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Bill Tilden

Born Into Privilege



William Tatem Tilden, Jr., was born on February 10, 1893, at the family mansion, Overleigh, in the wealthy Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The home, a Tudor-like structure on McKean Street, was symbolic in two regards: it demonstrated the Tilden wealth and lineage, and its location, less than three football fields distant from the gates of the local tennis club, the German-town Cricket Club, presaged baby William Jr.'s future field of endeavor. Bill Tilden was born into a family with deep Anglo-Saxon roots. His father's family came from Kent, England, of a long and distinguished British line whose ancestors included, among others, in-laws to the family of William the Conqueror and a Tilden who helped finance the Mayflower. The first Tilden came to the colonies in 1634, accompanied by seven servants. From that beginning on the American continent, the Tildens spread north to Canada, where subsequent generations established that country's largest rental car company, to New York, where one of the offspring, Samuel Tilden, lost the presidential election in 1876, and to Delaware and Maryland. Bill Tilden's father was a result of this southern line of the Tilden clan. He moved to Philadelphia in 1855 where he found work with the woolen firm of David Hey, married the boss's daughter, Selina Hey, and set about becoming partner in the wool business and a wealthy man.



Before Bill Tilden's birth in 1893, William Sr. and his wife Selina had three children in rapid succession. The family prospered and became members of the best social and athletic clubs. However, in 1884, tragedy struck. The diphtheria epidemic of that year did not distinguish between the poor and the wealthy. Within two weeks in late November and early December all three children had died of the disease, and that sad event changed Selina forever. When more children came, she would dote on them and try to protect them from every germ and danger in the world. "Bill Tilden was not to be born for another nine years," wrote Frank Deford, in a Sports Illustrated profile of the great tennis player. "But for these sad events of 1884, he almost surely would not have been born at all. And because of them, he was greatly affected. It is not an exaggeration to say that much of the way Bill Tilden was to be was determined years before his birth." A brother was born six years before Bill Tilden, but with the birth of this fifth child, the mother decided she would shelter him from the world. He thus was schooled at home in a mansion that included eight apartments and a large domestic staff, and was vastly spoiled. Named after his father, he bore the Jr. on his name and was called Junior or June, a name he grew to resent and ultimately changed. The father left the rearing of this last child to the mother, who decided early on that Tilden was a sickly child and had to be kept safe. He grew up at his mother's side, learning to love music as he sat by her at the piano, and learning to speak "proper" English from her, one that contained few American slang expressions.

Tilden, however, found another early outlet for his self-expression. At the age of five, while summering at the family vacation home at the Onteora Club in the Catskills, he first picked up a tennis racquet and began hitting balls against the back of the house. Tennis professionals who taught the game were a rarity at this time, but his older brother also played, and Tilden styled much of his game after him. At the age of eight he won his first singles trophy, defeating all comers at the 15-and-under Boys championships at the Onteora Club. He continued his tennis playing at the Germantown Cricket Club—scene of some of his most memorable matches in later years—just steps from his home in Philadelphia. In 1908 Tilden's life was turned upside down when his mother was taken ill with a kidney disease and he was sent to live with an aunt and cousin on his mother's side in a more modest dwelling nearby. He would maintain this room for the entire time he lived in Philadelphia. Away from Overleigh, he was enrolled in the prestigious Germantown Academy, graduating in 1910.

Chronology

1893 Born February 10, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to William Tatem Sr. and Selina Hey Tilden
1898 First picks up a tennis racquet, copying serve and volley style of his brother
1901 Wins first singles title in 15-and-under tournament
1908 Upon illness of his mother, is sent to live with his aunt
1910 Graduates from Germantown Academy in Philadelphia and enters the University of Pennsylvania
1911 Mother dies
1913 Coaches Germantown Academy tennis team and begins serious study of lawn tennis
1913 Wins first U.S. mixed doubles title, with Mary Kendall Browne
1915 Both father and brother die and Tilden leaves college to work as a reporter and build a tennis career
1916 Loses first U.S. singles championship
1917 Enlists in U.S. Army, serving in Pennsylvania
1918 Discharged from the army, he wins 11 of 15 singles tournaments and maintains a number two ranking
1919 Spends almost a year developing a driving backhand
1921 Publishes book of instruction, The Art of Lawn Tennis
1922 Top joint of right middle finger is amputated
1924 Challenges U.S. Lawn Tennis Association ban on amateur players writing about tennis
1925 Publishes Match Play and the Spin of the Ball, considered a classic in tennis technique
1926 Knee injury leads to his first loss in a match in six years
1928 USLTA suspends Tilden for his tennis writing
1930 Ends amateur career
1930 Signs movie contract with MGM
1930 Publishes novel, Glory's Net,
1931 Enters professional playing career with Tilden Tennis Tour
1934 Tours with tennis great Ellsworth Vines
1937 Tours with Fred Perry
1939 Moves from Philadelphia and his aunt's house to Los Angeles, California
1941-45 Plays benefit tournaments to support the war effort
1946 Arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor for sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy and sentenced to a year in prison
1948 Again convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced to a second prison term
1950 Publishes How to Play Better Tennis, the distillation of his tennis wisdom
1950 Named greatest player of 1900-1950 by Associated Press poll
1953 Dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles
1959 Inducted posthumously into the Tennis Hall of Fame
1969 Voted greatest male player of all time by panel of international tennis journalists

Despite his early tennis trophy, there was little about Tilden's game as a youngster to suggest that he would be the greatest player of the century. He played on the Academy team as well as on the University of Pennsylvania team when he entered that institution in 1910, but was a star on neither. Then in 1911 his mother died and Tilden, losing this anchor, foundered for a time. He stayed in college, but was never a brilliant student in the best of times. He also continued to play tennis, winning the U.S. mixed doubles in 1913 and 1914. When his father and then his brother died in quick succession in 1915, Tilden's life utterly changed. He left the university, took a reporting job for the Philadelphia Evening Ledger, and determined to devote his life to his one enduring passion: tennis.

Additional topics

Famous Sports StarsTennisBill Tilden Biography - Born Into Privilege, Chronology, A Self-taught Genius, Awards And Accomplishments, The Tilden Age