Category Archives: Equipment

Australian Tennis Racquet Manufacture

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From the arrival of tennis in the late 1870’s tennis became the social game and courts began to spring up everywhere at bowls clubs, churches, stand alone tennis clubs were formed and home courts became very popular.The tennis boom globally saw the expansion of equipment suppliers and after reading Siegfried Kuebler’s Book of Tennis Rackets, in which there hundreds of racquet makers listed, very little is known about the Australian industry.

Up to the mid 1920’s most racquets were being imported from England and the USA, but tennis’ popularity reached levels which justified local production of racquets and balls. While there were some boutique racket makers such as A.H.Moore in NSW who promoted his range in the late 1890’s,  the first high volume and successful local maker may well be South Australian firm Stevens & Rowe.  J.T.Stevens was the former head stringer at UK tennis firm F.A.Davis while  E.T Rowe was a local champion player. Based on newspaper articles they produced around a 1000 racquets per year over the 1914 -1924 period  and distributed them around the country. We lose touch with them in the mid 1930’s and possibly they had a connection with Oliver owing to use of the Bluebird name on an E.T.Rowe model in our possession which went onto become an Oliver brand as well.

The racquet below was in all probability made in Australia and sold to a Company in France called Orion. Notice that it is a very early flat top and has a kangaroo graphic. Fellow collectors date this from around 1910, although being a 7 ply design it may be mid 1920’s.

The objective of this site is to try and source photos of and list as many models as possible which can be done from old ads, catalogues and even old receipts that people may have at home.

The racquet above was in all probability made in Australia and sold to a Company in France called Orion. Notice that it is a very early flat top and has a kangaroo graphic. Fellow collectors date this from around 1910, although being a 7 ply design it may be mid 1920’s.

One thing you will notice about the Australian racquets is that many are wonderfully presented with colourful decals or patina often over the frame, throat and shaft. Compared to other countries in the 1920’s-1940’s period, the local racquet industry was experiencing hot competition where customer presentation was concerned and this level of finish, in our view is unique to Australia, with all manufacturers presenting outstanding graphical finishes.

Certainly the Australian racquet industry was creating a booming export market in the 1930’s and both the UK and USA were complaining about the inroads Australian makers were having on sales.

Another really interesting aspect to early wood racquets is the collectability of photo decal and signature racquets. Many players were endorsed by sporting goods companies from the very early days and while you will find many from the 50’s featuring Frank Sedgman, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Rod Laver and John Newcombe on Australian made racquets and many Australians found there way onto USA sold racquets thanks to companies such as Chemold and Rawlings which included other Aussies such as Owen Davidson and Tony Roche.  Very rare,  are the early 20’s & 30’s and 40’s racquets featuring Australian players such as James O. Anderson (photo decal and signature), Gerald Patterson (signature), Pat O’Hara Wood (signature), Jim Willard (signature) , Dinny Pails and Nancye Bolton (photodecal). Heading even further back, Ayres in the UK produced the Wilding and S.N.Doust (Australia) signature models around 1910. Anthony Wilding used to sell his Ayres racquets himself as he journeyed around the UK and Europe.

Also alive and well in the 1930’s was inventiveness.  The Empire Racquet company in Sydney created an adjustable balance system inside the racquet handle which featured a wind up device. So did Alexander’s with a model called the “Airstream”. Also, around the same time, Harry Webeck invented a mercury tube system inside the racquet which permitted the weight of the racquet to change during the motion of a shot. Slazenger adopted the patent and introduced models with this feature.  Spalding produced a slotted handle range and this too was designed by a Queenslander and adopted by Spalding in the USA.

Racquet making trends were also being driven from Australia.  More colourful graphics required new skills in air brushing, bindings  and decal making, the semi flat top re emerged thanks to Jack Crawford trying it one day and then using a new model of it to win Wimbledon in 1933.

Towards the end of 1938,  the industry created a pricing cartel under a banner called the ARMA (Australian Racket Manufacturers Association)  which permitted fixed prices based on a 5 star quality programme.

Below is a list of known small and large companies that produced tennis sporting goods in Australia, some photos of various vintage tennis racquets made here and a brand listing from a 1939 Melbourne Sports Depot retail catalogue which is a wonderful record of brands and individual model names.

While we are aware that tradesmen and even some companies made racquets in the late 1880’s to 1900’s we have little any reference at this time, hence the Kangaroo racquet may well be one of the earliest made in Australia.

Here is a list of companies which have come to light from all sources including tennis magazines and newspapers from the era.

Tasmania Racquet Company (pre Alexanders Patent Racquet Company) TAS

A.H.Moore – Sydney NSW (they seemed to sponsor top players of the day in the mid 1890’s)

A.B.Stewart – The Queensland Sports Depot 1891-2 (made, repaired racquets according to ads)

Francis J. Flavell – South Australia (suspect small scale)

The main companies in Australia that produced wood racquets from the 1920’s onwards were:

Alexanders – Tasmania (1921 from a merge between two companies, factory 1926)

Brewers – Victoria (c1928)

Chesterfield – New South Wales (c1923)

Dunlop (late 1930’s)  Created after Baker & McPherson acquired Empire and in turn was acquired by Dunlop

Hedley’s- Victoria (c 1924)

Oliver – Sth Australia (c 1930’s)

Slazenger NSW (c 1928) In the early 1960’s Dunlop and Slazenger merged

Spalding – Victoria (c1925)

Other smaller Australian companies producing locally or which began to market Australian designed racquets produced offshore are listed below. More information and photos are required given the obscurity and short life span some of these Companies. The other factor is whether some of these locally produced wood racquets were actually produced in-house or sub contracted to larger firms for manufacture.

Addison Bros. Melbourne 1924

Anderson Racquets NSW 1925-1930 

ARCO (Australian Racquet Company) SA – (First stainless steel racquet made in Australia in 1970’s.)

Australian Racket Company (pre-dating ARCO) Other details unknown circa 1930’s-1940’s

Baker & McPherson – New South Wales (Ovalo brand 1920’s)

Campbell’s – Qld

Claude Wood & Co -New South Wales (Seawood Brand 1920’s)

Eastway Brothers – New South Wales (R.E.E Special Racquet, 1920’s)

Empire Racquet Company -New South Wales (late 1920’s 1930’s adjustable weight racquets)

Emrik (c late 1970’s)

Fin- Australian owned Taiwanese made (c early 1980’s)

L.W.Dodge & Co -New South Wales (1920’s)

Master Racquets- QLD (First Aluminium extrusion racquets mid 1970’s)

Moon Racquet Company (VIC mid 1930’s)

Olympic Racquet Company (Petersham NSW)

Speedwood Racquet Company (NSW )

Spider Web – Victoria (mid 1930’s-1971 maybe not as long for racquet making)

Star Shot Tennis Company (Laverton, VIC unsure if racquets made)

Stellar- imported from various countries (VIC)

Stevens & Rowe (SA) Claim production started in 1914 and concluded around 1933

Tasker Sporting Goods ( acquired Victorian Racquet Company 1971) – Victoria
(started late 1940’s by ex Hedleys staff- brands Champion & Southern Star)

Waddell’s Racket Co. ( Alexandria, NSW)

Walbow Racquet Company (1930’s) Alfred St Mascot, Sydney

We intend developing sections for each company over time and would appreciate any contributions to the list above and information about the racquets produced, brand names etc.

Learn more under the individual racquet manufacturers headings.

Known Australasian player models with signature or photo decal made and, or sold in Australia.

Anthony Wilding & Sidney N. Doust (signature models F.H Ayres UK 1905-1915)
Pat O’Hara Wood Bancroft and Spalding signature models
J.O.Anderson Slazenger, Alexander, Chesterfield and own brand signature & photo decal models (Alexander photo decal 1932)
Gerald Patterson Slazenger signature model
Jim Willard Alexander Signature model
Aubrey Willard had a named racquet by Chesterfield
Dinny Pails Hedley Photodecal
Nancye Wynne Bolton Spalding photo decal
Frank Sedgman Oliver signature, Oliver Photodecal, Dunlop Photodecal, Oliver signature,         Spalding signature, Master QLD signature, Sfida signature
Lew Hoad Dunlop numerous photo decal
Owen Davidson Spalding Photodecal, Chemold signature
Ken Rosewall numerous Slazenger signature and photo decal
Ashley Cooper Spalding signature
Mal Anderson Oliver and Spalding signature
Fred Stolle Spalding signature
Margaret Court Slazenger photo decal
Evonne Goolagong Dunlop photodecal & signature, Emrik signature
Ken McGregor Slazenger signature
Russell Hedge Photodecal coaching model
John Hillebrand Photodecal (special Spalding production run of a coaching model)
Rod Laver Dunlop Photodecal and signature models
John Newcombe Slazenger Photodecal and signature models
Tony Roche Dunlop signature model
John Alexander had a Spalding named model but a couple Sfida signature models
Kim Warwick named Emrik model

More modern players having names on imported models includes:
Mark Philippoussis Dunlop signature with photo covers
Part Rafter Dunlop signature
Barry Phillips Moore branded models using his hi ten open stringing design

Also found  a Dunlop William Tilden photo decal model and a Slazenger Jack Kramer signature edition which he used here while on tour.

Harry Webeck invented a racquet which contained a mercury tube system that changed the weight distrubution during shot making.Subsequently banned but was tested and patent purchased by Slazenger.They did produce and market the racquet as the “FLOATING POWER” and below all the other pics is an ad in which it appears from 1934.
Subsequently, we found a racquet of a similar design was produced in the mid 1880’s and was called “The Mercury”

Stellar Taiwan Made as used by Pat Cash.  Dunlop UK Lew Hoad .

Australian Made Slazenger Challenge XII  with Qld Master Aluminium

Asian Made Emrik and Fin with unique vibration dampening system

Australian Made Dunlop Volley Aluminium with imported John Alexander Sfida.

victorian racquet company victorian racquet company

The Victorian Racquet Company evolved from the Tasker (Ex Hedley staff) business.  The primary business was in squash racquets as the ash wood racquets were being phased out due to the wood virtually no longer being available and as the alternate metal materials were arriving from the mainstream makers.

Australian Racket Company RENOWN Australian Racket Company RENOWN

A very obscure, Australian Racket Company model called Renown.  Very little known about this brand.

Early Tennis Racquet Retailing

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The arrival of tennis was closely aligned to the early sporting goods stores and clubs which already had an association with cricket. Since Cricket was English and quite popular in the colonies and even in the USA, the ease at which tennis sets could be included with orders that were being sent around the world anyway simply led to rapid distribution. Of course, this was also assisted by the fact that many tennis manufacturers were also cricket equipment makers.

The earliest known retail ad comes from Tasmania in January 1876, but the game flourished quickly as evidenced by these two Queensland ads, the first from The Courier Mail 16-11-1877 and 22-12-1877.

G.Prentice was involved in the local cricket market with his Queensland Cricket Depot in Edward Street and is most likely to have been part of the formation of the Lawn Tennis and Badminton club which met weekly on Wednesdays from early 1878.(happy to be corrected)

Most racquets came from the UK until the local industry developed. The major brands such as F.H.Ayres, Prossers, Lillywhite Frowds, F.A.Davis, Slazenger were all present and certainly some retailers also produced their own ‘housebrands’.

This ad below comes from the Maitland Hunter Valley region of NSW in July 1882 and is the earliest ad we have found with a picture of a tennis set.

This article/ad from 1909 Sydney provides some social commentary on tennis as it developed interest amongst the population.
Ayres and Slazengers were battling for market share with Ayres having lost the prestigious ball contract at Wimbeldon in 1902 after 20 years to Slazenger.

Players were being sought out to assist with sales of racquets and you will notice the Wilding racquet by Ayres. Anthony Wilding by 1909 had participated in the Australasia Davis Cup wins and was becoming a prominent player. He went onto win Wimbledon in 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913.  Players such as Wilding promoted their racquets at tournaments and received commissions on sales.

This ad (Argus,March 1918) comes from Alcocks, Melbourne well known for billiard tables and other sports. While you may not be able to read closely here it is most useful to find brand names and the period they were sold. This store went on to become the primary retail store for the Melbourne made Brewer racquets. The racquet photo below is the Austral Special indicated in the ad. This import is quite unusual in that has a more oval shape than normal. Until this ad was uncovered we had few clues to the history.

By 1933, we see the Australian brands appearing in ads. Note the Slazenger Don Bradman.
Not sure if this was locally produced but may well have been.

This MSD retail catalogue, below, is from 1938-39 and features Don Budge and Gene Mako on the cover. We are just beginning to learn more about a retail trading cartel which began in this era are under the guise of the ‘Combined Sporting Goods Association’. This body comprised both retail stores and the primary manufacturers and was a direct attempt to limit or prevent competition, which of course today would be highly illegal. Retail stores could veto rival sports stores from opening and manufacturers would simply not supply them directly. In turn, retail stores would only carry racquets from the member manufacturers (Dunlop, Alexander, Slazenger, Spalding) and even retail prices were agreed. You will find the top end racquets displaying the 5 star quality logo CERTIFIED BY THE ARMA (Australian Racquet Manufacturers Association). The set retail price was 75s, as per the newspaper ad launching the program in 1936. This is why other racquets from Brewer, and smaller companies failed to gain distribution beyond a few specialist stores or other non traditional retail outlets. Examples of their racquets are much harder to find for this reason along with the fact that manufacturing of wood racquets was highly labour intensive and with outputs of a couple of hundred per week many of the smaller firms would have struggled to deliver to a mass distribution network. Many Australian owned brands also developed markets overseas, particularly in the USA and examples with US distributor names sometimes appear on Ebay.

ARMA Cartel

Mail order was also a big business as tennis became popular in all parts of the country. This is a rare example of a retail box.

Retailers not only sold branded product from key manufacturers. They often introduced their own brands or imported overseas product and had their name also inscribed.  These two were supplied to Melbourne Sports Depot MSD and the large general commodity retailer Myer.

Hartley were a specialist sporting goods store yet they introduced their own racquet which was probably made by Hedley.

Back in the 1950’s tennis retail stores looked a little different than today. Here are some wonderful photos recovered from the State Library of Western Australia , The Battye Library.

Sporting Goods Salesmen used to visit all the stores to obtain orders and one way a sales rep could show next seasons racquet designs was by carrying scaled down racquets usually around 12″ tall with all graphics and even strings all looking exact.

They are very rare and while this 18″(470mm)  example maybe slightly larger than expected it has been made seemingly in the traditional method with a different wedge insert into the throat, correct cord wrappings, thin strand gut, well drilled holes and graphics.

Another example of unusual tennis memorabilia comes with the large display racquets produced to increase instore branding.

We can guess that these may have first appeared as marketing and advertising was really starting to ramp up within the retail environment.

Here is an early 1970’s timber version of the Dunlop Max 200G Pro with a standard racquet for comparison. It stands 1.4 metres and you will find many modern examples in the tennis racquet stores.

Display racquet 200G

Early Racquet Design, Unusual Handles & Metal Frames

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In 1874, Major Walter Wingfield created marketing history by packaging racquets, nets, posts and balls into sets to sell as the first outdoor tennis sets. Early racquets were also lop sided however as the game progressed so did the desire to provide racquets more suited to the game and so began an amazing evolution of design, materials and ingenuity. Racquets were beingReal Royal Tennis made for ball games and Real tennis from the early 16th century so by the time lawn tennis came into being the skills of racquet making and stringing were highly developed.

Real (Court) Tennis uses lopsided racquets and the pictures below are of the oldest surviving racquet known dating back to 1858, courtesy of Rolf Jaeger (Tennis Heritage).The picture right is from the National Archive of Australia ref. NAA A6135, K19/5/81/4 and shows the very unusual court featuring the angled roof effect which is included in the field of play.

old racquet

royal tennis racquets

From 1874, the migration of tennis to other countries was quite rapid, as tennis sets like this one proved very popular. We know that tennis sets arrived in Australia soon after they were launched in 1874. A “Wingfield” set arrived in Queensland from the UK in August 1876. In Melbourne, a tennis set certainly arrived in Melbourne to the MCC (Melbourne Cricket Club) pre 1877 and we know that a retail store in Tasmania was advertising “new style” (non Wingfield design) lawn tennis sets in January 1876. The set pictured below shows a cork handled racquet, brass measuring tape, court makers (very rare) and a multi-press which holds more than one racquet. If you have a set let us know.

 

tennis box set

From the inception of lawn tennis racquet design evolved quite quickly in the first fifteen years from the lob sided style to the vertical shape which has persisted through to current times.  Mind you along the way many designers have reverted to unusual shapes as you will see under the unusual racquets section.

This photo below shows the progression.

From left…
a (lightweight) lobbed racket, circa 1876, by Henry Malings, a version of Real Tennis racquet
a Sphairistike racket by French and Co., circa 1875 and stamped accordingly
a (larger framed) lobbed racket by Jefferies, circa 1878. and
a more modern (in 1889) square headed and laminated racket by F.H.Ayres, circa 1886.

Racquet makers sprang up everywhere in the USA, France and the UK as the game blossomed. Often racquet making was an add-on business for example , you will find early wood racquets made by Winchester (famous firearms maker) and very often famous makers like F.H.Ayres, Horsman and Wright & Ditson were making other sporting goods for cricket and baseball.

Patents were taken out for all aspects of racquet design around the world. Head shapes, throat shapes, stringing styles, weight and even string tension adjustment. The diversity and the craftsmanship is what attracts so many racquet collectors into the hobby.

old racquet

Today, the various wooden handles provide considerable interest to collectors. Up until the late 1920’s most racquets had wooden handles after which leather grips became more commonplace.

You could imagine how slippery a wooden grip might become, so ingenious designs included full cork, inlaid cork strips, grooves of varying designs and quite radical handles shapes to help prevent loss of control.

cork handle

fish tail racquet

Baseball grip

Bulbous grip

swallowtail grip

 

In addition to the famous fishtail, above, we have the bulbous, swallow tail, baseball, fantail and numerous groove patterns. Even when wooden handle shape was quite normal many designs focussed on the groove patterns varying by number, thickness or checker patterns.

You will notice also that the throat sections generally show a convex or concave shape. All through the history of racquet design these shapes are a recurring theme.

In April 2009, we received this photo of yet another new racquet handle shape which many collectors had never seen before.

 

 

Not only were wood shapes interesting, some of the racquets designed for the more fashionable players featured some very intricate detailing such as this carved handle, inlaid mother of pearl or intricate inlaid wood grips from the late 1880’s.

Inlaid Grip

inl

 

While wood racquets were the dominant choice of materials, from mid 1880’s tennis racquets made of metal began to appear. It would be fair to say that most people relate metal racquets only to the late 1960’s when Jimmy Connors started to use the very unique, Lacoste (France) designed T 2000 by Wilson.

This racquet by Hillman Herbert Cooper, courtesy of USA Collector Randy Crow, even includes a leather strap tension adjustment system.

Hobbies metal racquet with spring tension system.
Courtesy Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.

Another Hobbies Model with cord grip

The most successful brands to be produced in metal came from the 1920’s in the form of the Dayton (USA) company which produced metal frame /wood handle racquets from 1923-to the mid 1990’s and the UK Birmingham Aluminium Company’s all 1924 all aluminium racquet called the ‘Birmal’  and like some of Hobbies product featured cord grips that you might expect to have found on early golf clubs.  The strings were often also metal wire offering players year round “all condition” equipment, where wood /gut was subject to damage in damp conditions.

Birmal Aluminium Tennis Racquet c 1924 (sold in Australia)

A Dayton (USA) metal head/strings with wooden scored grip

 

 

Moon

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When confronted with some of the more obsure racquet companies it is very difficult to actually find out more information about them because they were often not in business long or the brands they marketed could easily have been be produced under a sub contract arrangement with a larger firm.

We thought the latter was the case in relation to Moon Racquets, from Melbourne, however they most certainly produced racquets. Our researchers found this great little ad for an auction sale on 12th February 1938 which unfortunately shows that Moon Tennis Racquet Company had to close it’s doors at their Guildford Lane workshop and sell by auction their manufacturing machinery. So in our view conclusive proof they made their own racquets.

Moon racquets

The owners of the business are listed as Albert Aikenhead and Joseph Day.  As  you read this notification, it is apparent that Joseph Day was intending to continue on with the business in another form.

Moon racquets

In relation to their actual racquets, we found this ad which identifies their Super-Spede Diamond strung racquets. Since the company stopped phyiscally making racquets in 1938 it would appear they had racquets like this made elsewhere as this came from a 1946 Tournament program.

Moon racquets

Australian Tennis Balls & Ball Machines

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In this section we introduce the history of tennis ball manufacture in Australia and the invention of the first (or very early) tennis ball machines. Australian Tennis Balls began manufacture in the early 1900’s, with three companies becoming prominent. The competition was fierce with many balls being imported in both covered (lawn) and uncovered (asphalt) versions. This ad from the 1909 Davis Cup Program held in Australia is a very early example promoting Australian made balls.  They were not considered high quality and imported balls remained popular.

Many of the Australian companies were already in rubber products manufacturing such as Barnet Glass and Ormiston which produced raincoats and other waterproof clothing. Dunlop was famous for the development of the automotive tyre. The big three makers Dunlop, Barnet Glass (1876) and Ormiston virtually created a cartel to own the Australian market and you can see some of their advertisements under that section while further pictures of finished products will be sourced for this section. The Swift Tennis Ball Company, Melbourne also carved out a share of the local market employing juniors including Lionel Brodie to assist with exhibitions and orders.  Swift designed a one piece ball around 1936  and this led to some export success up to 1946.

 

 

 

 

 

ormiston tennis ball can (2) In 1926, Spalding also began ball manufacturing, in Melbourne, a plugless and stitchless ball. Learn more from the Spalding section. Slazenger balls made in the UK were highly regarded, since they were sponsoring Wimbledon and were imported in large quantities. In 1934, Slazenger opened a factory in Sydney and commenced both tennis racquet and ball production. Ormiston began operations around 1938 and was commenced by two brothers who had previously held executive positions at Barnet Glass. Here is an interesting article from 1924 about Tennis Ball manufacture.

In the mid 1920’s Slazenger introduced a ‘Grooved Ball’ amazingly a box has survived see below.

Ball Making was a fast growing high volume business. The pictures above show the laborious job of branding each of the balls which included adding numbers or coloured spots so that players over many courts could identify matching pairs. These shots are circa 1945. Pictures Courtesy National  Archives Australia Top ref NAA A1200, L3188   Bottom ref NAA A6180, 10/4/72/3 As the war effort caused a diversion of precious resources, people had to ration and do with whatever could be achieved. You can’t foresee this happening today. Recovering used tennis balls.

recover old tennis ball

Ball machines were on the agenda in 1927/28 and in Renee Lacoste’s ” Lacoste On Tennis” he mentions making one to improve his practice sessions, however we have found reference to one possibly created earlier by an Australian in the Gippsland Times July 1922.

 

Below we have an actual photo of one invented by an Australian,  Percy Jepson in 1927, who we suspect also ran an engineering firm producing Fruit Packing machinery, hence his experience with the technology. The motorised ball machine was called the “Machine Gun” and subsequent testing by Pat O’Hara Wood at South Yarra indicated it was an idea of some merit.  The unit was demonstrated in Myers retail store and invited tennis players to attend. Gerald Patterson demonstrated the unit to the  visiting French team, Brugnon and Boussus  and explained that Lacoste’s machine was hand operated and not comparable to the machine version invented by Jepson.   Lacoste’s machine was also brought to Australia to be demonstrated.  The Jepson did go offshore to the USA (Forest Hills) for evaluation in 1929 where Betty Nuthall and Vincent Richards tested it to positive reviews. We found that Jepson Fruit Packing went in to liquidation in 1931, so unfortunately this interesting model may not have survived. These articles from The Argus 1927 and All Tennis 1928.

SLAZENGER GROOVED BALL (25) EDIT

Barnet Glass tennis ball box Swift Tennis Balls

spalding tennis balls production 1
spalding racquet and box balls 2015 (8)

 

 

P1180780

 

Visiting French players in 1928, Brugnon and Boussus are in this shot with Patterson and the inventor Mr P Jepson (also below from the Argus)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Jepson being tested at the then South Yarra Tennis Club

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In November 1930, another Australian Inventor, Mr J.R. Black  from Adelaide (East Torrens & Interstate Player) came up with an electric motor tennis ball machine which he patented and found agents for in overseas markets.   These were being made by Newton McLaren Limited where Mr Black worked.  It held 48 balls and could toss or drive balls at 1.5,3 & 6 second intervals. Apparently his inventiveness continued for this photo is labelled as his ball machine in 1963. Photo Courtesy National Archives of Australia ref.  NAA A1200, L43279

 
 

In 1939, another Melbourne inventor created a ball machine which would deliver 50 balls as lobs, volleys or ground shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Development of Tennis Balls & Unusual Ball Cleaners

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If ever there was a story about the egg coming before the
chicken,the the story of the tennis ball may well be the most relevant.

Throughout the early 1800’s Indoor or Real tennis used balls made from leather stuffed with cotton or central cores twined with cord. Naturally this made use in outdoor situations unimaginable.

However, in the 1830’s in the USA, Charles Goodyear spent considerable time researching techniques to stop rubber from reverting back to being soft and sticky. He discovered the way to vulcanise rubber to maintain its rigidity and over in the UK between the 1850’s to 1870’s further inventions lead to the production of bouncy, hollow rubber balls.

In 1874 the application of cloth surfaces to the rubber ball provided the ultimate solution to allow an outdoor version of lawn tennis to become possible. The other major event critical to outdoor tennis was the invention of the rotary lawn cutter which enabled finely cut grass courts to be prepared and line marked quite readily in gardens around the globe.

Both uncovered and covered balls were used according to different surfaces. On asphalt uncovered balls were used, while covered balls were best on grass. In Burnie, Tasmania a Victorian club team from Grace Park in 1901 played on wooden courts with uncovered balls, so strategy about balls and court surface selection for competition play was alive and well.

In 1902, Slazenger became the ball of preference at Wimbledon having succeeded F.H.Ayres after a 22 year association. Each ball featured a hand sewn cloth finish. The following years saw dramatic improvements to production techniques that led to more consistent finishes and uniformity. Packaging was changing also to help preserve ball pressures including sealed tins and some other surprising techniques such as wax coatings. The pictures of the 1906 Slazenger ball used at Wimbledon only have string around them as part of a display. Note the match the ball came from had one or both of the Doherty brothers playing.

While you might have thought that white tennis balls were the norm until the 1980’s, Slazenger in a 1906 catalogue were promoting a “tropical” lawn tennis ball in all red, blue/yellow, black, red/white, blue/white, yellow/white, red/yellow, red/blue, blue/yellow, red/black. In 1977 Slazenger tried to launch a green ball to increase visibility but it wasn’t until 1982 that the fluoro yellow ball began to be used as the colour of preference over white. Mind you there were many other experiments in colour and two colour balls. I recall a story that Ivan Lendl killed off two colour ball use in tournaments because he claimed players could tell which way the ball was spinning through the air giving an unfair advantage.

The 1930 balls above, are wrapped in their original wax paper.
These sold for 350 pounds on Ebay 2010.

Closely related to the subject of tennis balls is ball cleaning. Early games played on grass and other surfaces combined with the expense and availability of balls meant preserving them for play was essential.  No doubt mud was a major problem and so there are a variety of ball cleaners that were developed. Since they no longer grace the modern day tennis setting most players will have never seen them before.

These shots were obtained from the internet a couple of years ago. I present them in the interest of education only and do not claim copyright or ownership.

Top:  A single ball cleaner. A brand called Kleenball appears for sale from time to time.

Middle:  Wall mounted 6 ball cleaner

A Club ball cleaner. Probably does 20-50 balls at a time. A hatch at the base opens to allow the clean balls to be removed.

Alexander Racquet Company

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The Alexander Patent Racket Company is probably the most successful homegrown racquet manufacturer beginning in 1926 and operating until 1961. It is largely an untold story and thankfully family members have been researching the history to produce a book for release sometime mid 2011. (What A Racket by Gus Green)

The original owners of the business were first involved with sporting goods retailing and were importing French racquets. However, they met Alfred Alexander who experimented, invented and patented the first form of dry bent timber racquet frame laminating, a process which would change wood racquet construction techniques forever. With this opportunity, the Alexander Patent Racket Company was formed and became one of the Worlds most prestigious brands.

The Incoprorated Pty Ltd company was established in 1925 to acquire the patent and new factory facility commissioned by the existing owners Alfred Alexander and B.B. Hopwood a local sporting retailer opened in 1926.  It was located on the Newstead estate, Launceston on Gunn Street and was powered by electricity to not have a smoke impact on nearby residences.

The original patent was issued on the creation of frames with more than 4 plys and from the outset racquets of 5 plys were being produced. Once formed in a dry bent manner they would take about 16 hours to dry compared to steam bent timber which required months if  not years to dry as logs and then again for months after being shaped as racquets before being completed. The huge advantage with laminates is the speed at which racquets could be completed without tying up capital in inventory. The process revolutionised racquet production. As a laminated product, the company sometimes added Walnut strips in the middle of 4 English ash layers to create a a more attractive end result. Production numbers began at 140 per week with estimates of 530 per week within a few months using all the skills of mass production and modern machinery where possible and a workforce of 13.   Interestingly, the retail policy was only to sell racquets that had been instore for 2 months, I presume to monitor any post production issues. At this time, Australian Made was not always considered high standard compared to the English product players were used to so no mention of location was presented on the early racquets just the Alexander name.

The first models included the: Dover, Murray, Understudy, Hunter, Cressy, Masterpiece, Mersey, Lismore and Red Seal. Naturally, other models followed, but it was the “Cressy” which remained a flag ship brand name from the start to the end. The name ‘Cressy’ is believed to have been derived from small town outside of Launceston which was the birthplace of one of Tasmania’s great champion players. When you think about it, Cressy’s longevity (37 years) as a brand certainly places it in the very rare group of long term brand names which includes the famous Dunlop Maxply model.

In 1927, a well known local Tennis player, champion and businessman from the area, Mr W.J.Sheehan,  was appointed the Business Manager and it was under his guidance that the firm embarked on new directions in decorating models with more paint, decals and bindings and also opened opportunities to develop player endorsements.  Very early on they signed up Australian Davis Cup and Champion J.O.Anderson and our lady Champion, Daphne Ackhurst. In the early 1930’s they company produced on the earliest known photo decal racquets featuring J.O.A.

The boom years came in the 1930’s & 40’s when Australian Champion, Jack Crawford won Wimbledon in 1933 using a Cressy “Wizard”. Also many of the Davis Cup players were using Alexander racquets as well. Jack Crawford’s racquet had a semi flat-top design reminiscent of the styles popular in the late 1880’s early 1900’s. In the early 1930’s,  Sir Norman Brookes while playing tennis at his Frankston holiday house showed Sheehan his early style racquet he played with in the 1900’s. Jack Crawford, who was also there, like the way it played and so Sheehan went back to the Alexander factory and fashioned a new style of semi flat-top racquet which was given the name “Wizard” from the nickname previously given to Norman Brookes during his Wimbledon winning days. This new flat top design, inspired the entire industry in Australia with many manufacturers producing both oval and flat-top models. Diamond stringing also became fashionable again at this time.

jack crawford flat top alexander 3.crop

The company produced a range of sporting goods including cricket bats, hockey sticks, golf clubs and squash racquets. As a promotional gimmick they produced a 12″ tall miniature “Cressy” replica tennis racquet hand mirror. They also produced a mandolin.

In the late 1950’s the Alexander factory was wound down and sold to Spalding in Victoria. The last racquets produced were in 1961 yet the Cressy name continued for a season under the Spalding banner when it was revived for just one more year in 1966.

The final days of the Alexander company really came about as Spalding, Dunlop and Slazenger dominated the mainland retail scene and also acquired most of the high profile players to endorse their racquets.

ALEXANDER CRESSY SPEDE MODEL (12)

The Cressy Wizard was used by Jack Crawford to win the 1933 Australian, French and Wilmbledon men’s singles titles

J.O.Anderson playing with alexander

This ad from 1931 shows J.O.Anderson the primary sponsored player at this time.

JOA alexander ad

 

 
 
This full page story comes from the Launceston Examiner 14th Jan 1927 and shows the exterior
of the factory with various stages of production.

The actual patent related to the lamination of timber in a cross grain formation.

These words, kindly supplied by Gus Green (relative) are from the patent applied for in 1921 and granted to the company in 1922:

The Alexander Invention

Date line for the Patent application dated 12th July 1921 by Alfred Alexander jun. and his younger brother Douglas Davey Alexander both of Elphin Rd Launceston the complete Specification was accepted on 7th June 1922 and advertised on 20th June 1922

No 2594/21 Class 53.2.

The Complete Specification read  “ Improvements in the construction of rackets for tennis and other like games.”

We, Alfred Alexander, Junior, Technical School Instructor,and Douglas Davey Alexander, Carpenter, both of Elphin Road, Launceston, in the State of Tasmania, Commonwealth of Australia, hereby declare this invention and manner in which it is to be performed, to be fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-

Our invention relates to the construction of tennis and other like rackets the rims of which have usually been made of a solid piece of wood bent to the shape of the racket and secured to the handle.

According to this invention, we form the rim of the racket entirely of thin strips of wood or other flexible material that are glued or otherwise secured tightly together. The strips are long enough to extend down-wardly from the rim and to lie against the core of the handle, thus forming part thereof The handle proper is therefore much smaller than the ordinary handle and is flared outwardly at the top where it enters the rim, the joints being reinforced in the usual way.

The strips will be composed, preferably, of long grained and cross grained woods disposed alternately in the rim which, when secured together, provide a strong and satisfactory construction of racket. The gut or strings are stretched between the rim sides as at present.

The rim is made to the usual shape by bending the strips 4 upon a former or mandrill, these strips are then tightly pressed and secured together, the lower portions of the same being upon each side of the handle

This member is really the handle core and extends upwards into the rim, flaring therein to the sides where it can be secured in the usual way. The said core should also be slightly tapered and widest at the lower end. To complete the handle the ordinary covering or filling strips are paced in position, giving the required octagonal shape to the handle, which is finished at the end with the usual leather piece.

 

Alexander AB71313345aaa


This photo shows the original factory in Launceston, Tasmania (Photos Tasmania Libarary)

NAT LIB Alexander Tennis factory


As imported Ash supplies were becoming in short supply and hotly contested for by every other manufacturer (globally), Alexander’s actually attempted to develop a local industry. The Company acquired the land at Hollybank in the Underwood district in 1933, comprising a total of 170 acres with a target to plant 109,200 English trees.

One hundred 100 acres were to be English Ash, however in the first three years only fifteen acres had been cleared, ploughed and planted with 21,600 trees.

After close monitoring over a period of 10 years, it became obvious that the ash trees were failing to thrive and not growing as expected. Nothing could be done to stimulate the growth of the plantation due mainly to the issue that Ash normally grows in deep, alluvial soils in the Northern hemisphere and that is not what was at Hollybank, the soils were too acidic and moisture was also a problem.

The project was abandoned in 1950 with the sale of land to the Forestry Commission in November 1956 the year of the Olympic Games in Melbourne. The sale price was £2809.

P1140071

The Alexander Lismore is one of the earliest racquets promoted around Australia c1926. The patented lamination system is clearly visible, however, a feature of the design is the much thicker shoulder areas created by the additional layer on top of the wedge. It is advertised with sister racquet the ‘Cressy’ as being used by champions Messrs. Willard, Kalms (both NSW), Les, Baker and Dr. North. While Cressy and Lismore are both townships, we will need to dig around to find out how the Lismore connection came to be.

The workmanship is quite exceptional also due to the amount of contouring and beveling that exists.

Alexander FLEET 1

The Fleet model was introduced in the late 1920’s. This one is quite early as it has a grooved wooden handle. It has the patent stamped into the handle as was sold by Hartley’s, also stamped into the handle.

Alexander Hot Shot Close up (1)

The Hot Shot model was introduced in the early 1930’s. This one is quite early as it has a grooved wooden handle.

P1100597

This Blue Moon model is one of the more elaborate colour/decal treatments. The night scene with a dark tree silhouette and the moon reflecting over water is hand painted and the Blue Moon wording is a gold transfer. Given this also has a grooved wooden handle it must be late 1920’s early 1930’s. Apart from the graphics, one other very nice finishing item is the leather strip around the base of the handle. This has also been grooved to match the handle.

After Spalding took over in 1960, the Cressy name reappeared for a few seasons up to around 1966.

The last photo shows a Spalding Cressy Perfect model

Spalding

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USA Company A.G.Spalding was founded in 1876 by Albert Goodwill Spalding a successful baseball player. While the business was based on baseball the company expanded into a variety of sports, tennis included and sold the famous name “Slocum Tennis Racket” after Henry Slocum who was the second US singles champion in 1888/1889. This racquet was made in Belgium. In 1925, Spalding made the decision to open their fifth plant globally in Australia, adding to those which already existed in the USA, Canada, UK and France. Melbourne was their preferred city and the suburb in which the new plant was constructed was Sunshine. Their decision to set up in Australia was based on the very protective trade tariff conditions which added quite considerably to the retail cost of imported racquets plus the growing popularity of tennis and golf in this country. Companies such as Alexanders and Chesterfield were taking advantage of local production and gearing up for growing demand. The plant was purpose built to make tennis racquets, tennis balls and golf balls. The tennis balls were the new two piece plugless and stitchless type which Spalding had invented. One of the first employees and Victorian Sales Manager was Gerald Patterson a famous Australian player of the era, known for his wins at Wimbledon in (1919 & 1922), the Australian Championship in 1927 and numerous Davis Cup teams. Tennis racquets were imported from the USA in a rough state and then on special machinery they were shaped to the various designs. They did however use Queensland maple and cedar woods for the handles. Projections in the first year were to produce 40,000 racquets. Key 1926 brands were the top of the range Kro-Bat, Gold Medal OS, Gold Medal HIC, Vantage, Greenwood, Crescent and the local (assumed) Sunshine models. Players of the era endorsing Spalding at the time in local advertising were W.Tilden, Bill Johnston and Australians Jack Hawkes, Pat O’Hara Wood and Gerald Patterson. By 1927, the famous Top Flite split throat made an appearance and given Spalding’s global marketing stance, racquets produced in the USA which are in more plentiful supply closely resemble designs made locally. In 1929, there was the Davis-Cup-De-Luxe and by 1930 models included the Peerless and the Endura.

SPALDINGFACTORYtennisracquets9-9-1926
Spalding Factory Don Coupe
Spalding factory 1934 Christmas Party Treat

Spalding Sunshine Model Spalding Sunshine Model

9th Sept. 1926 This is a very early truly Australian Spalding racquet featuring the suburb of “Sunshine” in the logo. Note Australia is highlighted in green which matched the paint colouring on the shaft. Spalding Hartley Catalogue Spalding Hartley Catalogue Spalding Hartley Catalogue These colourful images were part of the Hartley Retail product catalogue 1930-1931

Couretsy of State Library of Victoria. Note the Sunshine model. Spalding Pat Ohara Wood

The relationship between Pat O’Hara Wood and Spalding also saw an early signature racquet model being produced.

7th September1929

Spalding Greenwood Racquet made in Sunshine with a similar look and feel to the USA counterpart.

A USA made model but very similar to Australian specification by the look in these ads. In the mid 1930’s Spalding introduced a range of split shaft models against some of the other competitor innovations including balance weight adjustment and semi flat top models. We discovered this new design was invented by a Queenslander, Hector Donald Adams (pic) and patented here in Australia in 1933/1934 patent number 12215/33.

Bluebird proto-type design, below, presumed made in Qld by inventor, Hector Adams.

Another nice uncovering this year was this mid 1930′s Spalding retail store display stand used to hold 5 racquets

 

Above and below we have c 1945 shots from the Spalding Factory showing gloss finish application over a seemingly complete racquet and below the decal application process. Photos courtesy of National Archive of Australia above ref NAA A1200, L3187 below ref NAA B4498, 102A1

Below we have a shot of the first Grands Slam winner Don Budge who was used extensively as a Worldwide endorsed player. Racquets from the top are Vines Personal, Wightman Cup Ladies Model,Kro-bat Veri Ply, Silver Stream, Hercules (4 star), Vines Autograph (3 star). The first were 5 star as used by the Davis Cup Team.

Reverse of Top Flite Don Budge (above) Similar Vintage Davis Cup model


This locally made racquet from the late 1930-1940’s shows champion player Nancye Bolton (Wynne). She won the Australian Open in 1937, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1951, RU 1936, 1949 Spalding acquired Alexander Tennis Racquets over a period from 1957 to 1961 and integrated the machinery into the Sunshine plant. They even attempted to continue the ‘Cressy’ name with a Spalding model.

Margaret Smith (Court) won her first Australian Major singles title with a Spalding Gonzales model.

Spalding Speedshaft

The very attractive Speedshaft racquets were made by Snauwaert in Belgium

Note the John Alexander model, made in Belgium by Snauwaert which was pretty much the case from the mid 1970’s on.

Gonzales Spalding

The WCT (World Championship Tennis) was launched with a group of professionals including Newcombe, Laver, Roche and Rosewall plus others. While Spalding made racquets in the mid 1970’s, a clash between the WCT owner, Lamar Hunt and Wimbledon saw all these players banned from the 1972 tournament.

Oliver

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Although born in Adelaide, Jack Oliver grew up in Port Pirie where his father was a carpenter. He left school at the end of grade 6 and went to work with his father where he no doubt learnt wood working skills. In addition, he was a competent sportsman and also also excelled as a painter winning many art prizes for his oil and water colour paintings. He was one of a handful of motor cycle enthusiasts who formed the Port Pirie Motor Cycle Club in the early 1920’s and went on to ride in the speedway in Adelaide.

By the late 20’s the family had returned to Adelaide and Jack opened a Sports Store on Henley Beach Road at Mile End near the corner of South Road, with tennis and fishing equipment (which he had grown up to enjoy in Port Pirie) his two major sales lines.

Jack played tennis for the Goodwood Tennis Club while living in Adelaide.

With the onset of the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, Jack was finding it difficulty to survive against the then 26 Tennis Racket Makers in Australia who would sell direct to the public at wholesale prices. (A clue for much research ahead)

And so, it was in the 1930’s Jack began “playing around” making his own rackets in his fathers carpenters shed at Grassmere Street at Grassmere (the now site of the K-Mart Complex on Anzac Highway at Kurralta Park).

The holes for the strings were drilled with a belly brace and bit, the rackets shaped with spoke shave and rasps and sprayed with the use of a Breager hand pump. The formers (what gave the rackets head shape) were of wood and the laminations which made up of the racket were all steam bent, wired to shape and left to dry before gluing.

At this stage his only outlet for these rackets was his own Sports Store located at Mile End.

In 1934 Jack married Marjory Gibbs and it was around this time that he bought at an engineering company’s bankruptcy sale a quantity of metal formers (racket head shape) and bands (to hold the laminations together). These had been ordered by a tennis racket maker who could not afford to pay for them at the time.

The Oliver tennis racquet company had begun.

By the mid 1930’s he was also making Table Tennis Bats and had bought a copying lathe (also at a bankruptcy sale) and started making Axe and other tool handles.

His early tennis rackets carried the name ‘Olivers’ which became just ‘Oliver’ by the late 1930’s (so anyone who has and ‘Olivers’ tennis racket knows its one of Jacks first Tennis Rackets). Jack at this time had purchased his fathers carpentry building and had commenced manufacturing tennis rackets full time.

 

By the late 1930’s Jack had established sales outlets for his tennis rackets in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and had commenced exporting to Taylor’s (later to become Lord and Taylor) in New York. Post war, investment in new buildings at Grassmere and equipment led to a  capacity five times greater than pre-war. Export sales had blossomed to include many European countries as well as Canada/ USA. Much of the equipment had been designed and built by Oliver company in house to ensure uniformity. It was mentioned that there were 78 processes required to construct and finish a racquet.

A Perth based department store (Boans later to become a Myer Store) who bought Jack’s rackets had registered the Trade Mark ‘Blue Bird’ which Jack purchased from them and thus the ‘ Blue Bird’ became the flagship model of the Oliver range of Tennis Rackets. The “Bluebird” model was named in honour of the 1930’s speed record holder, Malcolm Campbell’s famous car.

Wooden sporting goods manufacturing lasted 50 years until in 1984 the company could no longer justify local production as metal and graphite racquets produced in Asia began to dominate. In the mid 1970’s the factory was producing 50,000 + racquets a year, which by 1984 had fallen to fewer than 5,000.

Key highlights for Oliver included Frank Sedgman winning Wimbledon in 1952 playing with an Oliver racquet and you will today still find examples of his signature models. In addition, another key Australian player to have a signature Oliver racquet was Mal Anderson.

By the time Oliver’s had made the decision to close all of the other major Australian makers had already ceased manufacturing here, making them the last. Indeed, much of Slazenger’s equipment went to Oliver’s when they closed their Sydney operation.

Despite the decline in Wood racquet production, the Oliver name did continue on with various metal and graphite models and they also were also involved with a merge/takeover of the local ARCO stainless Steel racquet business. (See Arco heading). Today Oliver squash racquets are still sold under a license agreement predominantly in Europe.

Jack’s son’s Bob and David were actively involved in the business and we have been fortunate enough to contact Bob who has kindly supplied the above information.

The Oliver business was sold to a US Firm in 1974 called ATO from Ohio. Sales were reported at the  time of $17 million.

 

 

 

 

 

Tournament Model c late 1930-s 1940’s

The Frank Sedgman Bluebird Model c 1949 1950 (Frank used Oliver to win Australian and Wimbledon Championships.

Frank Sedgman Professional Model

The Frank Sedgman Bluebird 30th anniversary model

Oliver tournament

 

 

Aluminium Tie Breaker model, identical to Rawlings (USA) models including the John Newcombe signature version.

ARCO

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The South Australian Racquet Company began in South Australia in the early 1970’s as the Wilson T-2000 (Lacoste design), Yonex and other metal racquets were starting to gather momentum in the marketplace. The business was started and owned by Charlie Wyatt and he produced the SA Racquet & ARCO racquets at home in “the shed” with assistance from his son Gary.

The decision to make racquets came from a conversation with a mate who owned a local squash centre and the first prototypes were squash racquets. These were not successful and so tennis racquets were tried. The very first models, called the Starmaker, were made from carbon steel like the Wilson’s but there were structual issues and so Charlie decided to try stainless steel. Stainless steel was not an easy material to work with and ARCO racquets may well have been a world first in this area, although we do have a photo of a Samuel Fox combination stainless steel/wood racquet, believed to be made in the 1930’s. Certainly, we have no additional knowledge of a full frame stainless steel racquet.

Charlie was an expert in Stainless Steel. He already had a business supplying stainless steel hospital trolleys and equipment and he was one of the pioneers in the development of stainless steel car exhaust systems, security doors and had worldwide patents on the construction of stainless steel yacht masts. His technology and skill included the creation of masts for the famous Australian yacht entered in the America’s Cup, Gretel 2.

 

 

Starmaker racquet South Australian Racquet Company

The only Australian made all steel racquet called the STARMAKER c 1970’s. Both the carbon and stainless steel models were of a similar design.  The pics below are of the stainless steel version branded ARCO.

 

In collaboration with Tubemakers (a large Australia-wide metal fabrication business), Charlie had stainless steel tubing made in the right widths and lengths to create his racquets. The process involved pressing a groove on one side of the tube to create the indentations for the string holes and then the bending process to create the head shape and bringing the end pieces together to from part of the handle. As welding point strength at the throat was an issue in both the carbon steel and stainless steel designs, two support clips were also welded in place. Despite the clips not being overly attractive they made the racquet almost unbreakable. Customers often requested the clips be left off custom orders but they were essential to avoid some of the issues being faced by the likes of Yonex OPS, Spalding Smasher etc who experienced painfully high numbers of welding fracture warranty claims. Charlie was very secretive about the processes and techniques needed to work with stainless steel and guarded his production techniques closely. The racquets had quite a good deal of flex and were very strong, and after exhaustive testing using various string tensions typical for the era, 19lbs mains and 16lb cross tensions were recommended which gave the racquet excellent feel without the loss of power and control.


The very early ARCO’s came with a green cover, gold ARCO logo whereas later models came with blue covers, white ARCO logo and blue/white nylon strings. There were two weights medium M 4 3/8, 4 1/2, 4 5/8, 4 3/4 and Light 4 1/4, 4 3/8, 4 1/2.

As the mid 70’s saw the arrival of oversize racquets, ARCO developed a version in stainless steel and these proved to be even better than the traditional size versions. Charlie also introduced white and black powder coated variations.

While the initial Starmakers were sold in retail stores, the later stainless steel racquets never really made it into the mainstream retail store network and they were also sold via a Sydney distributor, LINC International. There was an attempt to merge with the Oliver Sporting Goods Company who were closing their wooden racquet production facility in 1984, but this JV did not proceed.

Most sales occurred due to Charlie’s own efforts building a very strong club and coach network which led to sales in the thousands. While most sales were in South Australia, racquets were sold to players throughout Australia and overseas. Charlie even sent a few over to the Wilson T-2000 legend Jimmy Connors but never heard back. Jimmy don’t hesitate to contact us if you recall a very powerful racquet from Oz landing on your doorstep.  In 1977 performance survey showed that in the last 3 state age titles (boys and girls up to U19) ARCO racquets had featured in 50 finals and won 38. Not a bad record.

Small original frame size on the left with powder coated oversize in white/black
in pre-finished stages

 

Juniors and Adults loved the racquet and below John Fitzgerald offers support.

 

 

 

ARCO tennis racquet

The finished over sized product in black and below in white.

ARCO tennis racquet

 

Charlie made a good living from racquet sales and was still making them when he passed away 20 years after starting production.

Here is a wonderful tribute to Charlie from a very happy customer:

For Charlie:

I know a man called Charlie whose skills are unsurpassed

He made my ARCO racquet which is another class

Some shots fly off my racquet that make me squeal with delight

While my opponents, beaten, just cringe in fright

Some may think I have a new invention

But no, my racquet is strung to a perfect tension

This ARCO of mine has given me pleasure

And hours of fun too many to measure

So sometime Charlie when you hear your name

It’s me saying thankyou for another game.

Alison November 1987

 

 

We thank Charlie’s wife Jean, son Gary and long time mate Ray Bastian for supplying this valuable information about ARCO. A wonderful tennis story about an ingenious Australian inventor.