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By DAN ROBRISH Associated Press Writer
Thursday, January 27, 2000 Page: 5B
Don Budge, who swept all four major tennis tournaments in 1938 to become
the sport’s first “Grand Slam” winner, died Wednesday of cardiac arrest. He
was 84.
He died at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, said hospital spokeswoman Mary
Leone.
Budge was injured in a car crash in northeastern Pennsylvania on Dec. 14
when he lost control and drove off the road. He was hospitalized in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., until Jan. 8, when he was transferred to a nursing
facility near his home in Dingmans Ferry. Budge was taken to Mercy Hospital on
Jan. 17.
Budge had a complete game built around a whiplash backhand, which is
considered the best ever. He backed up a strong serve with power and accuracy
off the ground and volleyed effectively.
“What impressed me, and what distresses me now, he epitomized what we were
all taught as tennis players so lacking now: Look like a champ, act like a
champ, try to play like a champ,” Ted Schroeder, a top American player of the
same era, said Thursday in Melbourne, Australia.
Budge played in the shadow of a developing World War II and had a
comparatively brief career. He found himself sandwiched between Bill Tilden’s
heyday in the 1920s and the emergence of a breed of tough, young professionals
who hit the ball at 120 mph and competed for purses that soared into millions
of dollars.
He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1964, and was
selected one of Tennis Magazine’s 20 greatest players of the 20th century.
“Don Budge was one the game’s great champions on the court, and a great
friend to the Hall of Fame,” Hall of Fame president Jane G. Brown said.
During Centre Court ceremonies at Wimbledon in 1998, Budge was introduced
as “the tall redheaded Californian with the greatest backhand ever.” His
mark on the game, in fact, was much greater.
“I consider him the finest player 365 days a year who ever lived,” Tilden
once said.
Born June 13, 1915, in Oakland, Calif., John Donald Budge was a superb
athlete who played all popular team sports, including baseball and basketball.
When he was 13, his brother Lloyd, who played on the tennis team at the
University of California, persuaded Don to take tennis seriously.
Nine years later, Budge beat Germany’s Baron Gottfried Von Cramm in what is
considered to be one of the best Davis Cup matches ever.
That same year, 1937, Budge won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships.
In 1938, he became the first player to sweep all four major titles – Wimbledon
and the championships of Australia, France and the United States.
The feat, dubbed a “Grand Slam” by tennis writer Allison Danzig, has been
equaled by only four other players since.
“In the recent light of Andre Agassi achieving a career grand slam, Dad’s
accomplishment becomes all the more stellar,” said David Budge, one of his
sons, a music and film publicist in Los Angeles.
It was the only time in his career that Budge played the French or
Australian championships.
After reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 1936, Budge took five months off
the following winter to change his game, taking the ball earlier and improving
his forehand.
He had a 92-match, 14-tournament winning streak that began early in 1937.
He won Wimbledon easily, then on July 20, met Von Cramm on the grass courts of
the All-England Club.
While in the dressing room before beginning the match, Von Cramm received a
telephone call. As Budge listened, Von Cramm, an anti-Nazi, listened, then
ended the call by saying politely, “Ja, mein Fuhrer.” It was Adolf Hitler.
By the time the two took the court, the best-of-5 competition was tied a
two victories apiece. Budge triumphed 6-8, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 8-6, giving the
United States the victory.
“Don, this was absolutely the finest match I have ever played in my
life,” Von Cramm told him. “I’m very happy that I could have played it
against you, whom I like so much.”
Budge received the James E. Sullivan Trophy as the nation’s outstanding
amateur athlete in 1937 and was The Associated Press athlete of the year in
1938.
As a child, his first love was baseball, and later in life he met one of
his heroes, Joe DiMaggio, at a New York restaurant.
“You know, Don, I always envied you,” DiMaggio told him. “As a kid, I
dreamed of becoming a tennis champion.”
Budge replied: “That’s funny. I always wanted to be a baseball player.”
After his 1938 Grand Slam, Budge turned pro and dominated in an era when
professionals were not allowed to play tournaments, including the major
championships.
“I was the amateur champion for two years and then the pro champion for
many years after that,” Budge once said. “There was no one who could beat
me. Just think of how many more Wimbledons I could have won.”
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Wednesday. In addition to David Budge,
he was survived by his second wife, Loriel Budge, and another son, Jeffrey
Budge.