Tennis bookshelf

The Tilden tragedy, treated honestly

BIG BILL TILDEN, THE TRIUMPHS AND THE TRAGEDY, by Frank Deford; Simon and Schuster, 286 pp., $8.95.

TENNIS BEGINS AT FORTY, by Pancho Gonzales and Jeffrey Bairstow; Dial Press, 180 pp., $12.95

By Tom Kaib

In December, 1949, the Associated Press announced its poll on the greatest athlete in each of a number of sports in the first half of the 20th century. Bill Tilden of tennis won by a margin larger than any other Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Bobby Jones, Jones, Red 'Grange.

A few days later, Tilden was released from a prison farm where he had been serving his second sentence as a child molester.

That is why, until now, there has been no Tilden biography. If he had been "straight," shelves would be groaning under the weight of Tilden books. But Big Bill Tilden, who brought a lithe, swashbuckling, athletic image to a game that had suffered a "fairy” reputation, indeed was homosexual.

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Frank Deford, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, has done a marvelous, sympathetic job on this first Tilden biography, without glossing over the subject's downfall an uncontrollable urge to be with teen-age boys.

Tilden was a fascinating man. He made a science of tennis, practically inventing the modern game. He read voraciously, became a master bridge player, connoisseur of fine music and pursued careers in writing and acting. He was born to wealth in Philadelphia's Germantown and had the advantage of belonging to the best clubs and attending the best schools.

Yet he was a loner. Quite likely he never spent a night alone with an adult, man or woman. Of his one sexual encounter with a woman, he himself wrote that it made him violently ill. Deford concludes that as a young man, Tilden was actually asexual.

His sex was tennis and the crowds. And he so dominated the game that he never lost a match of any significance for seven years..

But as his game faded, his

homosexuality surfaced more and more. Friends warned him that he was mincing. He ignored them. He lost friends.

Toward the end, still a masterful player, Tilden was barred from most clubs and tournaments. He was reduced to writing a friend at Dunlop sporting goods:

"Vinnie, could you please send me a couple of dozen of balls and a racket or two? If I had them I think I could get some lessons to give. I need the money badly."

He needed the money to come to Cleveland for the U.S. profes-. sional championships at Lakewood Park, seeking to play his way out of his disgrace.

He died of a heart attack before starting the trip.

Deford has handled his tragic story beautifully.

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Tilden used his leverage during his tennis reign to get a young Mexican-American allowed on the courts of an exclusive Los Angeles club. His name was Pancho Gonzales, who, while never a Tilden "protege," became one of the greatest power players of all time.

New York Public Library

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William T. Tilden II, the subject.

Now a teaching master, he is director of tennis at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, tutoring the stars.

In Tennis Begins at Forty, written with Tennis magazine managing editor Bairstow, he shares his secrets of winning when the zoom is gone from the serve

Frank Deford, the author. and the volleys flump instead of flash.

Profusely illustrated and comprehensive. Very helpful to players of any skill level, short of maybe Pancho's.

Tom Kaib is a Plain Dealer copy editor and a close follower of big-time sports.