Sam Match

Sam Match
Full name Samuel Match
Country (sports)  United States
Born January 3, 1923
Los Angeles, United States
Died January 23, 2010(2010-01-23) (aged 87)
Redondo Beach, California, United States
Turned pro 1954 (amateur tour from 1940)
Retired 1968
Singles
Highest ranking No. 8 (1949)
Grand Slam Singles results
US Open 3R (1946, 1947, 1949)
Professional majors
US Pro QF (1954)
Doubles
Highest ranking No. 4 (1948)
Last updated on: October 1, 2012.

Samuel "Sam" Match (January 3, 1923 – January 23, 2010)[1] was an American tennis player. He was born in Los Angeles, California.

Match was ranked among the top ten amateur players in the United States in 1948, 1949, and 1950 in both singles and doubles play.[2][3] Lawn Tennis and Badminton magazine ranked him as the 12th-best professional player for the year 1955.

Early life

Match was born in Los Angeles, California, and was Jewish.[4][5][6] He attended Los Angeles High School.[7]

Career

He was the California state junior champion at age 18.[8]

He was a radio operator for three years in the Air Corps while in Guam, and played and lost to Bobby Riggs in the finals of the Army-Navy Championships in 1945.[3]

In 1947, playing doubles for Rice University, Match along with his doubles partner Bob Curtis beat Herbert Flam and Gene Garrett of UCLA 6–4, 8-10, 3–6, 6–2, 7–5 to win the NCAA doubles title.[9][10]

Match twice defeated US No. 1, Pancho Gonzales. The first time was 1948 at Newport, Rhode Island,[11] and the second time was in 1949 at River Oaks in Houston.[3] He was a terrific player with classic groundstrokes.

As an amateur, Match won at La Jolla, California, on February 16, 1948; at Philadelphia in 1948; and at the Utah State Open in 1948 and 1949.

In 1949, playing for the University of San Francisco, Jack Tiero of Tulane beat Match in five sets in the finals of the NCAA tournament. Match and Art Larsen lost the doubles championship in the finals.[9][12]

Match was the runner-up in La Jolla (March 19, 1950), the California State in San Francisco (May 21, 1950), the Colorado State in Denver (June 9, 1950), and in Salt Lake City (July 2, 1950).[13]

Match's first appearance in a professional tournament was at the California State Pro in Beverly Hills, California (August 11–16, 1953).[14]

Accolades

Match was inducted into the University of San Francisco Athletic Hall of Fame.[3]

In 1991, Match was inducted into the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame.[15][3]

Match was inducted in 2000 into the Southern California Jewish Hall of Fame.[8]

In 2005, he was honored as one of the University of San Francisco's 75 greatest athletic legends.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "PASSINGS: Sir Percy Cradock, Sam Match". Los Angeles Times. January 30, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Match, Sam". Jews in Sports. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Rice Institute Owls tennis player Sam Match
  4. ↑ Day by Day in Jewish Sports History - Bob Wechsler
  5. ↑ The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle from Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 25, 1950 · Page 6
  6. ↑ Jews In Sports
  7. ↑
  8. 1 2 PASSINGS: Sir Percy Cradock, Sam Match - latimes
  9. 1 2 "2005 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships". Texas A&M University. Archived from the original on May 9, 2006. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  10. ↑ Bud Collins' Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis
  11. ↑ Tennis: Its History, People and Events: Styles of the Greats - Will Grimsley, Julius David Heldman
  12. ↑ The Glory of Washington: The People and Events That Shaped the Husky ... - Jim Daves, Tom Porter, W. Thomas Porter
  13. ↑ Sutter, Michel. Vainqueurs 1946-1991.
  14. ↑ McCauley, Joe. The History of Professional Tennis.
  15. ↑ "Hall of Fame". Rice Owls. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  16. ↑
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