John Andrew (Jack)
Wright
Male
Canada
1901-11-11
Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
1949-09-21
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
From the internet:
In 1923, Jack A. Wright made his debut on the Canadian Davis Cup team at the age of 22. He competed on the team for a decade, including a stint as playing captain in 1930. He led the team to four victories, three times over Cuba and once over New Zealand. Wright played in fifteen ties and recorded a singles win-loss record of 4-15 and a doubles win-loss record of 3-9.
Returning to Davis Cup memories, the team that made the second-best showing was possibly a greater team than the 1913 squad. It was comprised of Dr Jack Wright, Willard Crocker, Gilbert Nunns and Dr Arthur Ham. In 1927, this team disposed of Cuba in the first round, by three matches to two, and in turn lost a very close decision in the second round to Japan, also by three matches to two. Wright and Crocker played in all five rubbers.
Against Japan, Wright rose to perhaps his greatest heights when he defeated the brilliant Japanese player, Takeichi Harada who, at the time, if memory serves correctly, was ranked in the world’s first ten. (C. C. Petersen, Canadian Lawn Tennis and Badminton, June 1938). Wright also had two impressive five-set losses in Davis Cup play: in 1925 to the great Australian player Gerald Patterson, and in 1932 to Ellsworth Vines, who won the Wimbledon and U.S. Championships that year.
Jack Wright won the men’s singles title at the International Canadian Championships (now the Rogers Cup) three times (in 1927, 1929 and 1931). His most outstanding victory was in 1929, when he defeated the American John Doeg in the semi-finals, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, and another American, Frank Shields, in the final, 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. (Doeg won the U.S. Championships the following year, defeating Shields in the final.)
Jack Wright also won the men’s doubles title at the International Canadian Championships four times, three times with Willlard Crocker (in 1923, 1925 and 1929), with whom he had also been paired in Davis Cup action. In 1931, Wright paired with Marcel Rainville, another player he had also competed with in doubles on the Canadian Davis Cup team.
Jack Wright competed in the men’s singles event at the U.S. Championships five times and reached the Round of 16 twice (in 1924 and 1927). On one occasion he took the great Bill Tilden to five sets. Wright also competed at Wimbledon in 1929, but lost in the first round to the American Wilbur Coen in four sets.
Canadian tennis rankings were issued for the first time in 1926. Jack Wright was ranked no. 1 in Canada in the years 1926-29 and again in 1931. Wright has not only been inducted into the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame, but also into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (in 1955), the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (in 1972) and the McGill Redmen Hall of Fame (in 2000).
--
From The Daily Colonist, 22 September 1949
Jack Wright dies at 47 in Vancouver
Jack Wright, of Vancouver, one of Canada’s all-time great tennis players, died in Shaughnessy Military Hospital today. He was 47. Dr Wright was taking treatments for a leg ailment and is understood to have suffered a heart attack. He was Canadian tennis champion in 1927, 1929 and 1931. For seven consecutive years he was ranked top Canadian player and was a member of the Canadian Davis Cup team continuously from 1923 to 1933, playing against several countries, including Cuba, Japan and the United States.
He studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal, served in the Royal Canadian Medical Corps in the Second World War and afterwards made his home in Vancouver. Survivors include his widow, the former Grace Anne Cromie, and one daughter, Penelope, in Vancouver.
Dr Wright was known to thousands of Vancouver Island servicemen during the war as Captain Wright, medical officer of the Canadian Scottish Regiment. He joined the regiment at the start of the war, went with it to Debert, Nova Scotia, then went overseas to England with the First Battalion before leaving, after a year overseas, for staff medical work.
