James Cecil Parke

James Cecil Parke

Country (sports)	Ireland
Born	26 July 1881 Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland
Died	27 February 1946 (aged 64) Llandudno, Conwy, Wales
Turned pro	1900 (amateur tour)
Retired	1925[1]
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 3 (1912, Karoly Mazak)[2]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1912)
Wimbledon	SF (1910, 1913)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1912)
Wimbledon	F (1920)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Wimbledon	F (1913)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1912)
Medal record Olympic Games – Tennis 1908 London Doubles

James Cecil Parke (26 July 1881 – 27 February 1946) was an Irish rugby player, tennis player, golfer and Olympic medallist.

Parke was born in Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland. He played rugby with both Monkstown and Dublin University and between 1901 and 1908 played ten times for Leinster.^[3] Between 1903 and 1909, he won twenty Ireland caps.^[4]

As a tennis player he won the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title in 1912 and 1914. He won the Australian Men's singles and doubles tennis titles in 1912. He was Singles Champion of Europe in 1907 and played for Britain in the Davis Cup. In 1908 he won an Olympic Silver medal in Men's Doubles.^[5] He won eight Irish Lawn Tennis Singles titles, four doubles and two mixed titles. Parke was ranked World No. 3 for 1912 by Karoly Mazak, and in both 1913 and 1920 he was ranked World No. 4 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph.^[2][3][6] He recorded his greatest feats in the Davis Cup where he defeated Norman Brookes and Rodney Heath in the Challenge Round on 28–30 November 1912 when his team, the British Isles captured the Cup and next year he beat Maurice McLoughlin and Richard Norris Williams in the Challenge Round on 25–28 July 1913, though his nation lost the meeting against the USA. He also won the depleted Australasian Championships in 1912.

He played golf for Ireland in 1906 and was also a top-class track and field sprinter and a cricketer. He played chess for the Clones team when he was nine years old.^[3] He died in Llandudno, Wales.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 title

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1912	Australasian Championships	Grass	Alfred Beamish	3–6, 6–3, 1–6, 6–1, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1912	Australasian Championships	Grass	Charles Dixon	Alfred Beamish Gordon Lowe	6–4, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	1920	Wimbledon	Grass	Algernon Kingscote	Chuck Garland R. Norris Williams	6–4, 4–6, 5–7, 2–6

Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1913	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	Agnes Tuckey Hope Crisp	6–3, 3–5 retired
Winner	1914	Wimbledon	Grass	Ethel Thomson Larcombe	Marguerite Broquedis Anthony Wilding	4–6, 6–4, 6–2

See also

• Frank Stoker

References

1. Irish Identity: Ireland's greatest all-round sportsman
2. Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis, p. 40.
3. "James Cecil Parke". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
4. James Parke rugby union profile Scrum.com
5. "James Cecil Parke Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
6. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 422.

External links

• James Cecil Parke at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• James Cecil Parke at the International Tennis Federation
• James Cecil Parke at the Davis Cup