claremont history By Wendy Markel in collaboration with Don Jacobus
at the Berkeley Tennis Club in the spring, and the Pacific Coast Tournament took place in the fall.
In the 1920s, a young girl to burst onto the Berkeley Tennis Club scene was Helen Wills. She was given a membership in the Club for her 14th birthday present. At age 18, she won the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles and eventually took 11 Wimbledon titles and 4 Don Budge titles at the French Nationals. She was elected to the Internation- al Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959. To quote Anna Harper in an inter- view in 1975, “Helen Wills . . . every morning would run from her Berkeley Tennis Club home on Tunnel Road all the way down to the Anna Head School When the train still ran between the courts. in the middle of Berkeley to strengthen her legs. Well, I didn’t think they looked as though they needed strengthening.” LOOKING In a 1975 interview with Ned McFord, he said, “In the 1920s, there were only two big (Northern Californian) clubs—the Cal
BACK YEARS Club and the Berkeley Tennis Club. That’s where all the players 100 were centered; there was nothing else.” As a member of the Berkeley Tennis Club (BTC), I have always been struck by the incredible physical location it occupies in our Don Budge, one of the club’s most famous members, was 15 years community. And over the years, I have become aware of the long old when he joined in 1930 and went on to win the California history of fame that has put it on the larger international tennis State Junior Championship and the Pacific Coast Juniors, and map. As the club celebrates it centennial at its Tunnel Road loca- in 1938, he won all three Wimbledon titles. At Wimbledon, he tion, we thought it would be a good time to look back. lost no sets in the entire tournament! That same year, he turned Don Budge in front of the Berkeley Tennis Club.
USA Team captain Donald Dell (L) with player Arthur Ashe before North & pro—at age 23. Central America Draw Final matches vs Mexico at Berkeley Tennis Club. The game of tennis came to the United States from England in 1874. The Berkeley Tennis Club was created in 1906, and play In the early 1930s the Claremont Hotel, apparently in need of began on the two courts of rolled earth in May 1907 at the leased more capital, sold off a small portion of their land. It concerned location of 2624 Hillegass Avenue, Berkeley. The club started the BTC members that the hotel might seek to sell their leased with 40 members but swelled to 180 members by 1908. In 1909, land. A club member, Wallace Alexander, a friend of Helen five courts were in operation, with three of the courts surfaced Wills, offered to buy out the club property and lease it to the with crushed seashells. club. About ten years later, in 1943, under the auspices of Roy McDonald and Cyril George, plans were formulated to buy off the “The first Berkeley woman to achieve national recognition in Alexander loan by issuing $35,000 worth of 20-year bonds. “The tennis . . . was at the university on (a court) which girls were Berkeley Tennis Club is a weather-beaten little-shingled building prohibited from playing after eight o’clock in the morning! After with a porch around it. A few yards beyond it, there is a single 1906, she became one of the first women players at the newly track railroad, and a locomotive and a few cars invariably puff formed Berkeley Tennis Club.[i]” Her name was Hazel Hotchkiss and clank by at critical moments on the courts.”[ii] Wightman, and she went on to win 43 national championships! The Berkeley Tennis Club was incorporated as a nonprofit orga- In 1917, the club’s Hillegass lease was about to run out. The nization in 1945, the bonds were fully subscribed to by its mem- membership explored alternative arrangements, which led to the bership, and an agreement was made to retire the bonds and meet present site at 1 Tunnel Road. Around that time, the clubhouse the 5 percent interest on them on a yearly basis. By this time, the was built by club member and Tunnel Road resident, architect club’s membership had grown to about 160 members, but by the Roland S. Stringham. 1960s membership applications would burgeon to the point that there were 500 members; some new members had to wait as long The BTC lease from the Claremont Hotel stipulated that two as four years before space was available for them to join. weeks per year would be free from rent, with the understanding that this time would be held for the Northern California Tennis In 1971, the Berkeley Tennis Club hosted its last Pacific Coast Association Tournament. The first tournament held was called International Tournament. The club simply could not compete the California State Patriotic Tournament after the end of World with the size of the Oakland Coliseum or the San Francisco Cow War I. After 1917, the California State Championships were held Palace. Aside from that, some members felt that the extreme Helen Wills 26 Claremont Living • September 2017 September 2017 • Claremont Living 27 commercial orientation was “not in keeping with the traditions of the Berkeley Tennis Club.” Enjoy Your Health Life, Health, Disability & Medicare Plans Through the years, Berkeley Tennis Club has been blessed with many great players in its membership, including Don Budge and Helen Wills Moody as mentioned, Helen Jacobs, William John- son, Edward Chandler, Bill Crosby, Hugh Ditzler, Julie Heldman, Jean an honorary lifetime membership to Berkeley Tennis Club William Hoogs, Frank Kovacs, Don Jacobus, Clif Mayne, Bill at that time. Maze, Jim McManus, Jeff Borowiak, Girls’ 18 National Champion
Sasha Podkolzina, and Hazel Wightman (of the Wightman Cup), The real soul of the Berkeley Tennis Club is reflected in a quiet dig- and many others. nity of sportsmanship. It basks in the fame of past tennis “greats,”
at the same time as it energetically encourages the famous of the In 1968, one of the United States Davis Cup matches was hosted future and nurtures the comradery of all its members. at the BTC. The U.S. team of Arthur Ashe, Clark Graebner, Stan Smith, and Bob Lutz triumphed over the Mexican team that year. The club has many feathers in its cap, and not the least of these is the fact that the BTC was the “only private club ever to have both [i] The Berkeley Tennis Club, A History 1906–1997” by Gail Bax- the No. 1 male and No. 1 female players in the world as mem- ter and Luther Nichols bers—Don Budge and Helen Wills.”[iii] The club has the largest [ii] Alice Marble in American Tennis 1957 representation of any organization in Northern California in the [iii] Geoff Hayes Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame. HARRY HARTMAN Insurance Services Recently, Billie Jean King returned to the club at which she Licensed Agent Since 1985 played at so often in her younger years to crown the Girls' 18 Na- Are you a history buff? Do you have an idea for a Claremont Call for Quote History feature on a person, place or event? Please reach out to tional Champion. Berkeley Tennis Club was proud to give Billie [email protected]. We would love to hear from you. 510-814-0572 hartmaninsurance.com
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