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Tennis greats competed in Hickory

Five O'Clock Shadow

By Charles Deal | Special to the Record

Published: September 20, 2009

Hickory making the Top 10 among best tennis cities in the USA this month was no surprise.

Appreciation of tennis may have been honed in the middle of the last century with the grand opening of Hickory Foundation Center.

Harley Shuford Sr. dreamed up the idea of raising funds and recognition for the magnificent community center.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, Shuford played on the tennis team at UNC-Chapel Hill. In an era when the game was gaining steam as a professional sport, Shuford contracted for a tennis match among some of the greats of the tennis world as a foundation center fundraiser.

Jack Kramer, one of the most influential figures ever in the sport of tennis, was Shuford's contact.

Leaving nothing to chance, the ball boys for the match were trained on Shuford's personal tennis court beside his home in Hickory.

Davis (Buzz) Merritt, one of the ball boys, took up the game as a result of the training and the exciting match.

Buzz Merritt was better known as a life-long newspaper reporter who served as editor of The Witchita (Kansas) Eagle. His earlier 38-year newspaper career was in N.C., Florida and Washington, D.C.

A teen at the time in 1948, Merritt recalled Pancho Gonzales' big serve. New to the sport was Pancho Segura's two-handed returns. He recalls the mistake of intercepting a one-bounce serve with both hands, the speed splitting them apart.

Once, he said, was enough.

The awesome foursome included Gonzales, Segura and the greatest tennis hustler ever, Bobby Riggs, "who used incredible lobs and spins."

The singles champion of the US Open in the 1980s, Kramer often competed against Gonzales in tournaments around the USA and abroad. Off the court, they were best of friends.

"Next to Jackie Robinson, Pancho Gonzales was the most competitive athlete I've ever known," offered legendary sports broadcaster Howard Cosell.

Because he refused to attend school, Gonzales was banned from pro tennis. When he turned 18, he resumed playing and fared well in major tournaments, ranking 17th in the United States after a year.

Segura had his best years in the 1940s and 50s. In 1950 and 1952, he was ranked No. 1 in the world. On a scholarship at the University of Miami, he won the Intercollegiate trophy, 1943-45.

Jack Kramer said that Segura's two-handed forehand was "the greatest single shot ever produced in tennis."

Segura won the U.S. Clay Courts in 1944 and U.S. Indoors in 1946. He made the finals often but was never able to win the national championship at Forest Hills.

A winner at Wimbledon in his early years, hustler Riggs challenged Billie Jean King to a match in Las Vegas. His idea: To show women were lesser athletes than men.

King had won six times at Wimbledon and four U.S. Open championships. She was the No. 1 woman in tennis for five back-to-back years.

Prior to the match, Riggs and King traded gifts. He gave her a giant lollipop. Riggs received a live pig, indicating his discrimination of women. Billie Jean King was in her prime. Riggs, 55, had a chance to win the first set but lost the match in three straight sets. It's estimated that 50 million people viewed the 1973 televised match, which proved a strong case for women in athletics.

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was named in her honor.

The rumor bounced around that Riggs, always the gambler, might have played the odds and placed his bet on Billie Jean King. Riggs may have started the rumor to save face. The sports world may never know.

Meanwhile, the door was opened wide for female athletes for all time.

The tennis match at Hickory Foundation Center buzzed with interest, but ticket sales were weak.

The best-told story is that Harley Shuford made it certain that the tennis greats he brought to Hickory would not be embarrassed for a lack of spectators.

The rest of the story is that the lifelong Hickory benefactor walked through Shuford Mills, passing out free tickets. "See you at the match," he is alleged to have said.

When the action started, heads moved from side to side to follow the ball on the court, many among the overflow crowd with little idea what was happening.

Charles Deal is a former newspaper editor and publisher. Reach him at chazdeal@aol.com.