Ham Richardson

Hamilton Farrar Richardson (August 24, 1933 – November 5, 2006) was an American tennis player, who was active in the 1950s and 1960s.

Life Richardson was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Tulane University, where he won two NCAA Singles Championships (in 1953 and 1954). He was named a charter member of the Tulane University Athletic Hall of Fame.

He was named a Rhodes scholar and earned a master's degree at Oxford University during which he achieved the U.S. No. 1 ranking, both in 1956 and 1958 (Richardson was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 in nine other years). Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph ranked Richardson the World No. 3 in 1956, No. 6 in 1958, No. 7 in 1955 and No. 10 in 1954. In 1956, Richardson reached the Wimbledon semifinals (beating Neale Fraser, then lost to Lew Hoad). At the U.S. championships, Richardson reached the semifinals in 1952 (losing to Gardnar Mulloy) and 1954 (beating Hoad before losing to Vic Seixas). In 1958, he won a U.S. National doubles title in 1958 with Alex Olmedo and reached the mixed doubles final at the Australian National Championship with Maureen Connolly.

At the Cincinnati Masters, Richardson reached two singles finals, losing in 1950 to Glenn Bassett and in 1953 to Tony Trabert, and won two doubles titles, in 1950 with George Richards, and in 1953 with Trabert. He played on seven U.S. Davis Cup teams, including the winning Cup teams of 1954 and 1958. He was 20–2 in Davis Cup play.

After retiring from tennis, he founded Richardson and Associates, a New York investment and venture capital firm.

Personal life Richardson had three children from his first marriage, which ended in divorce. He was later married to author and editor Midge Turk Richardson from 1974 until his death from complications from diabetes in 2006.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1956 U.S. ChampionshipsGrass Vic Seixas Lew Hoad Ken Rosewall 6–2, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4Win 1958 U.S. ChampionshipsGrass Alex Olmedo Sam Giammalva Barry MacKay 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1953 Australian Championships Grass Maureen Connolly Julia Sampson Rex Hartwig 6–4, 6–3

Rankings Richardson's Top Ten U.S. Rankings 1951 – 9 1952 – 7 1953 – 6 1954 – 3 1955 – 7 1956 – 1 1957 – N/A 1958 – 1 1959 – N/A 1960 – N/A 1961 – N/A 1962 – 3 1963 – 7 1964 – 7 1965 – 6