 | |
| Full name | Bernard Peter Schwengers |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Canada |
| Born | 26 May 1880 |
| Died | 6 December 1946(1946-12-06) (aged 66) Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Singles | |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Wimbledon | 3R (1913) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | 1R (1913) |
| Team competitions | |
| Davis Cup | F (1913) |
Bernard Peter Schwengers (26 May 1880 – 6 December 1946[1]). was aBritish-bornCanadiantennis player, baseball player, and all-round sportsman. He is considered the finest Canadian tennis player of the early twentieth century and is amongst Canada's tennis greats.[1][2]He was inducted into theBC Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 and theCanadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1973.
He won theVancouver Lawn Tennis Club single title in 1900 and 1906, and the doubles title in 1906.[3] He won the Pacific Northwest singles championship five consecutive years from 1909 to 1913,[2] was the Quebec Open Singles champion in 1911, and took theCanadian International Championships singles title twice in 1911 and 1912. He won theBritish Columbia Championships four times in singles in 1907, 1908, 1910, and 1914, and twice in doubles in 1906 and 1907 and seven-times BC Mainland Champion (Western Canadian) in singles in 1900, 1906–1908, 1910, and 1912, and doubles in 1906.[3] In England he was theMiddlesex Championships singles winner in 1913 and theAll-England Invitational Championship singles winner in 1914.[3] Schwengers was on the 1913 CanadianDavis Cup team along withJ. F. Foulkes,Robert Powell andHenry Mayes.[4] It was Canada's first entry into the Davis Cup and they reached the final of the cup only to be defeated by the United States in the summer of 1913 atWimbledon where the cup was being held.
Schwengers was successful in a wide range of sports, and was a champion rower for JBAA, setting the British Columbian 100-yard sprint record in 1898.[2] He was also an able soccer player and a star pitcher and second baseman for the Victoria team in the oldPacific Northwest International Baseball League, and once rejected a $8,000 a year contract to play second base for theSt. Louis Browns in 1902.[2] He was described as being a "terrific hitter" who was able to "play in any position".[5] TheVictoria & District Baseball Association cites Schwengers andJimmy Holmes as the finest baseball players in Victoria during this period.[6] He later found success as a senior golfer, winning thePacific Northwest Seniors Golf Championship in 1943.[2]
He was inducted into theBC Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 and theCanadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1973.[3]