Don McNeill

The "Toast of Tennis" in 1940, W. Donald McNeill was easily Oklahoma's greatest tennis player ever, winning five state tennis titles (singles in 1934-35 and doubles in 1933-35) and claiming numerous national titles. He was ranked in the top 10 six times between 1937-46, and was ranked seventh in the world in 1939.

Before graduating from Classen High School in Oklahoma City, he won many local and state tournaments. McNeill spent his summers hitchhiking around the Midwest and Southwest competing in tournaments. He entered the national boys tournament, in Culver, Indiana in 1932, where he was defeated by Bobby Riggs.

McNeill played at Ohio's Kenyon College, which was becoming a collegiate tennis hotspot in the 1930's. McNeill and four other Americans were chosen by the Indian Lawn Tennis Association for a team that would go play in India. They traveled to Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Calcutta playing in exhibitions.

In the summer of 1939, he entered the French Open Championships, meeting tournament favorite Bobby Riggs in the finals. McNeill became only the second American to capture the French Open. In addition to the singles titles, he took home the doubles titles with partner Charles Harris.

He won three of America's most prestigious tennis titles, the National Clay Court, the National Intercollegiate and the U.S. Nationals. He was the collegiate and national champion the same year and the number one ranked player in the U.S.

Although he lost several of his prime years to World War II, serving as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, McNeill still competed while stationed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he won four consecutive Argentine championships. In 1944, while on leave, he partnered with Bob Falkenberg and won the U.S. Open doubles title.

McNeill was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965. He was born April 30, 1918, in Chickasha, Oklahoma. He died in 1996.