Bryan M. Grant

Despite his 5-foot-4 frame, Bitsy Grant was one of the top American players of the 1930s, and even earned the nickname “Itsy Bitsy the Giant Killer.” At North Carolina, he reached the finals of the NCAA singles tournament in 1930. After starring for the Tar Heels, Grant, who grew up playing on red clay courts in Georgia, went on to win the U.S. Clay Court singles title three times and was ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. nine times. He also played for the U.S. on the Davis Cup squad from 1935-37, helping the Americans win the Cup in 1937. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1936 and ’37. During World War II, Grant was an Army rifleman, serving in and around Papua New Guinea. After the war, Grant’s success on the tennis court continued for decades. He won the Southern men’s singles title 11 times, and he won 44 U.S. national titles, including in the senior divisions, during his extraordinary career. Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, the largest tennis facility in his hometown of Atlanta, was named in his honor in 1954. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1972, Grant died in 1986 at age 76.