1906
Champion with a broken pelvis
Earlier in 1906 he broke his pelvic bone in a riding accident. He still won the US title at Newport in August, beating Beals Wright in straight sets.
Source: Wikipedia, citing The New York Times, 30 August 1906The early years
William Clothier
United States · born Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, 1881 · died 1962 · right-handed · US champion 1906 and the first president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame 1956
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1906
US champion, beating the holder Beals Wright 6-3, 6-0, 6-4
3
US singles finals: 1904, 1906 and the 1909 Challenge Round
5
Pennsylvania grass court titles at Merion, 1900 to 1906
4-1
Davis Cup singles record, 1905 and 1909
No. 4
World ranking in 1906, his highest
Playing career
William Jackson Clothier was born in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, in 1881, the son of Isaac Clothier, a founder of the Philadelphia department store Strawbridge & Clothier. He went to the Haverford School and Swarthmore College before moving to Harvard, where he won the intercollegiate singles and doubles in 1902 and also played football and ice hockey. He graduated in 1904.
On the Philadelphia grass at Merion he won the Pennsylvania title four years running from 1900, and again in 1906; he also took the Longwood Bowl in 1902. At the US Championships in Newport he lost the 1904 final to Holcombe Ward. In 1906, months after breaking his pelvis in a riding accident, he came back from 2-5, 0-40 in the fifth set of his quarter-final against Fred Alexander, beat Karl Behr in the all-comers final and overwhelmed the holder Beals Wright 6-3, 6-0, 6-4. An injured right leg kept him from defending the title in 1907, and he lost the 1909 Challenge Round to Bill Larned in five sets.
He played Davis Cup in 1905 and 1909, winning four of his five singles. He was a partner in the investment bank Montgomery, Clothier & Tyler until 1921 and later president of the Boone County Coal Corporation in West Virginia until 1957. He bred hounds and was a well-known horseman. He was the first president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1954, later its chairman, and was elected to it in 1956. He died at his home in Valley Forge in 1962.
On grass
| US Championships, Newport | 1903: all-comers finalist. 1904: lost the final to Holcombe Ward. 1906: beat Fred Alexander 8-6, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 in the quarter-final, Karl Behr in the all-comers final and Beals Wright 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in the Challenge Round. 1909: lost the Challenge Round to Bill Larned 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 6-1 |
|---|---|
| Davis Cup 1905 | Queen's Club, London, semi-final against France: beat Max Decugis 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and Maurice Germot 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. Challenge Round at Worple Road, Wimbledon: lost to Sydney Smith 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 as the British Isles won 5-0 |
| Davis Cup 1909 | Germantown Cricket Club, Philadelphia, against the British Isles: beat James Cecil Parke 6-4, 6-3, 8-6 and Charles Dixon 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 as the United States won 5-0. He did not play in the Challenge Round in Sydney, which Australasia won 5-0 |
| Wimbledon 1905 | Reached the fourth round of the singles and the doubles semi-finals during the Davis Cup visit |
| US mixed 1912 | Final with Eleonora Sears: lost to Mary Browne and R. Norris Williams 6-4, 2-6, 11-9 |
Every grass title: 7
Show every title, tournament by tournament
| Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships (Merion) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Men's singles | |
| 1901 | Men's singles | |
| 1902 | Men's singles | |
| 1903 | Men's singles | |
| 1906 | Men's singles | |
| Longwood Bowl | ||
| 1902 | Men's singles | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1906 | Men's singles | |
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
"Clothier has copied Whitman, but is not so good. His twist service is much the same as Whitman's, and he always follows it up to the net."
Anecdotes
The person behind the player.
Newport, 1906
From 2-5, 0-40
In the quarter-finals Fred Alexander led him 2-5, 0-40 in the fifth set. Clothier saved the match points and won 7-5.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameHarvard, 1902 to 1904
An iron man
At Harvard he won the college tennis championship, played two seasons as an iron man end in football and starred in ice hockey through two unbeaten seasons. The Harvard Varsity Club inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1970.
Source: Harvard Varsity ClubLongwood, 1935 and 1936
Father and son
His son, William J. Clothier II, played the grass court circuit in the 1930s. Together they won the national father and son title at the Longwood Cricket Club in 1935 and 1936.
Source: Wikipedia, citing The New York Times, 2002Valley Forge
Horseman and hound breeder
Away from tennis he ran a coal company and was known as a horseman and a breeder of hounds; the New York Times obituary in 1962 put all three in its headline alongside the tennis title.
Source: Wikipedia, citing The New York Times, 6 September 1962Join Grass Tennis Club
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Where they won on grass
- Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island
- Merion Cricket Club, Haverford, Pennsylvania
- Longwood Cricket Club, Boston
- Find a grass court near you
Rivals and partners
On Grass Tennis Club
Elsewhere online
Sources
- Bill Clothier, International Tennis Hall of Fame
- William Clothier, Wikipedia
- William Jackson Clothier, Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame
- 1906 U.S. National Championships, men's singles, Wikipedia
- 1907 U.S. National Championships, men's singles, Wikipedia
- 1905 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Wikipedia
- 1909 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Wikipedia
- GTC roll of grass champions, checked against a second source where one exists
Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
