Bernard Bartzen
Full name: Bernard James Bartzen
Nickname: Tut
Nickname: Tut
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| Bio | He was an American former tennis player in the mid-20th century, who later became a winning college tennis coach. At the age of 5, Tut's family moved to San Angelo, Texas. It was here, that Tut met his mentor and lifelong tennis coach, George Richey. He honed his tennis skills hitting against a wall endless hours. Bartzen won the 1943 and 1944 state high school singles titles and the 1942 doubles title while playing for San Angelo High School. In 1945 Tut boarded a train and headed off to William & Mary becoming the consummate student athlete. Bartzen won three Texas state high school titles — two in singles and one in doubles — and the National Interscholastic singles championship. Bartzen attended the College of William & Mary in Virginia, where the left-hander posted a 50–0 singles record. He also won the NCAA doubles title with Fred Kovaleski in 1948. As team captain, he led the team to two NCAA titles. Tut graduated in only three years. While at William and Mary, Tut was on what is considered by many to be one of the top 10 collegiate tennis teams of all time. Less than a year after beginning a lifelong relationship with Wilson Sporting Goods as a salesman and later as a member of the Wilson Advisory Staff, Tut was drafted in 1952 at the beginning of the Korean War. Despite believing he was to be shipped out at any time, Tut was permitted to play tennis and compete in Davis Cup and Grand Slam tournaments. Bartzen went on the American tennis circuit and was ranked in the top 10 nine straight years (1953–1961), two of them at No. 2 (1959 and 1960). Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph ranked him World No. 8 for 1959. During his career, he had wins over such future Hall of Famers as Vic Seixas and Tony Trabert. One of those wins over Trabert came in 1955 in the final at the event in Cincinnati, where Bartzen won three titles: 1955, 1957 and 1958. Bartzen reached the semifinals of the U.S. National Championships in 1959 (beating Vic Seixas before losing to Neale Fraser) and the quarterfinals in 1955. He also won four U.S. Clay Court Championships and won the Canadian National title in 1954. He served as co-captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team of the 1959 and 1960 Davis Cup Teams, He was the Davis Cup Captain in 1961. He had a Davis Cup record of 15-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles. Tut's 16-0 Davis Cup record represents the greatest number of wins by a Davis Cup player in history without a defeat. After his playing career, Bartzen served 12 years as head tennis pro at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, where he hosted the Colonial National Invitational Tournament, before taking over the Texas Christian University program as head coach (Men's tennis team) from 1974-1998. At TCU, his teams were ranked nationally 19 times during a 20-year stretch, won over 500 matches, won eight conference championships and reached the final 4 once. In 1976 he also became director of tennis at the Mary Potishman Lard Tennis Center, later renamed Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. He retired in 1998. Tut was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 1982, the ITA Collegiate Hall of Fame, TCU Hall of Fame and was only the fourth tennis player inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. He was also only the third tennis player inducted into the Wilson Sports Hall of Fame. Bernard James "Tut" Bartzen died peacefully on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, 19 years to the day after his beloved wife, Sara Jane Ledbetter. |
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