Vincent Richards “Vinnie”
Born: March 20, 1903
Hometown: Yonkers, New York, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1959
Grand Slam Record
French Doubles 1926
Wimbledon Doubles 1924
Doubles finalist 1926
U.S. Doubles 1918, 21, 22, 25, 26
Doubles finalist 1919
Mixed 1919, 24
Mixed finalist 1925
Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1922, 1924-26
Olmpics Gold Singles 1924
Gold Doubles 1924
Silver Mixed 1924
Vincent Richards was the boy wonder of his day, and hasn’t lost that luster: the youngest male to win any of the major championships. A volleying master all his life, he was 15 when Big Bill Tilden, on the verge of greatness, selected the kid as partner in the U.S. doubles championships of 1918 at Longwood Cricket Club in Boston. They marched through the field, and Vinnie must have felt as though he were in the geriatric ward.
He and Tilden, 25, beat a couple of 38-yearold ex-champs, Fred Alexander and Beals Wright, for the title, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2. They won twice more in 1921 and 1922, beating Davis Cup teammates Dick Williams and Watty Washburn, then the Australian Cup pair, Gerald Patterson and Pat O’Hara Wood. Fittingly, the last national title Richards and Tilden won was a valedictory together the U.S. Pro doubles 27 years after, in 1945, over Welby Van Horn and Dick Skeen, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
Richards was a pro pioneer, signing on with promoter C.C. Pyle as leading man of the original professional touring troupe in 1926. His mates barnstorming North America during the winter of 1926-27 were the star attraction, Suzanne Lenglen and Paul Feret of France, and fellow Americans Mary K. Browne, Howard Kinsey and Harvey Snodgrass.
It was tough to break into the Davis Cup lineup in singles with Bill Johnston and Tilden around. But Vinnie got his chance in 1924, and beat both Patterson and O’Hara Wood in straight sets during the 5-0 victory over Australia. That year he won two Olympic golds (singles, doubles) and silver (mixed). He was on four Cup-winning teams, losing only a doubles with Tilden in 1922. In 1918 Richards was also the youngest ever to play or win a match in the U.S. singles, and he steadily advanced toward the top, a 19-year-old semifinalist in 1922, losing to Johnston, 8-6, 6-2, 6-1. He was back in the semis in 1924 battling the champ, Tilden, 4-6, 6-2, 8-6, 4-6, 6-4, repeating the next year but losing to Big Bill 6-4, 6-4, 6-1. In 1926 he was generally acknowledged as the best American, losing to Jean Borotra in the semis, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 8-6, 6-2, Tilden lost in the quarters to Henri Cochet.
Many felt that 5-foot-10 Richards, who had refined his game well beyond his teenage volleying skills, deserved the No. 1 U.S. ranking. Instead, because he turned pro, the USTA unfairly awarded him no ranking for that year when he was No. 6 in the world rankings. He had been in the U.S. and World Top Ten five straight years from 1921, No. 2 in both in 1924.
Once the initial Pyle tour was disbanded, he was active in trying to find other opportunities for the fledgling professionals, no longer welcome at the traditional events. Vinnie, who championed the pros during those difficult years, even after his playing days were over, helped organize the first U.S. Pro Championships in New York in 1927, an event that continues as the longest-running pro tournament. The purse was $2,000. Richards beat Kinsey, 11-9, 6-4, 6-3, for that title and a first prize of $1,000, and was its singles victor three more times. Born March 20, 1903, and raised in Yonkers, NY, he died September 28, 1959, in New York, shortly after entering the Hall of Fame.
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