Victor Kenneth Braden Jr. (August 2, 1929 – October 6, 2014) was an American tennis player, instructor, sport researcher and television broadcaster for the sport. He earned aPhD inpsychology and was married twice. He had 2 children, 1 grandchild and 3 step-children.[1][2][3]
Introduced to tennis at age 12, he became good enough to earn three Michigan state high school championships, a scholarship to Kalamazoo College, invites to play inRiver Forest, Illinois, and inMilwaukee. He toldSports Illustrated in a 1976 interview that he once hitchhiked toDetroit to watchDon Budge playBobby Riggs, because he wanted to learn how Budge hit his backhand.
Braden graduated fromKalamazoo College,[4] where he was Captain of the Tennis Team, and won the MIAA Conference Singles Title. He married a model, Joan, upon graduation.[5] He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by hisalma mater in 2008.[6]
Vic Braden died of a heart attack on October 6, 2014, at the age of 85. He was married for many years to his second wife, Melody.[7][8]
Braden became a tennis professional after graduating from Kalamazoo College in 1951.While serving as Assistant Basketball Coach at theUniversity of Toledo.Harold Tenney hired him to become the Head Tennis Professional at theToledo Tennis Club. Besides teaching, he joined the pro tour and played againstJimmy Evert (father ofChris Evert) and George Richey (father ofCliff andNancy Richey).[9] He moved to California in 1956 and obtained a master's degree fromCalifornia State University, Los Angeles[10] and an honorary PhD from Kalamazoo College.[11] Braden joinedJack Kramer's pro tour in 1959. In 1961, he and Kramer started theJack Kramer Tennis Club in Palos Verdes, CA where Braden helped direct construction and sell memberships to the club and then served as the Head Tennis Professional. He startedTracy Austin in tennis, and developed his "Tennis College" concept.[12] In 1986, Kramer said, "One Vic Braden is worth a lot of Champions in helping promote the sport. The McEnroes, Borgs, Connors, they've been great. But I don't think any one of them has created the interest in the sport that Vic has."[13] Braden was a patient and good friend ofDr. Toby Freedman, who was prominent in Space and Sports Medicine at North American Aviation and Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic, and was an avid Tennis Player.
Braden hosted a short-lived television series,Vic's Vacant Lot, which ran from 1982 to early 1984 for 26 episodes onESPN and rerun onNickelodeon until May 1985.[27] The premise was to send Braden out with a group of children to show them how to organize competitive sports on a vacant lot, as specified in the title.[28] Due to the show not receiving much recognition, no recordings were available online, at least until January 3, 2022, when anInternet Archive user uploaded an episode of the show in two parts.[29][30]
United States
