Felix McCrea become FMTC caretaker

Before the days of court heaters there was Felix McCrea, Groundskeeper Extraordinaire
Before the days of court heaters there was Felix McCrea, Groundskeeper Extraordinaire

A few years after Felix joined the Club in 1941, Charlie O’Hearn said in his president’s message that he honestly didn’t know what Fox Meadow would do without Felix. “He is wonderful with the kids, he is wonderful with the grownups, he is wonderful with a hammer and saw, and more than once he has fixed our coal burner single-handed. And the tennis and paddle courts speak for themselves. He is an institution around this Club.”

“Fox Meadow is a kind of institution,” said Brook Kindred, “and in the old days the institution was Felix McCrea, who was probably the most renowned court builder in the metropolitan area.”

Felix served full-time until 1960 when he started to work on a part-time basis overseeing the courts. He died in 1972 and a bronze plaque was placed outside the clubhouse to honor “a thorough gentleman and dedicated custodian of the Fox Meadow Tennis Club for forty years.”

Source: Adapted from Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club – The First Hundred Years, 1983