Weber, John “Hunce”

John “Hunce” Weber – (1992)

 

JOHN “HUNCE” WEBER

As an early teenage novice John “Hunce” Weber suffered his most humiliating tennis defeat at the hands of a capable young female racqueteer at Lorain’s Central Park. Many a beginner would have hung up the racquet for good – but not John! With his inimitable spirit and a little German stubbornness, John set out to master the game. Master it he did! It became his life’s work and life’s bliss.

At the high school level John managed seven letters, two each in track and basketball and, of course, three in tennis. The summer of 1937 brought his first big tournament win – the Lorain City Juniors Crown. He repeated in 1938 and then captured the City Men’s Trophy each year until called to serve with the Third Infantry in the Italian Campaign of WWII. Upon his stateside return to Ft. Benning, GA., “Hunce” returned immediately to tennis and successive post singles titles in 1944 and 1945 along with the 1945-Doubles Crown.

Baldwin-Wallace offered John a basketball grant in 1946 and he accepted, but tennis still dominated and John played number one singles in 1947 and 1948. During the latter year he won the Ohio Conference Title and remained undefeated. John topped off a banner year by whipping Tony Trabert in a challenge match at Gates Mills Country Club. While at B-W, Weber coached the tennis team in 1949 and 1950 as foot and ankle problems plagued him. He assigned fellow teammate and pupil Bud Collins to write all the press for the team. At this juncture the word on John’s prowess became known throughout Ohio. His record from 1937 through 1948 indicated he had not lost a singles match – had won every tournament he entered – and was stamped by many as Ohio’s Dominant Player. He was chosen to represent Ohio in the NCAA Tourney in 1948 at UCLA. Ironically he was finally defeated after 12 years by Chris Everts father. Bud Collins went on to his own fame as a Boston Globe writer and TV’s tennis analyst. John and Bud still correspond today.

The California trip preyed on John’s mind – not his initial defeat but the weather. If he lived there he could play tennis everyday – instruct eager youngsters and avid adults everyday – everyday would be heaven! And so, after receiving his degree in 1950 at B-W it was “California Here We Come” with his wife Esther (Hamula). They settled in Redondo Beach, where Weber received his Masters Degree from USC in 1952. He taught junior high until 1963 when he became the first teaching professional and manager at the Palos Verdes Tennis Club. Even though residing in the west, John and Esther have returned during the summer. He taught group tennis at four city parks and ran the City Journal Tennis Tournaments until 1958.

John Weber has won a tennis title event for 53 consecutive years with the exception of 1943, when all tournament play was suspended because of World War II. To date he has been a finalist in over 300 events and garnered 250 titles. He won 14 tournaments in 1958 and a dozen in 1983, including two National Public Park Tourneys. Always a physical fitness buff, John now looks forward to playing beyond this century. Now 70, he has little doubt that he will be in a match of some kind when he reaches 100, even though he has captured at least one title at every level of play, city, county, state and national.

Now known as “Jack” Weber and the Dean of South Bay Tennis Teachers in California, “Hunce” estimates that he has coached or instructed nigh on to 5000 students ranging in age from 5 to 87. He has coached or been in fund raisers and exhibitions with Sonny Bono, Charlton Heston, Dinah Shore, Ginger Rogers, Ann Southern, Peter Lawford, Kirk Douglas, Bill Cosby and others, and has assisted in instructional clinics and exhibitions with Jack Kramer, Arthur Ashe, Pancho Gonzales, Ken Rosewall, Tony Trabert and other tennis greats.

A generous contributor of instructional articles for Tennis Illustrated, Tennis News and other periodicals, John has also published manuals for “Beginning Tennis Instruction” and “Tennis Instructional Manual for the Special Educational Student.” When asked what he was most proud of in his illustrious career John’s list reads:

1. We are a tennis family — Esther, Lori, Nancy, “Chip” and I.
2. Coaching — instructing over 5000 players who now call me “Coach”.
3. The teaching manual for retarded youngsters.
4. Encouraging pre-teens to learn the game, so that they inhabit the tennis courts, not the police courts.