John Van Ryn

John Van Ryn was one of the greatest doubles players of his era, and captured his first big championship in 1927 when he and partner Kenneth Appel won the NCAA title. Two years later, he won his first Wimbledon doubles championship. He and fellow Hall of Famer Wilmer Allison won the U.S. Nationals doubles title in 1931 and 1935, and were finalists four other times. The duo won the Wimbledon doubles in back-to-back years, 1929-30, and Van Ryn won the Wimbledon and French doubles titles with another Hall of Famer, George Lott, in 1931. One of the most successful U.S. Davis Cup team players of all time, Van Ryn went 7-1 in singles and 22-2 in doubles for the Americans. No slouch in singles, Van Ryan reached the quarterfinals of the French and Wimbledon championships in 1931, and was a five-time quarterfinalists at the U.S. Nationals. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1963, Van Ryn died in 1999 at age 94.