Tom Brown, who reached the men’s singles final of U.S. Championships in 1946 and at Wimbledon in 1947, died last week in Castro Valley (San Francisco Bay Area), California, the New York Times reports. He was 89.
Brown, an amateur standout and successful lawyer and senior player, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
A product of the public courts at San Francisco’s Golden Gate park, Brown was the son of a journalist. In the 1946 U.S. Championships at Forest Hills, Brown upset defending champion Frank Parker before losing to Jack Kramer in the men’s final, 9-7, 6-3, 6-0. In 1947, Kramer took down Brown in the Wimbledon final, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Brown won the Wimbledon doubles with Kramer, and also played on two Davis Cup teams.
Brown played collegiate tennis at the University of California at Berkeley and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943, where he served as a mortar gunner in Europe. Upon being discharged in 1946, Brown decided to try and make a living off playing tennis, but eventually got his law degree at Cal and went into practice.
Brown played competitively into his 80s despite having shoulder replacement surgery. He won the San Francisco City Championship 10 times, the last coming at the age of 48. He was a superior senior player, winning the Grand Slam in the USTA National 65s in 1987, and also winning the doubles title that year with the legendary Bobby Riggs. His last two national championships came in 1998 at the 75s hard courts and indoors.
In 2002, Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle that just before he turned 80, he went to see his internist and the doctor asked him how many times a week he was playing tennis. "I said three or four and he said, 'If you don't play more, you're going to die very quickly.' So I've stepped it up to five or six times a week when I can."