TENNIS COACHING LEGENDS: Among Michigan Greats, Jean Hoxie, George Purdy

Sounds of Spring Awaken Memories of Great Coaches and Iconic Tennis Figures

April 6, 2013
By: Dave Rogers

The arrival of spring and the sound of rackets hitting balls on nearby courts awakens recollections of some coaching greats from the tri-city area.

Jean (Raymond) Hoxie, a Gladwin native of Irish extraction who started the fabulous tennis programs at Hamtramck and at Northwood University, Midland, is the iconic example of a tennis coach. She and husband Jerry began the tennis camp program in the United States as well as co-coaching Hamtramck and teaming in mixed doubles in top competition in Michigan.

Many great Bay City and Saginaw players "went to Hoxie" in Hamtramck, learning strokes and strategy in $100 a week summer sessions. There the local neophytes were matched with Hoxie's slick-hitting boys and girls who had put in serious hours hitting on walls and backboards.

Many recall her axioms, "up the hill and down again," for the serve, "open the gate and close the gate," for ground strokes; "return of a cross is a straight line, return of a straight line is a cross," for strategy.

One of the local boys Hoxie tutored in the 1950s, Frank Fulton, is still an active competitor. At 75, Fulton is ranked among the top senior players in Southern California and has been ranked as high as 149 by the International Tennis Federation. He played singles for the University of Michigan.

Another Michigan tennis great with local roots, Mark Jaffe of Essexville, was a member of the only Michigan college team to win the NCAA championship, the University of Michigan, in 1957. He played singles on a squad that included Barry McKay, later a Davis Cup player and broadcaster. Jaffe was a nine time winner of the state singles crown.

Jean Hoxie was enshrined into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1965 at a celebrated luncheon in Detroit. Her picture now hangs among the sports greats in Cobo Hall.

The Detroit News commented in 2008: "Hoxie was the most successful tennis coach of teenage players in Michigan's history. The first woman to coach a Michigan high school boys tennis team, Hoxie developed more than 200 national and international champions. Her Hamtramck teams won 16 state titles in 17 years from 1949 to 1965. She conducted successful tennis clinics in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Canada and even was summoned to the White House to give personal lessons to Jacqueline Kennedy."

A biography, "Jean Hoxie: The Robin Hood of Tennis," by Jean Pitrone, is available through the Polish Art Center, Hamtramck.

In September, 1966, approximately 850 friends and admirers attended a gala 45th anniversary banquet for the Hoxies. It could not have come at a better time for them, because within 13 months Jerry passed away due to a stroke. Jean died two years later in a freak automobile accident in Midland.

Jean Hoxie was a good player, having learned the sport in a short course at Columbia University one summer in the 1920s when she was an elementary teacher in Hamtramck. She had attended Central Michigan Normal College (now Central Michigan University).

She talked the town fathers into installing tennis courts even though baseball and football were the biggest thing in Hamtramck. She taught Henry Ford II to play and he furnished two station wagons for her to take players to tournaments.

Besides Hank the Deuce, Jean taught Jackie Kennedy, King Paul of Greece and African chiefs on her wide travels. Her last trip was to South America in 1970 with the Northwood team in a goodwill tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department and The Dow Chemical Company. This columnist was publicist for the 17-day tour of five countries.

Jean was good enough to play in the U.S. Open in 1934, losing in three sets to C.U. Darling. She and Jerry won the mixed doubles state public parks tournament several times.

Jean and Jerry Hoxie, Hamtramck, and George Purdy of Saginaw Arthur Hill High, were among the first group inducted into the Michigan Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986.

Harold Holcomb of Essexville Garber, Bob Darbee of Bay City Western, Jim Teal and Bob Quinn of Saginaw Heritage and Joe Haskins of Midland Dow also are among members of the Michigan Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.

Other local inductees include Bill Baum and Albert L. Buschman, Midland, and Ron Kunold, Hemlock.

"If asked to name the dominating force in Michigan tennis history, any person even remotely aware of our sport would undoubtedly arrive at the names of Jean and Jerry Hoxie," the MTCHF states.

"Indeed, the list of state and national junior champions produced from that most unlikely location, Hamtramck, is a testament to the true greatness of what these two astonishing people achieved."

The Hoxies developed 16 singles champions in Class A and 13 doubles teams which won the state titles for the Cosmos. They had a phenomenal 18 boys state championships between 1949 and 1969 in high school competition.

Some of the great players to come out of their program were Fred Kovaleski, Al Hetseck, Ted Jax, Ken Angyal, Dick Potter, Bill Petrick, Jerry Dubie, George Korol, Pacho Castillo, Ray Senkowski, Chuck Brainard, John Lamerato and Tony Lamerato. Some girls who emerged to win national honors included Stephanie Prychitko, Elaine Lewicki, Joyce Pniewski and Peaches (Jane) and Plums (Christine) Bartkowicz.

Jean Hoxie was a notorious disciplinarian with a tough and gruff personality who took tough little kids off the street and within a week or two made them into different people on a tennis court, states a biographer.

"Jean was the force behind the program, but her sensitive husband (Jerry) was truly the rudder of the ship. He helped to encourage the feeling of the Hamtramck family, promoting the older champions to return to Veterans Memorial Park to teach the younger hopefuls. He had the unique ability to pick out definite potential in a young player and nurture it with his good psychology to give the overall program true credibility. Jean's indomitable spirit paved the way for financing the trips, scheduling the best of competition, and giving their players national exposure."

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