Dear Bob,
I am so sorry for your loss.
Your love of your Dad was clear, poignant deep. There were few more touching father/son relationships in sports. I wish you great strength at this time of loss.
Of course, your father was a giant. Gracious and powerful, on court and off. He gave a tennis rookie – me – one of my first great interviews nearly three decades ago.
He was the fabric, the definition of a great game that – with his energy, courage and entrpreneurial aplomb he transformed.
Without him our game would still be tucked away on a nice little back shelf, hidden in the dim, musty closet of secondary American sports.
But Jack Kramer – Dad as you always called him – with his love and energy transformed our sport. There was a good reason there was a crown on his racket.
His most benign shadow was immense – beyond measurement. No one has ever, will ever, have the impact of Jack Kramer. Gifted with such a brilliant game – smart power, graceful movement – he moved on to shape our game, his game.
They call it the sport of a lifetime.
No one has had a tennis run, a more inspired tennis lifetime, than that handsome American you simply call Dad.
Sincerely,
Bill Simons
Editor and Publisher
Inside Tennis
