The success of the system has been stupendous. The growth of
tennis in certain localities has been phenomenal. In Philadelphia
alone over 500 boys compete in sanctioned play annually, while
the city ranking for 1919 contained the names of 88 boys under
eighteen, and 30 under fifteen, all of whom had competed in at
least three sanctioned events. The school leagues of the city
hold a schedule of 726 individual matches a year. The success of
the Philadelphia junior system is due to the many large clubs who
give the use of their courts and the balls for an open
tournament. Among these clubs are Germantown Cricket Club, Cynwyd
Club, Philadelphia Cricket, Overbrook Golf Club, Belfield Country
Club, Stenton A. C., Green Point Tennis Clubs and at times Merion
Cricket Club. The movement has been fostered and built up by the
efforts of a small group of men, the most important of whom is
Paul W. Gibbons, President of the Philadelphia Tennis
Association, together with Wm. H. Connell of Germantown, the late
Hosmer W. Hanna of Stenton, whose untiring efforts aided greatly
in obtaining a real start, Dr. Chuton A. Strong, President of the
Interscholastic League, Albert L. Hoskins, for years
Vice-President of the U.S.L.T.A., and others. This plan brought
great results. It developed such players as Rodney M. Beck, H. F.
Domkin, G. B. Pfingst, Carl Fischer, the most promising boy in
the city, who has graduated from the junior age limit, and
Charles Watson (third), who, in 1920, is the Philadelphia junior
Champion, and one of the most remarkable players for a boy of
sixteen I have ever seen.
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