Herbert Flam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Herbert ("Herbie") Flam (November 7, 1928 – November 25, 1980) was an American tennis player.
Considered to be one of the best male Jewish tennis players in history, he was ranked World No. 5 by World Tennis Magazine in 1957.
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[edit] Tennis career
Born in New York City, Flam's tennis success began in 1943, when he won the United States Lawn Tennis Association's (USLTA) 15-year old boys singles championship.
In 1945, as a high school junior, he won both the USLTA interscholastic 18s singles and doubles (with Hugh Steward) titles.
In 1946, he repeated as both singles and doubles (again, with Hugh Stewart) champions.[1]
In 1948, while attending the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Flam was the school's top tennis player and reached the USLTA singles championships semifinals as an unseeded player, defeating the third and sixth seeds along the way.
In 1950, Flam was the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) single's and doubles (with Gene Garrett) champion. He led UCLA to its first-ever NCAA team championship
Flam then became the first Jewish player to advance to the final at the U.S. Championships, losing in five sets to Art Larsen in 1950.
The following year, he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, losing to fellow American Jewish player Dick Savitt. He was ranked World No. 6 in 1951. He also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1952.
One of America's best players in the 1950s, Flam was ranked in the U.S. top 10 nine times in an 11-year period (1948-1958) and was ranked second three times (1950, 1956, and 1958). Although he served in the Navy in 1953 and 1954, Flam quickly returned to the top of his game, winning the U.S. Hardcourt Championship in 1955 and the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in 1956.
In 1957, Flam reached the final at the French Championships, where he lost in three sets to Sven Davidson. That year, he was ranked World No. 5 by World Tennis Magazine, his highest ranking ever.
During his career, Flam reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon three times and the quarterfinals at the U.S. Championships six times.
[edit] Davis Cup
As as a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1951 until 1957, Flam won 12 of the 14 matches he played, all of which were singles matches on grass.[2]
[edit] Style of play
Flam was a fast and "very resourceful" player. According to both the 1959 United States Lawn Tennis Association Yearbook and 1959 U.S. Championships program, Flam succeeded by being aggressive and exploiting his opponents' mistakes. Because of his playing style, he was often called a "retriever", but Flam resented the negative label.
[edit] Halls of Fame
The International Tennis Association elected Flam to the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.[3]
Flam was inducted as a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
Flam was inducted into the University of California at Los Angeles Hall of Fame in 2006.[4]
