Dwight F. Davis

Dwight F. Davis

Full name	Dwight Filley Davis, Sr.
Country (sports)	United States
Born	July 5, 1879 St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Died	November 28, 1945 (aged 66) Washington, D.C., USA
Turned pro	1895 (amateur tour)
Retired	1902
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 5 (1900, Karoly Mazak)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
US Open	F (1898, 1899)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (1904)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon	F (1901)
US Open	W (1899, 1900, 1901)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	QF (1904)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1900, 1902)

Dwight F. Davis
Swearing in of Davis as Secretary of War in 1925
49th United States Secretary of War
In office October 14, 1925 – March 4, 1929
President	Calvin Coolidge
Preceded by	John W. Weeks
Succeeded by	James W. Good
Governor-General of the Philippines
In office July 8, 1929 – January 9, 1932
President	Herbert Hoover
Preceded by	Eugene Allen Gilmore (acting)
Succeeded by	Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. George C. Butte (acting)
Personal details
Born	Dwight Filley Davis July 5, 1879 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	November 28, 1945 (aged 66) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Harvard University Washington University Law School
Profession	Politician, Tennis player

Dwight Filley Davis (July 5, 1879 – November 28, 1945) was an American tennis player and politician. He is best remembered as the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition. He was the United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1923 to 1925.

Biography

Davis was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 5, 1879.

Davis reached the All-Comers final for the Men's Singles title at the US Championships in 1898 and 1899. He then teamed up with Holcombe Ward and won the Men's Doubles title at the championships for three years in a row from 1899 to 1901. Davis and Ward were also Men's Doubles runners-up at Wimbledon in 1901. Davis also won the American intercollegiate singles championship of 1899 as a student at Harvard College.

In 1900 Davis developed the structure for, and donated a silver bowl to go to the winner of, a new international tennis competition designed by him and three others known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, which was later renamed the Davis Cup in his honor. He was a member of the US team that won the first two competitions in 1900 and 1902, and was also the captain of the 1900 team.

He participated in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was eliminated in the second round of the singles tournament. In the doubles tournament he and his partner Ralph McKittrick lost in the quarter-finals.^[2]

Davis was educated at Washington University Law School, though he was never a practicing attorney. He was, however, politically active in his home town of St. Louis and served as the city's public parks commissioner from 1911 to 1915. During his tenure, he expanded athletic facilities and created the first municipal tennis courts in the United States. He served President Calvin Coolidge as Assistant Secretary of War (1923–25) and as Secretary of War (1925–29). He then served as Governor General of the Philippines (1929–32) under Herbert Hoover. His first wife, Helen Brooks, whom he married in 1905, died in 1932.^[3] He married Pauline Sabin in 1936. He wintered in Florida from 1933 until his death, living at Meridian Plantation, near Tallahassee.^[4] Davis died in Washington, D.C. on November 28, 1945.^[3]

Legacy

His daughter Alice Brooks Davis was married to the British Ambassador to the United States Sir Roger Makins.

Davis has been honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.^[5]

References

1. Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis, p. 28.
2. "Dwight F. Davis Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
3. Political Graveyard Genealogies
4. "Davis Cup has local tie". Tallahassee Democrat, 6 December 2007: 3C
5. St. Louis Walk of Fame. "St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees". stlouiswalkoffame.org. Retrieved 25 April 2013.

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile