| Harry Likas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1924 San Francisco, CA |
| Nationality | United States |
Henry "Harry" Edward Likas Jr. (born 1924, San Francisco, California) is a Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame inductee most notable for winning the 1948 National Collegiate Athletic Association Tennis Singles Championship.
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Born in San Francisco, CA, Harry started playing tennis when he was five years old. However, he didn't get serious about the sport until he joined the California Tennis Club in San Francisco at age 15. There, he started playing Northern California and National Junior tournaments. By age 15, Likas was the number 1 boy in the nation and won the Boy’s California Championship. At 18, Likas was selected to be on the National Junior Davis Cup team.
After graduating from Lowell High School in San Francisco, Harry went on to play tennis for the University of San Francisco. During his collegiate years, he beat five Wimbledon champions: Jaroslav Drobný, Bob Falkenburg, Budge Patty, Dick Savitt, and in the 1948 the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, Vic Seixas. He also beat US Open Champion Pancho Gonzales.
Likas reached the quarter-finals of the 1948 U.S. National Championships, as the No. 11 seed. He reached the third round in 1946 and 1947, and the second round of the 1950[1].
Later, Harry would serve on the board of the United States Tennis Association (USTA Nor Cal), then known as the Northern California Tennis Association](NCTA). In his role as a board member, he transitioned the old "Pacific Coast Tournament", a tournament he had won as a junior, into a money tournament - the Fireman's Fund Open International. The tournament was played at the Round Hill Country Club in Alamo CA and, due to Harry's perseverance, was televised nationally on PBS.
Throughout his adult life, Harry continued to play both in tournaments and socially.