Tennis Players in the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame
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Tennis Players in the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame Dirk Dugan ‘72: A three-time All-Ivy performer, he won the singles title at the 1970 and 1971 Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association Championship tournament. In addition, he captured the EITA freshman singles title in 1969. As a junior, he made it to the third round of the NCAA championship tourney. During his three varsity seasons, Dugan compiled an overall dual match record of 26-8 at No. 1 singles, going 10-1 his junior year. In 1972, he was named to the EITA all-star team en route to compiling a 6-2 dual match singles record in league play. Dugan was the recipient of the Francis T. Hunter ‘16 Trophy in 1970, 1971 and 1972 as Cornell’s singles champion. Dugan, who also lettered in squash as a sophomore, was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. Craig Fanning ‘57: A three-sport standout at Cornell, Fanning played at No. 1 singles as a junior and senior, compiling an 8-3 record in 1956 and a 4-3 slate in 1957. He went 13-4 during his sophomore season, competing at the Nos. 3-4 positions. Fanning was a two-time All-Ivy first- Dirk Dugan ‘72 team selection in soccer, receiving All-America honorable mention in 1956. He also competed on the squash team in 1956-57, the first year of Jerry Levin ‘63 varsity status for the sport at Cornell. Fanning was inducted into Cornell’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991. Olga Itskhoki Harvey ’96: In her three years at Cornell as a No. 1 singles player, Itskhoki Harvey went 21-0 against Ivy competition and compiled a 53-5 record in overall singles play. She was a three-time All-Ivy first-team performer. She went 21-1 overall as a senior, when she led the team to a 13-3 record and its first-ever NCAA tournament berth. Itskhoki Harvey was a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year. She was named to the GTE Academic All-America Spring At-Large University Division second team and was a two-time Academic All-Ivy selection (1995 and 1996). She was co-captain in 1996 and team MVP in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Itskhoki Harvey was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. Francis Hunter ‘16: One of the world’s foremost tennis players in the 1920s, Hunter was ranked second to Bill Tilden in the United States in 1927, 1928 and 1929. He was on the Davis Cup team as Tilden’s doubles partner in 1927 and 1928. In 1927, he and Tilden won the Wimbledon doubles and in 1924 Hunter won with Vincent Richards. That duo also won the Olympic gold medal as doubles champion that year in Paris. A Craig Fanning ‘57 Dave Merritt ‘85 member of the International Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame, Hunter won the Wimbledon mixed doubles titles in 1927 and 1929. He was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979. Helen Johnson ‘78: She was Cornell’s No. 1 singles player as a junior and senior. The New York state singles champion in 1975, she placed fourth in the state tournament in 1976 and was runner-up in 1977. Captain of the team as a senior, Johnson compiled an illustrious 35-3 career record in singles play. She was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983. William Larned 1894: Considered by many as the greatest of the old tennis masters, Larned shared the U.S. record of seven national champi- onships with two others. He won the Intercollegiate championship as a junior at Cornell. From 1892 to 1912, he was listed among the nation’s elite top 10 for 19 of the 20 years, earning the No. 1 ranking eight times. He played in Davis Cup challenge rounds in 1902, 1903, 1905 and 1906, captaining the U.S. squad in 1903. He was elected to the National Tennis Hall of Fame in 1956 and was inducted into Cornell’s Athletic Olga Itskhoki Harvey ‘96 Hall of Fame in 1981. Kirk Reid ‘20 Jerry Levin ‘63: Levin went undefeated at No. 1 singles (10-0 overall, 8-0 EITA) to win the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association champi- onship in 1963. His most notable victory that season was over Princeton’s Herb Fitzgibbon, who at the time was ranked No. 1 in the East and 21st in the nation. Levin competed at the 1963 NCAA championships, where he won his first two rounds before bowing out in the third. He compiled a 9-1 record at Nos. 2-3 singles as a sophomore and went 9-5 at No. 1 singles his junior year. Levin was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. Dave Merritt ‘85: Merritt was a three-time All-Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association first-team singles selection (1983, 1984 and 1985) and was a first-team All-EITA doubles pick as a freshman in 1982. Over his four-year career, he compiled an overall dual match record of 56-18 in singles play, going 16-3 at No. 2 singles in 1982, and competing at No. 1 singles, he went 13-5 in 1983, 15-3 in ‘84 and 12-7 in 1985. His Francis Hunter ‘16 consistency helped the Big Red put together winning records in three of his four seasons with the varsity. Merritt received a bid to compete in Richard Savitt ‘50 the NCAA singles championships in 1984 and served as captain of the team as a junior and senior. He was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. Kirk Reid ‘20: Reid won the University tennis championship twice. He was a finalist in the National Intercollegiate championships in 1919, losing a close five-set match to Yale’s Charles Garland. After graduating from Cornell, he won 16 national tennis championships, 40 state and regional titles and almost 200 lesser titles. Reid was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame and was a 1984 inductee into Cornell’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Richard Savitt ‘50: A major reason for the golden era of Cornell tennis (1947-50), Savitt posted an outstanding dual match record of 57-2, while the Big Red went 51-8. He led Cornell to a pair of EITA titles in 1948 and 1949. A four-year starter at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, he was Wimbledon champion in 1951 and also the Australian champ that same year. Savitt was inducted as a charter member into the Cornell Helen Johnson ‘78 Leonard Steiner ‘51 Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978. Leonard Steiner ‘51: Steiner won the 18-and-under USTA national indoors doubles championship with Dick Savitt in 1945 and the singles championship in 1946. He was a three-time EITA doubles champion (with Dick Savitt), winning the title in 1948, 1949 and 1950. He was undefeated in both singles and doubles play in Ivy competition in 1948 and 1949. He earned a No. 9 ranking in the East in 1948 and helped the Big Red to three straight Eastern league titles. Steiner was inducted into Cornell’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. Clinton Wyckoff 1896: Wyckoff was a star on the football field and on the tennis courts while at Cornell. He was the first football player outside the Big Four (Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Penn) to be named to the Caspar Whitney-Walter Camp All-America first team as the quarterback of the 1895 squad. Wyckoff was considered one of the greatest performers ever to wear the Red of Cornell. He was inducted as a charter member into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978. William Larned 1894 Clinton Wyckoff 1896.