Paul G. Sullivan, 1983. Photograph taken at the celebration of Fox Meadow Tennis Club's centennial

Paul G. Sullivan elected FMTC President (1967-1969); long-time Compton Memorial Tournament chair. Eight old courts renovated and a ninth added in 1967

Paul Sullivan (1927-2009) was born in Brooklyn, NY and lived most of his life in Scarsdale.

He attended Princeton University, and served in the Navy as a radioman in Annapolis during WWII. His work career spanned over 50 years, first with Hayden Stone and then with Smith Barney.

Paul was a avid tennis player and became a USTA umpire and officiated at the US Open and Wimbledon. He grew up playing tennis with John Parker Compton at Fox Meadow and became the long-time chairman for the Compton Memorial Tournament.

During his term 1967 the club renovated the eight old courts and installed a ninth one.

Paul also made many contributions to platform tennis and to the APTA where he served as President from 1963-1965. Sullivan was elected to the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002.

FMTC Board presents plans for a major addition to the Clubhouse; controversy ensues

In the immediate post-war years, the Club’s boards concentrated on adding paddle courts and improving the grounds. Not until that was done and the old mortgage retired could the board move on to the long-held dream of expanding the little 1927 clubhouse.`

The addition would contain both a new kitchen and clubroom. Such construction required a zoning variance from the Village, and some nearby residents protested strongly. They said doubling the size of the clubhouse would add to existing traffic problems and noise.

At the time of the controversy the Club had 145 family members, thirty house members, ten nonresident members, and two honorary members. The parking lot could hold twenty-two cars.

Building the wing involved months of planning and was accomplished principally because of the presidential perseverance of Walter Close and Oliver Kingsbury. Hours were spent soliciting agreement forms from all property owners who lived within 600 feet of the Club’s perimeter.

In another move to nullify the opposition, the Club board amended the bylaws to establish a permanent ceiling of 160 active members and inserted a clause prohibiting any future application for a liquor license.

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

Oliver A. Kingsbury, 1983. Photograph taken at the celebration of Fox Meadow Tennis Club's centennial

Oliver A. Kingsbury elected FMTC President (1965-1967); new club house wing become a reality during his term

Kingsbury (1902-2005) was born in Clifton, NJ and graduated from Paterson High School. For many years he was an officer of the advertising firm Donahue & Coe, Inc. in New York City where he handled one of the key accounts, Metro Goldwyn Mayer in the hay day of MGM musicals.

During Kingsbury’s tenure the board developed plans for a major addition to the clubhouse that would contain a new kitchen and clubroom.

The undertaking created much controversy with neighbors and the new wing only became a reality in 1967 because of the perseverance of Walter Close and Kingsbury who were feted by the club for their achievement, at which time the addition was unofficially dubbed the Kingsbury Wing.

FMTC Expansion 1967

FMTC property showing land sold to Roger Manning in 1955 and parcel purchased in 1959

Fox Meadow acquires property abutting Stonehouse Road

This acquisition completed a plan dating from the late 1940s to sell the Club’s less usable higher land off Church Lane and to expand instead towards the more usable lower land behind the Club.

The higher ground of the Church Lane lot was sold in 1955. Many of the trees planted by the club, starting in 1959-60 under Walter Close, were added to the newly acquired Stonehouse parcel.

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

Kip Couch, 1935. Photograph taken a sam-finals of 1935 Men's Doubles

Clifford D. Couch, Jr. elected FMTC President (1957-1959)

Clifford (Kip) Couch was one of the best players in the early APTA championships and was among the first group of individuals inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965. The sports writer George Trevor of The Sun (New York) called him the “stylist of the paddle tennis realm.”

Bob Kingsbury (right) and John Mangan at Fox Meadow in 1975

Robert R. Kingsbury, a preview of things to come

The first time Bob Kingsbury’s paddle abilities came to public attention was in 1955, when a newspaper article noted that Oliver Durrell and his son Bill had defeated Oliver Kingsbury and his son Bob in a Club tournament.

Bob was a multiple winner of Club tennis and platform tennis tournaments (see Kingsbury, as well as a two-time national champion in platform tennis. He served as APTA President from 1978-1980 and was inducted into the Platform Tennis Hall of Fame in 2003.

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