Charles A. Chase
Country (sports) United States
BornJanuary 10, 1864[1]
Lake View, Chicago, Illinois[2]
DiedJanuary 27, 1937(1937-01-27) (aged 73)
Superior, Wisconsin
Turned pro1885 (amateur tour)
Retired1890
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
CollegeAmherst College
Singles
Career record50–14 (78.1%)[3]
Career titles12[3]
Grand Slam singles results
US OpenSF (1886)

Charles Amherst Chase (January 10, 1864 – January 27, 1937) was an American tennis player then later a lawyer and banker active in the late 19th century.[4] He was active from 1885 to 1890 and contested 13 career finals winning 12 singles titles.[3]

Tennis career

Chase was initially a top-notch baseball player at one point, catching pitches from the great Bob Caruthers, but gave it up to pursue tennis.[4] He did not start playing the game until age 16, when he first saw a tennis outfit. He had never heard of the sport, but he and his brothers learned to play.[5]

He was noticeably slight in his build, weighing only 110 pounds (50 kg). In 1885 at the national Intercollegiate Championships playing at his first tournament he took second place, losing the final to Wallace P. Knapp of Yale.[5] Chase reached the semifinals of the U.S. National Championships in 1886, and the quarterfinals in 1889 and 1890.[3] In 1886 he won his first singles title at the Scarlet Ribbon Amateur Tournament defeating Henry Slocum in the final.[3]

In 1887 he won his first of four Western States Championships titles.[3] In 1888 he won the Rochester Lawn Tennis Tournament at Rochester, New York, the same year he also won the Newcastle Wright & Ditson Open Tournament and the Northwestern Championships.[3]

His other career singles highlights include winning the Nahant Invitation two times in 1888 and 1889, the Rochester Lawn Tennis Tournament in 1888 and the Springfield Open the same season.[3] He was also a losing finalist at the Lenox Invitation in 1889 against Bob Huntington.[3] In 1890 he won his final singles title at the Western States Championships against John Ryerson.[3] In 1909 he played his final tournament at the Massachusetts State Championships.[3]

Family and work

A native of Chicago, he was the son of lawyer Samuel Blanchard Chase and Emma Thompson Chase, and the grandson of Milwaukee Mayor Horace Chase. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Amherst Thompson. He attended Lake View High School, Amherst College in Massachusetts and Northwestern University Law School in Illinois.[6]

He moved to Superior, Wisconsin, in 1893, and married Nelly Green the next year. After practicing law in Chicago, he became a prominent banker in Superior, where he was president of the Bank of Commerce for 30 years.[7][8]

He was also very fond of golf, and was credited with introducing the sport to Superior, where he first played in vacant lots. He died in 1937.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "The Classes". Amherst Graduates' Quarterly: 245. 1937. Charles A. Chase was born in Chicago on Jan. 10, 1864. ... Mr. Chase in his youth won a name as a tennis player, and in 1884 won the Western championship.
  2. ↑ Crowell, Edward Payson; Biscoe, Walter Stanley (1901). Biographical Record of the Alumni of Amherst College ... 1821-[1896]: 1871-1896. Amherst College. p. 291. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Players: Chase, Charles Amherst". The Tennis Base. Madrid: Tennismem SL. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "Superior Banker and Former Athlete Dies". Stevens Point Journal. Stevens Point, Wisconsin. January 28, 1937. p. 3.
  5. 1 2 "Tennis Winners. Mr. Charles Amhearst Chase". The Sunday Leader. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. August 19, 1888. p. 3.
  6. ↑ Chapman, George Thomas (1867). Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College: From the First Graduation in 1771 to the Present Time, with a Brief History of the Institution. Riverside Press. p. 347. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Who's Who in Finance, Banking, and Insurance. Who's Who in Finance, Incorporated (N.Y.). 1922. p. 129. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  8. ↑ The Sixth Decennial Catalogue. Chi Psi. 1902. p. 422. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
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