornell University to study mechanical engineering. He first gained fame in his junior year, when he became the first (and to this day, the only) Cornellian to win the intercollegiate tennis championship.
An all-around athlete, Larned captained the St. Nicholas ice hockey team in 1896-97 and was also a fine horseman, golfer, and rifle shot. He invented the steel-framed racquet in 1922 and founded a company to manufacture it.
As one of the "Big Three of the U.S. men's championship", Larned won the title seven times, as did Richard Sears before him and Bill Tilden after. He was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1956.
Larned in 1898 had served in the Spanish-American War as one of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. While serving in the war, Larned caught rheumatism in Cuba; Rheumatoid arthritis later deteriorated his health forcing him to retire from tennis after winning the Davis Cup in 1911. Partially paralyzed by spinal meningitis, he was unable to do any of the activities he loved most, and became depressed. On the evening of December 15, 1926, inside the private chambers of the exclusive Knickerbocker Club in Manhattan, the 53-year-old man William Augustus Larned raised a .45 caliber pistol to his head, and committed suicide.
[edit] Grand Slam record
[edit] U.S. Championships
- Singles champion: 1901, 1902, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911
- Singles finalist: 1900, 1903
[edit] Grand Slam singles finals
[edit] Wins (7)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1901 | U.S. Championships |  Beals Wright |
6–2, 6–8, 6–4, 6–4 |
| 1902 | U.S. Championships (2) |  Reginald Doherty |
4–6, 6–2, 6–4, 8–6 |
| 1907 | U.S. Championships (3) | Robert LeRoy |
6–2, 6–2, 6–4 |
| 1908 | U.S. Championships (4) | Beals Wright |
6–1, 6–2, 8–6 |
| 1909 | U.S. Championships (5) | William Clothier |
6–1, 6–2, 5–7, 1–6, 6–1 |
| 1910 | U.S. Championships (6) | Thomas Bundy |
6–1, 5–7, 6–0, 6–8, 6–1 |
| 1911 | U.S. Championships (7) | Maurice McLoughlin |
6–4, 6–4, 6–2 |
[edit] Runner-ups (2)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1900 | U.S. Championships | Malcolm Whitman |
6–4, 1–6, 6–2, 6–2 |
| 1903 | U.S. Championships | Hugh Doherty |
6–0, 6–3, 10–8 |
[edit] References
- ^ Staff. "LARNED WORKS BUNDY: Champion Tennis Player Makes The Youngster Show Weakness", The Baltimore Sun, August 26, 1910. Accessed February 18, 2011. "For the fourth consecutive time and for the sixth time in his career as tennis player William A. Larned, of Summit, N. J., today won the challenge match of the singles championship of the United States..."
[edit] External links
- International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Biography
- Spanish-American War Military Service Record
- Biography
- Biography
- 1872 births
- 1926 deaths
- 19th-century American people
- 19th-century male tennis players
- American male tennis players
- American people of English descent
- American soldiers
- Cornell Big Red tennis players
- People from Summit, New Jersey
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
- Tennis people from New Jersey
- United States Army soldiers
- United States National champions (tennis)