1919 - 1931
8
77
54
1931 - Canadian International Championships ()
1931 - Canadian National Championships (Open)
1931 - Province of Quebec Championships (Open)
1931 - Province of Quebec Championships (Open)
1929 - Canadian International Championships ()
1927 - Canadian International Championships ()
1924 - Canadian Covered Courts (Amateur)
1923 - Province of Quebec Championships (Open)
Round 1
Dick Williams jr 1 *
Jack Wright
3-6
6-2
6-3
7-9
8-6
Round 3
Jack Wright 1 *
Hugh Grant
6-3
6-4
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
Lloyd Nordstrom
9-7
7-5
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
John Lawrason (Lawrason) Driscoll
7-5
6-3
10-8
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Walter Melville Martin
6-1
6-2
6-3
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Gilbert Nunns
6-3
6-4
6-2
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
George C. Thomas
8-6
6-2
Quarterfinals
Berkeley Bell 1 *
Jack Wright
4-6
6-2
6-3
Round 1
Jack Wright 1 *
George D. Key
6-3
6-1
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Mr. Cloutier
6-1
6-0
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Charles Walter Aikman
6-2
6-0
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Willard Crocker
6-2
2-6
6-4
6-4
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Willard Crocker
6-2
2-6
6-4
6-4
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Marcel Rainville
4-6
8-6
6-4
6-4
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Marcel Rainville
4-6
8-6
6-4
6-4
Round 1
Jack Wright 1 *
George D. Key
6-0
6-2
Round 2
Lawrence Bridges Rice 1 *
Jack Wright
5-7
6-2
6-4
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Gilbert Nunns
6-3
6-4
6-2
Round 1
Wilbur Coen 1 *
Jack Wright
2-6
9-7
6-4
6-2
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
Charles Walter Aikman
7-5
6-3
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Gilbert Nunns
6-3
1-6
6-1
2-6
7-5
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
John Doeg
5-7
6-4
6-2
6-4
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Frank Shields
6-4
6-4
1-6
7-5
Round 1
Jack Wright 1 *
Alan Crolius
6-0
6-2
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Minard Hamilton
6-4
7-5
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Fillmore Hyde
6-3
6-2
Semifinals
Herbert L. Bowman 1 *
Jack Wright
3-6
6-3
6-4
8-6
Round 1
Jack Wright 1 *
Edward (Teddy) Higgs
2-6
6-1
3-6
6-3
6-2
Round 2
Bunny Austin 1 *
Jack Wright
3-6
6-3
6-3
6-8
6-3
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
Cyril Kingston Floyd Andrewes
5-7
6-0
6-0
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Gordon (Cokie) W. Shields
6-2
6-1
6-0
Semifinals
John Van Ryn 1 *
Jack Wright
6-3
7-5
0-6
6-1
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Brian W. Doherty jr
6-3
3-6
6-2
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Arthur Ham
6-3
6-3
Semifinals
Frank Shields 1 *
Jack Wright
3-6
6-3
1-6
9-7
6-4
Round 1
Jack Wright 1 *
Jack Mooney
6-0
6-4
6-2
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Charles William (Charlie) Leslie
7-5
6-1
7-9
6-1
Round 3
Bill Johnston 1 *
Jack Wright
6-4
6-4
6-4
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Harold A. McLean
6-2
6-2
Round 3
Jack Wright 1 *
Roswell Valentine (Bud) Hocking
6-3
6-1
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
Armand Marion
6-3
6-4
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
James K. Ruscher
6-3
6-4
1-6
6-1
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
John Risso
6-2
6-3
6-4
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Leon de Turenne
7-5
8-6
6-3
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Arthur Ham
6-3
7-5
6-2
Final
Willard Crocker 1 *
Jack Wright
6-3
6-3
7-5
Round 2
Julius Seligson 1 *
Jack Wright
6-3
6-8
6-4
Round 1
Herbert L. Bowman 1 *
Jack Wright
7-5
6-1
8-6
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
William Leroy Rennie
6-3
6-1
9-7
Final
George Lott 1 *
Jack Wright
6-3
8-6
6-1
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
Jack A. McGill
6-0
3-6
6-2
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
William Leroy Rennie
6-2
6-0
Semifinals
Wallace Wendell Scott 1 *
Jack Wright
6-3
7-5
1-6
14-12
Final
Willard Crocker 1 *
Jack Wright
6-3
2-6
6-1
3-6
6-2
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Émile Durand
6-1
6-3
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Robert Noble Watt sr
6-4
6-3
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Everett Henri Laframboise
6-1
6-3
Final
Willard Crocker 1 *
Jack Wright
9-7
6-1
3-6
4-6
6-3
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
Irving Weinstein
3-6
7-5
6-3
8-6
Round 3
Jack Wright 1 *
Hugh Garland Meem Kelleher
6-2
6-3
0-6
6-4
Round 4
Bill Tilden 1 *
Jack Wright
6-4
8-6
6-4
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
W.B. Boucher
6-3
6-4
Quarterfinals
George Lott 1 *
Jack Wright
7-5
6-4
Round 2
Jack Wright 1 *
W.G. Davidson
6-3
6-2
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Robert Noble Watt sr
7-5
6-0
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Arthur John Veysey
6-1
6-0
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
David Rousseaux Morrice
6-4
6-2
6-1
Round 4
Jack Wright 1 *
G.E. Strike
6-1
6-1
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Jack H. Chipman
6-4
6-2
Semifinals
William Leroy Rennie 1 *
Jack Wright
6-2
6-1
6-3
Final
Willard Crocker 1 *
Jack Wright
6-4
3-6
6-2
6-4
Quarterfinals
Jack Wright 1 *
William McChesney Martin jr
6-4
7-5
Semifinals
Jack Wright 1 *
Arthur Ham
6-3
8-6
6-8
6-3
Final
Jack Wright 1 *
Gilbert Nunns
6-2
2-6
3-6
6-1
6-1
Semifinals
David Rousseaux Morrice 1 *
Jack Wright
1-6
6-3
6-3
Quarterfinals
Willard Crocker 1 *
Jack Wright
6-2
9-7
Semifinals
Graham K. Verley 1 *
Jack Wright
10-8
9-7
6-4