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DAVID BROWN

Name: BROWN, David
Sport: Tennis

Date of Birth:
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     It was a natural thing for Davis Brown to become a competitive tennis player. Tennis after all, was more than a passing recreational pastime in the Brown Family when David was growing up. His father, at one stage, was president of the Ontario Tennis Federation and his mom, Louise Brown, reigned as Canada's top women player. So it was only natural that David would follow in her footsteps.
     “As far back as my memory goes, I don't ever remember not having a tennis racket in my hands,” he recalls. David was exposed to competitive youth tennis early in his life and showed promise while winning his first championship in 1956 at Westacres Park in
Mississauga, where he was honing his skills. Six years later, he won the first of his Canadian Junior championship titles in doubles. David first got hooked on competitive tennis at a popular youth tournament sponsored by the Toronto Telegram in the 1950s. He won the regional finals at Kew Gardens in Toronto and the seed was planted. "I had some success and I liked it," he says.
     From Kew Gardens, David rose to loftier heights and eventually to the University of Indiana where, exposed to top notch coaching, his talents really started blossoming. "I spent some of my best years at Indiana," he recalls. This was also where he met fellow tennis player Jody, who became his wife and mother of his children.
     In four years at Indiana, David became captain of the tennis team and earn the coveted "I" letter, the only Canadian ever to achieve the distinction. He also reached the finals in Minnesota in 1969, again the only Canadian to do so. He was ranked both top singles and doubles player at the University of Indiana.
     David is proud of having been chosen to the Canadian Davis Cup team several times while he was attending Indiana. Unfortunately, his commitment to the university tennis program prevented him from playing for his country as often as he would have liked, he explains.
     The most memorable moment of his competitive tennis career came at Davis Cup event he did manage. It was in Bogota, the high-altitude capitol of Colombia where visitors have to battle not only the thin-air atmosphere, but the highly partisan crowds not above throwing coins at opposing players in an attempt to disrupt (and often destroy) their concentration. “You can’t imagine the feeling of standing there and hearing the Canadian national anthem,” David recalls.
     Internationally, David competed in the Canadian, U.S., New Zealand and West German Open championships. He and Louise are the only mother/son combo to have competed in the U.S. Open ('67) and the only mother-and-son to have represented Canada in Federation Cup and Davis Cup play respectively.
     Nationally, David proved his mettle winning five consecutive Canadian doubles championships (1972 to 1976) with four different partners. He also has a Canadian 35-plus doubles title with Mississauga's Jeff McCarroll to his credit. After his competitive career, David was tennis pro at the Fitness Institute. "The thing about tennis is you don't have to win Wimbledon to enjoy it," he says.
     David was elected to the Mississauga's Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, another first on his list. His mom Louise was the first person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975 and with David joining her 20 years later, they became the first mother/son combination to achieve this distinction.
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