The U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) has named this year’s Military Appreciation Day in honor of a young tennis champion whose bright future in the sport was cut short by his death in World War II.
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Joe Hunt, who won the U.S. Nationals while on leave in 1943, was killed when his fighter plane crashed in 1945. He is the only U.S. Nationals or U.S. Open champion in history to lose his life in service to his country.
“Lieutenant Joe Hunt was a special player whose career was tragically shortened,” said USTA Chairman of the Board and President Patrick Galbraith, “and we are proud to name our Military Appreciation Day in his honor.”
Reacting to the news, the Hunt family issued a statement: “It is a credit to the leadership of the USTA that they are honoring a U.S. tennis champion who made the eternal sacrifice for his country. The family of Lt. Hunt will be forever grateful to the USTA for taking this action to honor Joe by attaching his name to Military Appreciation Day.”
U.S. Open Military Appreciation Day is traditionally held on Labor Day Monday in New York City’s Arthur Ashe Stadium. This year, in addition to Hunt, the event will recognize military families and wounded warriors from around the country on the court and invite them to participate in the coin toss prior to all matches.
Hunt, a native of Southern California, is the only player ever to win the U.S. National boys’, juniors’, collegiate, and U.S. men’s singles titles. As a freshman at the University of Southern California, he went undefeated in both singles and doubles, and at 17, he became one of the youngest men to reach the Top 10 in the U.S. rankings. At 20, he played in the Davis Cup for the United States.
Then, in 1938, at the height of his rising-star status, Hunt transferred from USC to the U.S. Naval Academy. At Annapolis he excelled not only on the tennis court but also on the gridiron as a running back. In his main sport, Midshipman Hunt won the intercollegiate singles championship and made back-to-back runs to the semifinals of the U.S. Nationals in 1939 and 1940.
But with war clouds looming, his request for permission to play in the 1941 National Championships, where he would have been one of the top seeds, was denied. The entire Naval Academy class of 1942 was being accelerated through their final year to graduate early on 19 December 1941. As a result, Hunt and his fellow classmen had a full regimen of studying and training throughout that summer of ’41.
Upon graduation, Hunt received orders to report to the destroyer USS Rathburne (DD-113), an antisubmarine-warfare training ship ported at San Diego. He served on board the Rathburne until July 1943 and was not granted leave to play in the 1942 National Championships. But something else besides tennis was tugging at Hunt: He wanted to get more into the fray. He wanted to fly.
“Joe was energetic, fearless, and aggressive by nature,” recalled his nephew and namesake, Seattle-based lawyer Joseph Hunt. “It is my personal belief that 18 months at sea did not satisfy his urge to engage in combat. He wanted to more urgently fight for his country. This belief flows from the fact that Joe asked to depart from his service at sea on the Rathburne and to commence air training.”
On 19 July 1943, the U.S. Navy Senior Medical Officer declared Hunt was “examined this date and found to be physically qualified and temperamentally adapted for duty involving the actual control of aircraft.” That same day, Hunt sent a letter to the Chief of Naval Personnel, stating, “It is requested that I be assigned to heavier-than-air aviation training school. I am qualified as officer of the deck under way and in port. I have this date been examined and found physically qualified for flight training.”
Still, he would have to wait to start his flight training. On 24 July 1943, he was dispatched from San Diego to Washington for firefighting training. While temporarily stymied on the aviation front, Hunt finally was afforded the leeway he needed to take his tennis to the next level: He was granted leave from 4 to 23 August to play several tournaments in preparation for the big one: the 1943 National Championships.
And at the ’43 National, played at Forest Hills, New York, from 1 to 6 September, Lieutenant Joe Hunt, U.S. Navy, defeated Jack Kramer for the victory. It was to be his finest hour in tennis. By the end of the month, it was back to the business of war, and Hunt was dispatched to the destroyer USS Kearny (DD-432), escorting a merchant convoy to Casablanca and back to the United States.
His determination to become a Navy pilot had not abated. While serving on board the Kearny, he sent another request to the Chief of Naval Personnel for aviation training (heavier-than-air). On 24 October 1943 a “First Endorsement” was signed by the destroyer’s commanding officer, Commander Lindsey Williamson, recommending approval for aviation training.
Hunt had gotten his wish. His aviation instruction commenced at Naval Air Station Dallas on 30 December 1943. In May 1944, he advanced to training at Pensacola. But on 2 February 1945, his F6F Hellcat crashed into the Atlantic in a training accident.
In December 1946, Hunt was posthumously awarded the American Defense Service Medal and World War II Victory medal. A young man poised to become one of the all-time tennis greats had given his all. And while the 1943 National victory had been his crowning achievement, his final tennis competition took place not at Forest Hills—but at Pensacola.
It was the 21st annual Bayview Park Tennis Championships, a local contest that, thanks to the vicissitudes of wartime, happened to be stacked with talent that September of 1944. Hunt vied for top honors with Lieutenant Bruce Barnes, another top-ranked tennis champ, and Lieutenant Ted Schroeder, the 1942 National Championships winner.
It was described as the largest tennis audience Pensacola had ever seen. Joe Hunt played the last match of his life.
And he won.