Parker, Frank

Frank Andrew Parker
Born: January 31, 1916
Died: July 24, 1997
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1966

Grand Slam Record
U.S. Doubles 1943
Doubles finalist 1933
Mixed 1932, 35, 37, 41

French Singles 1948-49
Doubles 1939

Wimbledon Doubles 1949

Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1937, 39, 46, 48

Frank Andrew Parker, a marvelous groundstroker, particularly on the backhand side, was a paragon of durability, ranking in the U.S. Top Ten 17 straight years (1933-49), a male record until Jimmy Connors surpassed it in 1988. One of the youngest to rank with the elite, 17 in 1933, he was No. 1 in 1944 and 1945, and the oldest ever to play in the U.S. Championships, 52 in 1968.

He entered in 1968 for fun, this man who had teamed with Don Budge and Gene Mako to win the Davis Cup for the U.S. in 1937, saying he wanted to be part of yet another era, the “open.” He lost his first match to eventual champion, Arthur Ashe, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, thus completing a championship career that began with a third-round defeat by fourth-seeded George Lott, 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, at Forest Hills in 1932. In between, as Sgt. Parker, Frankie won the U.S. title on his 13th try in 1944, again in 1945, both while on leave from the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. He beat civilian Bill Talbert both times. A 6-3, 6-4, 6-8, 3-6, 6-1 quarterfinal defeat in 1946 by Tom Brown busted his dream of winning three straight. But he nearly jolted Jack Kramer winning the first two sets of their 1947 final. After the 1949 Forest Hills, his 19th, ending in a semis loss, 3-6, 9-7, 6-3, 6-2, to champ Gonzalez, Frankie turned pro to tour Kramer, Gonzalez and Pancho Segura.

Grass or clay? Didn’t matter to 5-foot 81/2, 145-pound Frank, at home anywhere, the third only four American men able to win on greensward of Forest Hills and the heavy salmon-toned soil of Roland Garros. In 1948 and 1949 at the French he followed Don Budge and Don Neill, and preceded Tony Trabert. But his sure-fire groundies looked especially good in the U.S. Clay Court championship that he won five times between 1933 and 1947. His 24-match streak was ended in the 1949 final by Gonzalez, 6-1, 3-6, 8-6, 6-3. Parker built the streak on titles in 1941 (over Bobby Riggs, 6-3, 7-5, 6-8, 4-6, 6-3), (over Talbert, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2), 1947 (over Ted Schroeder, 8-6, 6-2, 6-4). Although he and Gonzalez were known primarily for singles, they played a brief but forceful duet on both sides of the English Channel in ’49, winning the French and Wimbledon doubles.

Frank won 12 of 14 Davis Cup matches. In 1948 he won both singles in the successful defense against Australia. Coupled with his singles win while the U.S. heisted the Cup from Britain in 1937, this made him the only man to help win the Cup with singles victories at either end of World War II. He was ranked in the World Top Ten six times between 1937 and 1949, No. 1 in 1948. Born in Milwaukee January 31, 1916, he was christened Franciszek Andrzej Paikowski. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1966.

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