| Country (sports) |  United States |
|---|---|
| Born | (1922-09-26)September 26, 1922 Washington D.C., U.S. |
| Died | October 27, 2011(2011-10-27) (aged 89) Castro Valley, California, U.S. |
| Turned pro | 1939 (amateur tour) |
| Retired | 1969 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 314–96 |
| Career titles | 34 |
| Highest ranking | No. 7 (1946, Pierre Gillou)[1] |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1947) |
| French Open | SF (1946,1947) |
| Wimbledon | F (1947) |
| US Open | F (1946) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1947) |
| French Open | F (1947) |
| Wimbledon | W (1946) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| French Open | F (1946) |
| Wimbledon | W (1946) |
| US Open | W (1948) |
Thomas P. Brown Jr. (September 26, 1922 – October 27, 2011) was one of the top amateurtennis players in the world in the 1940s and a consistent winner in veterans' and seniors' competitions. He was the son of Thomas P. Brown, a newspaper correspondent, later public relations director for a railroad, and Hilda Jane Fisher, who became a schoolteacher when Tom was a boy. Though born inWashington, D.C., Tom was considered a San Franciscan all his life, having been brought west by his parents (both Californians) at the age of two.
Tom Brown Jr. got his start playing tennis at San Francisco'sGolden Gate Park where on weekends his parents played, and Tom tagged along. He quickly became intrigued with the sport, was soon beating his parents and winning citywide children's championships. He was captain of the tennis teams at bothLowell High School and theUniversity of California-Berkeley.
For one for whom tennis was never the main event in life, he had a successful record in the sport, before devoting himself to a law practice and raising a family. At his best he had wins over top players of his era. As Private First Class Brown won the singles title of the prestigiousPacific Coast Championships in October 1945, the second oldest tennis tournament in the U.S. Brown won it four times, twice in singles, twice in doubles. Then, fresh out of the Army after World War II, he reached the 1946 Wimbledon semifinals, in which he led that year's eventual champion, France'sYvon Petra, by two sets before losing.[2]
In demand as a doubles partner among the world's best, both men and women, Brown, withJack Kramer, won the 1946 Wimbledon doubles against Australia'sGeoff Brown andDinny Pails. He also won its mixed doubles, teamed withLouise Brough, against Dorothy (Dodo) Bundy and Geoff Brown. The same year, at the French, he played the mixed finals with "Dodo" and reached the semis of the singles (losing toJaroslav Drobny). At the U.S. Nationals, he reached the singles finals by defeatingFred Kovaleski, Tom Falkenburg, Bitsy Grant,Herbie Flam,Frank Parker andGardnar Mulloy, then he was defeated by Kramer.[2]
At the Australian championships in 1947, Brown beatAdrian Quist, then lost toDinny Pails in the semifinals.[3] In the Wimbledon singles in 1947, Brown beat defending champion Petra and future championBudge Patty, then lost easily to Kramer in the final.[4] At the French (held after Wimbledon for the last time), he lost in the semifinals to eventual winnerJozsef Asboth, and he was in the doubles finals with Billy Sidwell of Australia.[2]
In 1948 at Wimbledon, he teamed withGardnar Mulloy, losing the doubles final to the Australian duoJohn Bromwich andFrank Sedgman. Brown also took the U.S. mixed doubles title with his favorite partner, Louise Brough.[2]
It was 16 years before he gave Wimbledon another shot. In both 1964 and 1965. he was put out in the second round of the singles; in 1965 byJohn Newcombe who, several years later, became a three-time Wimbledon champion. He played doubles those years with (respectively) Hugh Stewart and Gene Scott. Both were first-round losses.
Kramer wrote in his 1979 autobiographyThe Game, My 40 Years in Tennis that Brown "was known as 'The Frisco Flailer' (we had nicknames like that in those days), and he was strong off the ground with an excellent running forehand, but he was always my pigeon." Kramer was the only player who "owned" Brown, beating him nine straight matches without the loss of a set.
Brown was also on three U.S. Davis Cup teams, and in 1950, against Australia, playing his second challenge round singles, he won the U.S.'s only point in five hard-fought sets, defeatingKen McGregor, who became the 1951 Wimbledon singles finalist and the 1952 Australian singles champion.
Brown had a lifelong passion for travel, a wanderlust he said he acquired as a two-year-old when he and his mother took a train ride out west from Washington, D.C. to Merced, California to join his father. The family then settled in San Francisco. During his law-practice years, whenever he got the chance to travel to a tennis tournament he took it, and well into his 30s, he was beating the world's top amateur competition. During and well beyond his active playing career, Brown was ranked in the U.S. top 10 eight times between 1946 and 1958, reaching as high as No. 3 in 1946.[5] He was ranked World No. 7 for 1946 by Pierre Gillou and for 1947 by bothJohn Olliff andHarry Hopman.[1][6]
At ages 47 and 48, Brown won the National Men's 45-and-over hard court singles. He also took the U.S. National doubles 45-and-over three times, once withArt Larsen and twice withTony Trabert. Upon retirement from his law practice, he fully embraced senior tennis, and at the age of 65 in 1987, won the USTA National Grand Slam in the 65-and-over singles, triumphing on hard, clay, grass and indoor surfaces, an almost unique accomplishment in the annals of U.S. veterans’ tennis. In 1988, the International Tennis Federation named him Outstanding Veterans Player in the world.
Brown won numerous national titles as a senior player: 24 singles and 11 doubles, pairing with Bobby Riggs three times andFred Kovaleski eight times. Brown's last national title was in 1998. In 2007 he published his memoirs titled "As Tom Goes By".
Tom Brown died inCastro Valley, California on October 27, 2011, aged 89.
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1946 | US National Championships | Grass |  Jack Kramer | 7–9, 3–6, 0–6 |
| Loss | 1947 | Wimbledon | Grass | Jack Kramer | 1–6, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1946 | Wimbledon | Grass | Jack Kramer |  Geoff BrownDinny Pails | 6–4, 6–4, 6–2 |
| Loss | 1947 | French Championships | Clay | Billy Sidwell |  Eustace FanninEric Sturgess | 4–6, 6–4, 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1948 | Wimbledon | Grass | Gardnar Mulloy | John BromwichFrank Sedgman | 7–5, 5–7, 5–7, 7–9 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1946 | Wimbledon | Grass | Louise Brough | Dorothy BundyGeoff Brown | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1946 | French Championships | Clay |  Dorothy Bundy | Pauline BetzBudge Patty | 5–7, 7–9 |
| Win | 1948 | US National Championships | Grass | Louise Brough | Margaret Osborne duPontBill Talbert | 6–4, 6–4 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |