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General First nameAlfred Cecil
LastnameChave
GenderMale
CountryAustralia
Date of birth1905-08-16
Place of birthAuchenflower, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Date of death1971-08-15
Place of deathBrisbane, Australia


About

From The Australian Dictionary of Biography:
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chave-alfred-cecil-9736

By M.L. Howell and R.A. Howell

Alfred Cecil Chave (1905-1971), tennis administrator, broadcaster and fruit merchant, was born on 16 August 1905 at Auchenflower, Brisbane, second child of Alfred Edward Chave, a fruit merchant from New South Wales, and his English-born wife Mabel, née Fursey. Alf was educated at Wynnum Primary and Brisbane State High schools, then joined the family fruit-business.

A talented all-round sportsman, he specialized in tennis. He was a member of Queensland’s team in the Linton Cup from 1924 to 1926 and in 1925 was ranked second in the State behind Edgar (‘Gar’) Moon, a future Australian singles champion (1930). Chave was to remain one of Queensland’s top ten players until 1947. At the Albert Street Methodist Church, Brisbane, on 29 July 1926 he married South African-born Raby Marie Llewellyn Davies.

From 1930, when he began reporting for the Brisbane Telegraph, Chave developed a career as a versatile journalist. Later known in Australia as ‘the Voice of Tennis’, he was a commentator on the international circuit for over forty years. He attended sixteen successive Wimbledons, reporting for the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force on 13 April 1942, he was commissioned next month. He served as an intelligence officer with No.25 Squadron in Western Australia and at headquarters, Eastern Area, Brisbane.

In July 1944 he was promoted temporary flight lieutenant. On 29 December his appointment was terminated at his own request. Divorced in 1948, on 24 September 1949 Chave married a hairdresser, Patricia Mary Sutherland, née Johansson, at the Presbyterian Church, Ann Street, Brisbane. After World War II he built up a successful fruit-business (Alf Chave Export Pty Ltd) at the Brisbane Markets.

Sporting administration was Chave’s forte. A council member (from 1928) of the Queensland Lawn Tennis Association, he served for many years on its management and finance committees. With the exception of the presidency, he occupied every other position on the Queensland Lawn Tennis Executive: organizing secretary (1939), vice-president (1948-49 and 1955), assistant-secretary (1950-51) and treasurer (1963-69). He was a founding member (1932) of the Umpires’ Association (later the Queensland Lawn Tennis Umpires’ Association) and was one of its three selectors in 1939-69.

When the United States of America played Belgium at Milton, Brisbane, in 1957 he became the first Queenslander to referee a Davis Cup inter-zone final. Chave also managed Queensland teams in the Linton Cup and took two national teams overseas. The 1961 team, which included John Newcombe, Bob Hewitt, Ken Fletcher and Fred Stolle, though declared the worst to leave Australia, returned with twenty-eight championships. In 1962 he took the first Australian team to tour the Soviet Union.

Survived by his wife, and by the son and two daughters of his first marriage, Chave died of myocardial infarction on 15 August 1971 in Brisbane and was cremated with Presbyterian forms. His estate was sworn for probate at $126,965. In 1972 the clubhouse at the Milton tennis centre was named after him.

Media


Archive statistics Career1925 - 1952
Tournament wins1
Matches134
Match wins74


Tournament wins 1933 - South Coast Championships (Amateur)


Tournaments Queensland Hardcourts - 1952 Brisbane Exhibition - 1952 Casablanca - 1951 Darling Downs - 1950 Darling Downs - 1949 Brisbane Exhibition - 1949 Darling Downs - 1948 Darling Downs - 1947 Maroochy Championships - 1947 South Downs - 1947 Darling Downs - 1946 Maroochy Championships - 1946 Darling Downs - 1941 Queensland Patriotic Tournament - 1941 Maroochy Championships - 1941 Queensland Championships - 1940 Darling Downs - 1940 Maroochy Championships - 1940 Brisbane Exhibition - 1940 Southern Downs Championships - 1940 Queensland Championships - 1939 Darling Downs - 1939 Australian Hard Courts Championship - 1939 Queensland Championships - 1938 Darling Downs - 1938 Brisbane Exhibition - 1938 Darling Downs - 1937 Queensland Hardcourts - 1937 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1937 Darling Downs - 1936 Queensland Hardcourts - 1936 Queensland Championships - 1935 Darling Downs - 1935 Darling Downs - 1934 Queensland Hardcourts - 1934 South Queensland Championships - 1934 Brisbane Exhibition - 1934 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1934 Darling Downs - 1933 Queensland Hardcourts - 1933 South Coast Championships - 1933 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1933 Queensland Championships - 1932 Darling Downs - 1932 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1932 Darling Downs - 1931 South Coast Championships - 1931 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1931 Australian Open - 1930 New South Wales Championships - 1930 Queensland Championships - 1930 Darling Downs - 1930 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1930 Darling Downs - 1929 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1929 Queensland Championships - 1928 Queensland Metropolitan Grass Courts - 1928 Queensland Championships - 1927 Australian Open - 1926 Queensland Championships - 1926 Australian Open - 1925