Don McNeill

In 1940, Don McNeill not only won the NCAA singles title for Kenyon College, he also won the U.S. National singles title. The year before, the native of Chickasa, Okla., won the French singles and doubles championships, knocking off top-seeded Bobby Riggs in straight sets in the singles final. The top-ranked American in 1940, McNeill was ranked among the top 10 players in the U.S. six times in the 1930s and ’40s. While at Kenyon, McNeill was on of five Americans selected by the Indian Lawn Tennis Association to play a series of exhibitions in Calcutta, Singapore, Shanghai and other Asian spots. In 1944, while on leave from the Navy, McNeill teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Bob Falkenburg to win the U.S. National doubles title. He also reached the finals of the mixed with partner Dorothy Cheney. McNeill was attached to the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the war, and won the Argentinean Championships twice, beating fellow Hall of Famer Pancho Segura in one final. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965, McNeill died in 1996 at age 78.