Ernest Koslan, the Jewish lad from the Bronx who will represent New York City at the National Public Parks Tourney in Minneapolis next week, proved a difficult barrier to the great Jean Borotra, the French tennis ace, at the national indoor title matches last March.
As Fred Hawthorne described it some time ago, “It was the last match of the evening in the men’s national indoor singles championship tennis tournament, yesterday, between Jean Borotra, ace of France, and young Ernest Koslan, a sophomore at N. Y. U., that provided the gallery with its thrills. Borotra, one of the leading players of the world, for the last decade and four times a winner of the national indoor title, dropped the second set of the match to Koslan, a player without a national ranking and without any notable victories to his credit.
The Basque eventually won, 8—6, 3—6, 6—3, and it was almost unbelievable he would lose, yet his play was so ragged and his errors so flagrant, there were times when one wondered how he was going to win.
Most of the spectators at the matches had already left when these two players stepped on the boards. They took it for granted that the Davis Cup veteran would join Frank Shields, Gregory Mangin, Lester Stoefen, Sidney B. Wood Jr., George Lott and the six other seeded players in the third round, without the semblance of a struggle.
Those who remained, with the exception of seeing the volatile Basque make short shrift of his opponent, saw instead young Koslan play a grade of tennis that no one suspected he was capable of even approaching.
KOSLAN REVEALED TENNIS PROMISE THAT DAY
The gallery at the Armory last March 13 saw this slender, black-haired New York youngster, confident almost to the point of cockiness and armed with a whiplash forehand and a stinging, effectively-placed service, cause the celebrated French idol such genuine disquiet that the tournament committee was shaking its collective head in alarm.
So dangerous indeed was the challenge that this young sophomore offered to one of the world’s greatest players that the committee had good cause to visualize the unhappy prospect of losing its biggest drawing card.
Not until the players had been on the court for an hour and a half and Borotra had been desperately hard put to get his recalcitrant strokes under control was Koslan turned back.
KOSLAN ONE OF LEADING JEWISH NET STARS IN COUNTRY
Koslan in the near future will be this country’s foremost Jewish tennis ace. We predict that this youngster will be ranked near the top in a few seasons, provided he keeps up the good tennis form he is displaying these days.
Despite the fact that he is only twenty years old, he has been playing tennis since he was a kid camper at Balfour Lake some ten years ago. However, he has been playing tournament tennis for the last four seasons. Also, he has been the youngest player for the past three years in the national indoor tennis tournament to reach the rounds of sixteen twice and thirty-two once.
The names of Hecht, Morgenstern and the Seligsons, have been familiar to tennis followers during is rapidly becoming known throu the past few years. That of Koslan is rapidly becoming known throughout the country, even overshadowing the Jewish tennis players who reached their peak some time ago.
TENNIS A SERIOUS SPORT
Koslan realizes he cannot improve his game unless he gets out on the courts and practices. As a result two weeks have not passed during the last three years which have seen the young racquet ace absent from the courts.
He realizes that only by intensive and serious practice can a player really succeed in national play. He plays whenever he can but makes it his business to practice religiously.
Koslan was first singles man at Creston Junior High the year his school won the city championship. The year after that saw Ernie a sophomore at Evander Child High, pitching on the baseball team and subbing on the tennis team. Most of the boys on the Evander racquet squad graduated the year when they won the scholastic title and Koslan realized more than ever that his chance would come the next year. He practiced all summer long and succeeded in becoming the first singles man at the Bronx school.
In February, 1932, he graduated from Evander with the interscholastic tennis title under his belt. As result of his brilliant play in high school he was offered several scholarships to Duke University and to North Carolina. However, the death of his father necessitated his remaining in the city. He matriculated at N. Y. U. and immediately began his court-blazing career as a tennis ace.
COMING ALONG IN GRAND STYLE
Since his thrilling match with Jean Borotra he has participated in the Brooklyn Championship, the Metropolitan Championship, the White Haven Tourney and the Bronx Championships.
He lost to Gregory Mangin, fifth ranking player of the country, in the Brooklyn Championship, and lost out either in the finals or the semi-finals of the other matches with the exception of the Bronx Championship. Koslan won the North Bronx title by defeating Dan Freedman in the final and the chance to represent New York City in the National Public Parks title tourney at Minneapolis next week by defeating Dan’s younger brother, Bernard Freedman. In all these matches Ernie Koslan has shown the form, the speed and the tennis ability that stamps him the stuff that champions are made of.
This past season Koslan has defeated Fred Fiola of Penn, Gil Kelly of Rutgers and Dietz of Lehigh, all topnotchers in intercollegiate tennis play. Another outstanding feature in this Jewish lad’s career is the fact that he hasn’t lost a match in intercollegiate competition.
At the New York State intercollegiate tourney at West Point he was defeated in the semi-finals by Howley, one of the best players in this state.
GETTING THE BREAKS LATELY
The firm Koslan works for, the Louis Adler Realty Company, has done a lot in helping him participate in tennis tournaments. They have been allowing him time off so he could play with N. Y. U.’s team in its tennis matches and Ernie is grateful to them for this.
What is more, he has received one of the two honorary scholarships offered by his fraternity, Tau Epsilon Phi. Charlie Siegal, diminutive Violet quarterback, was the other recipient of this scholarship. Thus, with more time and money at his command, Koslan expects to earn a real reputation for himself next year.
AN ACTIVE MACCABI MEMBER
Like so many of the other great Jewish athletes throughout the country Ernie Koslan has aligned himself with the Maccabi movement. He is an active member and intends to participate for the Maccabi Association exclusively when he graduates from N. Y. U. He is a sure bet for the tennis choice that will be made when the second Maccabiad team sails for Tel Aviv and the international Maccabian games in April, 1934.
Art O’Leary, former crackerjack lightweight fighter, is the man responsible for Koslan’s fine condition. O’Leary has been giving Koslan excellent training and coaching at Bothner’s gym on Forty-second street near Eighth avenue for a long time and it is this conditioning that makes him such an agile figure on the courts.
Likewise he has been fortunate in securing the best of coaching in the tennis world. He has never paid for professional tutoring and yet has been helped greatly by such well known players as Ernie Kuhn coach of Frankie Shields, Julie Seligson and Marcel Hecht, Allen Behr, Hans Hummel and Dave Kelton.
We predict Koslan has it in him to get to the top soon.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
