Paul DeForest Hicks (1903-1977)

Hicks started playing platform tennis at the Manursing Island Club in Rye back in the 1930’s and in 1940 he captured the APTA National Men’s doubles title with Witherbee Black. He had been featured in a 1940 Life Magazine article of the game that had been arranged for by Ken Ward. The photographs for the article were by the noted Albanian-American photographer Gjon Mili who was a pioneer in the use of stroboscopic instruments to capture a sequence of actions in one image.

Hicks died suddenly at his home in Rye, NY, on September 24, 1977. The 74-year old insurance executive, a paddle pioneer, was a member of the Class of 1926 at Princeton and had enjoyed many tennis triumphs. He captained his college team in his senior year when his doubles partner was sophomore John Van Ryn (’28). Van Ryn gained later fame on the courts by winning both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles championship with Wilmer Allison.

Source: Paddle Talk, Vol. 3 No. 3 (January 1978)