John W. Frost (born October 23, 1934) is an American scholar and former touring tennis player.
Tennis career In 1949, Frost won the U.S. National Boys' (15-and-under) Championships at Kalamazoo, MichiganMonterey Peninsula Herald Aug 8, 1949 and the U.S. National Juniors' (18-and-under) three years later(1952).Kalamazoo Gazette Aug.4, 1952 Following his win, he was awarded a spot on the four-man U.S. Davis Cup team to play against Canada.Chicago Daily News. Aug 4, 1952 In the Fall he entered Stanford University, and in his senior year, 1956, he played in the final of the NCAA Singles Championship, losing to Alex Olmedo of U.S.C.Kalamazoo Gazette Aug.1, 1956 A decade later he was inducted into the Stanford Athletics' Hall of Fame.
Following military service, Frost played the international tennis circuit between 1958 and 1963, competing in six Wimbledon Championships and getting out to the 4th round in 1960, before losing to Nicola Pietrangeli."Frost lost to Pietrangeli 6-4 6-1 6-2", He won the IrishIrish Independent July 13, 1959 and WiesbadenNaugatuck Daily News May 19, 1958 (including the mixed doubles with Maria Bueno) and was in the finals of the South African,Monterey Peninsula Herald April 14, 1960, the Canadian,L'Action Catholique July 30-Aug. 5, 1953, the NorwegianAftenposten June 6, 1959 and the Good Neighbor.Miami Herald April 11–13, 1959 During the course of his career he had singles wins in major grass court tournaments over all-time greats Rod Laver,Irish Times July 11, 1958 Roy EmersonSan Francisco Chronicle June 18, 1960 and Vic SeixasLos Angeles Times August 12, 1954 and over numerous international Davis-Cup mainstays on various surfaces: Luis Ayala,Newport Daily News August 12, 1954 Thomaz Koch,"Jack Frost defeated Thomaz Koch 3-6 7-5 9-7 13-11", Mario Llamas,The Florida Times-Union April 11, 1958 Antonio Palafox,San Francisco Examiner August 13, 1959 Giuseppe Merlo,"Jack Frost defeated Beppe Merlo 6-0 6-0 6-3", Istvan Gulyas,"Jack Frost beat Istvan Gulyas 7-5 6-4 6-4, Bob Mark,"Jack Frost defeated Bob Marks 6-4 6-4 6-4", Frew McMillan,"Jack Frost defeated Frew McMillan 6-4 6-1 7-5", Christian Kuhnke,San Francisco Chronicle July 5, 1959], Bob Hewitt,Monterey Peninsula Herald July 22, 1960 Gordon Forbes,Monterey Peninsula Herald April 14, 1960 Warren Woodcock,Miami Herald April 12, 1959 Billy Knight,San Francisco Chronicle August 8, 1956 Ron Holmberg,Monterey Peninsula Herald July 28, 1961 Dennis Ralston,Monterey Peninsula Herald July 27, 1961 Barry Mackay,http://www.tennisarchives.com."Jack Frost" (1957)"Jack Douglas"Aftenposten June 6, 1959, and Tom Brown.http://www.tennisarchives.com."Jack Frost" (1957).
Frost beat Whitney Reed at Newport on grass in 1961, the year in which Reed achieved the number one ranking in the U.S.,Newport Daily News Aug. 17, 1961 and in 1954 he defeated Straight Clark at Forest Hills in one of the longest matches played there in the pre-open era.Tennis U.S.A. March 1969
Frost participated in the winning of several major doubles titles: Southampton (with Giammalva over Richardson and Holmberg),Monterey Peninsula Herald Aug. 3, 1958 Puerto Rico (with Richardson over Contreras and Llamas), and a semi-final win with John Cranston over Laver and Neale Fraser at the Irish Championships.Ulick O'Conor, The Fitzwilliam Story p. 86. A top 10 player in the United States in 1961,USTA Yearbook-top 10 US men's rankings Frost was also ranked number 1 in Northern California in that year.Redwood City Tribune Jan. 22 1962, He was subsequently inducted into the Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame.
In 1964 Frost conducted a four-month good-will tennis program in GhanaThe Ghanaian Times, Dec. 11, 1964 on behalf of the U.S. Government and did another one in India in 1990.Indian Express(Pune) July 15, 1990
Jack is retired and lives in Palm Desert, CA.
Academic Frost received a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara (June 15, 1974). Simultaneously, through a series of National Defense Foreign Language grants, he was able to become proficient in Arabic and Swahili and eventually was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to cover a year abroad, some four months of it to be spent in Khartoum (Sudan)."John W Frost, "Interim Report" to "Fellowship Section, Division of Foreign Studies, Institute of International Studies. Office of Education. Washington D.c." May 22, 1971 Later he participated in writing an academic history of the British in the Sudan."Memories of the Sudan Civil Service," for The British in the Sudan, 1898–1956, edited by Robert O. Collins and Francis M. Deng. and contributed a review to the journal of the American Historical Association.The Opening of the Nile Basin to "The American Historical Review" (Vol. 82, No. 1, Feb. 1977). More recently he published a specialized history of the Monterey Peninsula.John W Frost. Monterey Peninsula's Sporting Heritage. Arcadia Press, 2007.
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