University of San Francisco Athletics

Athlete All-American

Art Larsen

Honors:
Men's Tennis (1949)

California State Doubles Title Champion, 1949
Ranked No. 6 Nationally, 1949
Led Dons to Undefeated Season and NCAA Title, 1949

USF Career Year: 1949
Birthdate: April 17, 1925
Hometown: San Leandro, CA
High School: San Leandro High School

Arthur “Tappy” David Larsen was born on April 17, 1925 in San Leandro, and attended San Leandro High School. His father had been a boxer, and his grandfather a baseball player. Larsen began playing tennis at age 11, and enjoyed a successful pre-scholastic career as a tournament champion at the Olympic Club in San Francisco at age 14. at 18 years of age, he served in the military and was in combat in the Normandy landing at Omaha Beach. He told Tennis Magazine in 2012: “Suddenly out of nowhere, a fleet of bombers began strafing and bombing us. Our own Air Force had mistaken us for Nazis. Half the troops were killed, ambulances were lined up for miles. I came through unscratched. Then and there I developed the complexes I’m still trying to shake." Known for his eccentricities, he was called “Tappy” because he went around touching everything for good luck, the net, the umpire's stand, and even his opponent. He would often discuss strategy with an imaginary eagle that sat on his shoulder (London: The Independent). It was tennis that provided Larsen the therapy he needed to defeat the demons of a harrowing war (Tennis).

He attended USF in the class of 1952 after transferring from Pacific. In 1949, USF had an undefeated season in tennis and the team attended the NCAA Championship Tournament. Larsen ranked 6^th in the singles competition. Larsen won the California State Doubles Title that year with Sam Match.

In 1950, he won the Open Singles Championship at Forest Hills in New York, played in the Team Davis Cup matches in 1951 and 1952, won the United States Clay and Hard-Court Championships in 1952, and the United States Indoor Title in 1953. John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph ranked Larsen as World No. 3 in 1950. Larsen won the Times National Sports Award for the Outstanding Tennis Player of 1950. Larsen also won the 1955 Italian Open doubles title and advanced to the Finals of the 1954 United States and French Open Tournaments. Larsen became the first man to win the American amateur championships on the four distinct surfaces (grass, clay, hardcourt, indoor). Only one other male player, Trabert, had achieved that feat (Tennis Fame.com).

He played left-handed, and possessed exceptional skill at the net and outmaneuvered opponents with his finesse. He was ostentatious on the court, carried cigarettes in his short pockets and enjoyed being the life of the party. Jack Kramer, tennis player and long-time promoter, stated in his 1979 autobiography that "Larsen was fascinating to watch. He had concentrated on tennis as mental therapy after serving long stretches on the front lines during World War II." He was 5 feet 10 inches and 150 pounds and was known for his partying before and during his tournament appearances. It was frequently written that Larsen would arrive for an important match directly from an all-night party with no benefit of sleep (Fairfax NZ News). His fans found his eccentricities charming, but the Eastern tennis establishment didn't know what to make of his quirks or lifestyle. "He appeared to have arrived just to have some fun and can probably now be described as one of the original tennis bums. He never seemed to have enough money, but managed to float about the world's most glamorous destinations playing tennis." In a New York Times 1950 interview, one USLTA member expressed concern that Larsen "was likely to become difficult and that he's not exactly what you'd call an Old Blue." Despite his wins, Larsen was never selected to represent the United States in the Davis Cup Challenge Round competition because he supposedly "never met the selection requirements as mandated by the USLTA." Players who were ranked below Larsen by the USLTA were selected instead (Sportshistoryweekly.com).

Larsen was simply predictably unpredictable in his nature. “He was a very amusing sort of guy,” Gardnar Mulloy told the New York Times: “It was easy to play jokes on him because he’d believe everything. Just point out some beautiful woman and say she said she’s frantically in love with him: ‘Just go up to her and ask her if she wants to make out.’ A couple of times he got slapped.”

Larsen’s tennis career suffered following a tragic accident on November 10, 1956. He lost control of his Italian motor scooter on a Castro Valley highway and the resulting injuries ended his career. Larsen was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the USF Hall of Fame in 1969. He was a member of the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

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