Joseph Clark

Joseph Sill Clark was born on November 30, 1861 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He came from a prominent Philadelphia family and was a younger brother to Clarence Clark, another tennis player who won the first doubles in the U.S. Championships.

He was instrumental along with his brother Clarence in introducing the version of tennis called “lawn tennis” in the United States after bringing with them one of Wingfield’s boxes containing the equipments from England in 1874.

In 1883, Joseph Clark who was a senior at that time at Harvard, joined the Intercollegiate Championships. He outshone classmate Dick Sears in the event, who would soon become U.S. Champion. He victoriously won both the singles and the doubles. In the doubles, he played together with partner Malcolm Chace.

The Clark brothers, Joseph and Clarence also played together in several doubles events. In 1883, after defeating Dick Sears and James Dwight in the Boston and New York matches, they represented the U.S. in England against brothers Earnest and Willie Renshaw. The latter pair won all of the two matches they played.

In 1885, Joseph Clark united with former classmate Richard Sears to win the U.S. doubles over Henry Slocum and Percy Knapp in three successive sets 6-3, 6-0 and 6-2. He was also able to reach the semifinals in the singles that year of 1885. Beginning that year, he remained as U.S. No. 4 from 1885 to 1888.

Clark became the President of the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) from 1889 to 1891.

Clark had two children, Joseph Clark II and Avery Borodell. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1955 and died a year later on April 14, 1956 at the age of 95. His older brother Clarence Clark was also inducted later in 1983.