Jack May (tennis)

May played many sports but his favorite and best was tennis. In the days of amateurs he competed with some of the best players Australia has produced (one of his most important achievements was to reach the mixed doubles final of the 1951 Australian Championship),[1] but his family could not afford to allow him to travel and play tennis.

He was trained and practiced as a dental technician, but May’s love of tennis and many more sports saw him become an employee of Spalding Australia (A.G Spalding). After progressing to the Managing Director role he grew Spalding from a small supplier to become a big sporting goods manufacturers leading the way especially in golf ball production with the Hot Dot and Top Flite balls.[2]

In 1965 he and his family moved from Sydney to Melbourne (Spalding Head Office) where he remained for the rest of his life. He purchased the Sherrin Football Company in 1972, who manufactured AFL footballs in agreement with Tom Sherrin (Sherrin’s owner).[3]

The desire to improve Spalding’s overall performance and market share saw May concentrate on the large golfing market. Hot Dot and Top Flite golf balls became big sellers and took Spalding’s market share from under 20% to almost 70%. Robert Molitor, the Spalding Senior Vice President and Head of Technology in USA, had asked Jack to move firstly to Canada with the intention of moving him to the Executive Office in the USA, but Jack’s family decided to remain in Australia, so he turned down the offer.

In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer recalled the occasion he saw Jack play in Australia. Unaware of who he was but impressed with his skill, he enquired as to who is that on court to be told he is ‘just a weekend player’, to which Kramer quoted ‘he must be the best weekend player in the world’.[4]

• Over 200 Tennis titles in Australia (recorded wins over Don Candy, Ken Rosewall, Frank Sedgman & John Newcombe)
• Won Sydney Singles Championship 13 times
• Won Sydney Doubles Championship 11 times[5]
• Won Northern Suburbs Singles 11 times
• Won Northern Suburbs Doubles 10 times[6]

Grand Slam finals

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1951	Australian Championship	Grass	Clare Proctor	Thelma Coyne Long George Worthington	4–6, 6–3, 2–6

• Life Member of the Australian Davis Cup Federation and President for 25 years.[7]
• Tennis Australia National Award for Services to the Game [8]
• Councillor of the Victorian Tennis Association. Awarded with Highly Commended Service Award in 1986 and Victorian Spirit of Tennis Award in 1999.[9]

Jack was married to Patricia May (Everitt) on 3 August 1957. They have four children: Michelle, Jon, Martin and Rod.