Between the wars
United States · born Des Moines, Iowa, 1911 · died 1970 · Wimbledon and twice US doubles champion with George Lott
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3
Major doubles titles with George Lott, 1933 and 1934
6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Wimbledon doubles final 1934, against the top seeds Borotra and Brugnon
1
American point won in the 1934 Davis Cup Challenge Round at Wimbledon, by Lott and Stoefen
6 ft 4 in
Height, with a serve to match
1934
Turned professional, after his best amateur season
Lester Rollo Stoefen was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on 30 March 1911 and grew up in California, a rangy 6 ft 4 in player who trained with weights at a time when few tennis players did. His game was built on a big serve and roaming net play, with the inconsistency that often went with that kind of power. In 1933 he reached the semi-finals of the US Championships, losing to Fred Perry, and he was ranked in the world top ten that year by two of the leading list-makers of the day.
George Lott, who needed a new partner, saw him at Newport in 1933 and paired with him for the US national doubles, which they won. In 1934 they won Wimbledon, beating the French top seeds Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon in the final, and retained the US title. Stoefen also won the US Indoor singles that year and was ranked No. 5 in the United States. In the Davis Cup Challenge Round at Wimbledon that summer, he and Lott won the doubles for the only American point in a 4-1 defeat by Great Britain.
In November 1934 he signed with the promoter Bill O'Brien, and from January 1935 he and Lott toured against Bill Tilden and Ellsworth Vines. Vines won almost all their singles meetings, and Stoefen fell ill and left the tour for a time, but he came back to reach the semi-finals of the US Pro and of the Wembley professional event. He died in La Jolla, California, on 8 February 1970, aged 58.
| Wimbledon doubles 1934 | Seeded second with George Lott; beat the top seeds Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the final |
|---|---|
| US Championships doubles | 1933: with Lott beat Frank Shields and Frank Parker 11-13, 9-7, 9-7, 6-3. 1934: beat Wilmer Allison and John Van Ryn 6-4, 9-7, 3-6, 6-4 |
| Davis Cup Challenge Round 1934 | At Wimbledon, with Lott beat Pat Hughes and Harold Lee 7-5, 6-0, 4-6, 9-7, the only US win in a 4-1 defeat by Great Britain |
| US mixed 1934 | Final with Elizabeth Ryan, lost to Helen Jacobs and his own doubles partner George Lott 4-6, 13-11, 6-2 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Men's doubles | with George Lott |
| US Championships | ||
| 1933 | Men's doubles | with George Lott |
| 1934 | Men's doubles | with George Lott |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"They were the perfect team, coordinating beautifully, alert for the opening"
The person behind the player.
Newport, 1933
Lott spotted Stoefen at Newport in 1933 and arranged to partner him at the national doubles, which they won. Stoefen was sometimes called Rollo, his middle name, and Lott became "Little Rollo". Lott said later that of all his partners, for the long term he preferred Stoefen.
Source: Ray Bowers, Tennis ServerWimbledon, 1934
In the Davis Cup Challenge Round on Wimbledon's grass, Fred Perry and Bunny Austin won all four singles for Great Britain. The one American win came in the doubles, where Lott and Stoefen beat Pat Hughes and Harold Lee 7-5, 6-0, 4-6, 9-7. A few months later both of them had turned professional.
Source: Histoire du tennis; TIMENew York, November 1934
The Harvard Crimson reported the signing as more bad news for American Davis Cup hopes: "the third ranking amateur, national indoor singles champion and co-holder of the world's double title" had been "signed by Bill O'Brien for an extended tour starting in Madison Square Garden, January 9". TIME headlined it "Pastime Into Profession".
Source: The Harvard CrimsonOn tour, 1935
On the 1935 professional tour a Dr Strawinski measured the serves of the four players, and Stoefen's fastest average was the highest, ahead of Vines and Tilden. It did not help much in singles: by the time illness took him off the tour, Vines led their meetings 25-1.
Source: Ray Bowers, Tennis ServerNovember 1935
In November 1935, perhaps as a joke or a publicity stunt, the tall, slender tennis player announced that he would try professional boxing. The sports cartoonist Art Krenz drew him for the occasion under the title "From Love to Larrups"; the drawing is now in the Delaware Art Museum.
Source: Delaware Art MuseumFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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