The young tennis stars of Fox Meadow’s post-war years included three teenage girls, Anne Wofford and the Barnes sisters, Lucie Bel and Sally.

Anne Wofford placed first in the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association (ELTA) Junior Girls’ Singles rankings in 1947 and won the Anita Lucas Trophy.

The next year belonged to the Barnes girls, who won the Eastern Open Doubles championship, the Ardsley Invitational Junior Doubles, and the New York State Doubles. Sally also took the Ardsley Singles championship, winning the Anita Lucas Trophy. To cap her 1948 triumphs, Sally Barnes recovered from a disastrous first set to win the New York State Junior Girls’ tournament 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. That year she ranked second in the 15-18 division of ELTA, and sister Lucie Bel ranked fourth.

When the FMTC Women’s Singles championships were instituted in 1948, it was the younger generation who dominated. For four years in a row, finals play shifted between Lucie Bel Barnes, Madeleine Price, Susan Beck (Note 1), and Ruth Blanchard Walker.

The first year she won the Club’s Women’s Singles title, Lucie Bel Barnes was still technically a Junior, and in fact reached the finals of the ELTA Junior Girls’ Singles. She lost in straight sets but joined the victor, Jane Breed, to collect the Doubles crown in a 6-1, 6-1 rout. At the same tournament a young Susan Beck and her partner won the Under-15 Doubles title 6-2, 6-3.

And the Barnes girls were still in fine tennis form in 1982 when they won the Women’s Over 50 National Grass Court Tournament at Forest Hills.

Sally Barnes Bondurant became a dominant women’s paddle play at FMTC in the late 1960s and passed on her paddle genes to son Scott. Lucie Bel Barnes McAvoy also became a fine paddle player and received the APTA Honor Award in 1992 for her work in developing paddle in the Philadelphia area. Her son, Tim, was inducted into the APTA Hall of Fame in 2012.

The cousins, Tim and Scott, captured the Men’s 50+ Nationals in 2009 and 2010

Note 1: Susan Beck Wasch had a fine paddle career, winning a number of National titles. She received the APTA Honor Award in 1976 along with another fine FMTC tennis and paddle player, John Moses.

Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club-The First Hundred Years, 1983

While the Club had employed tennis pros off and on since 1931, most taught only a day or two a week and remained at the Club a short while before moving on. The pattern changed when Robert Stubbs arrived to teach daily in May and June of 1947, during Charlie O’Hearn’s presidency.

One of the nation’s leading clay court players, Stubbs won the U.S. Professional Lawn Tennis Association Singles title in 1947 and 1948, and with partner Mitch Gornto he won the Doubles title in 1953 and 1954, the second year against Bobby Riggs and Frank Kovacks. He played the pro tour with Donald Budge and Pancho Segura.

Stubbs’ lessons were so popular that one of the Club’s five existing courts was being taken over, and the need for an extra court became urgent. When the original paddle courts on the Club’s Church Street property finally were torn down, a new clay practice court and backstop were built there in 1953.

In his nine years as FMTC pro, Bob Stubbs greatly improved the caliber of tennis at the Club and sharpened the skills of a generation of Club youngsters. His particular strength was an ability to improve and inspire young players and hone their game to a fine competitive edge.

Source: Diana Reische, Fox Meadow Tennis Club-The First Hundred Years, 1983