The Real Story of the 1946
Davis Cup: Part 2
Gardnar Mulloy
We had been in Australia for 30 tumultuous days. (Click Here.) With the challenges complete, Captain Pate asked us whom we thought should play in the David Cup final.
The singles were dealt with first. The record of the test matches was this. Jack Kramer and I tied for first place, Parker was third, Talbert fourth, Tom Brown who had been sick for several weeks, fifth, and Schroeder last.
Kramer, reigning national champion, was a unanimous choice for one of the singles. For the second there was complete disagreement.
Unknown to us, Frankie Parker, had been promised second singles by Captain Walter Pate and the Association. This met great objection from the other players.
When Australia had taken the Cup from us in 1938 Parker had lost badly to John Bromwich who would again be on the Australian team and was a cinch to repeat his victory.
I knew by this time they would not play me in the singles even though I thought I deserved it. Billy Talbert had said he did not want to play and Tom Brown was too ill to play.
That left the man at the bottom of the totem pole Ted Schroeder, bosom California pal of Jack Kramer. These two really went to work lobbying, Jack telling Captain Pate what a great match player Ted was and Ted telling us much the same thing.
I suppose I could have made a deep issue out of the affair but I felt secure in the doubles and had no desire to jeopardize my position there. Ted suggested that if I would vote for him he in tum would vote for Frank and me for the doubles. I said I would.
Despite the majority now voting for Schroeder for second singles, Captain Pate was still reluctant to pick him because of his poor record in the challenge and practice matches. Kramer finally won him over by pointing out that Ted was a match player, at his best when the chips were down. This, in fact, was quite true.
The Double Cross
Then the matter of the doubles was discussed and immediately Schroeder, puffing on his pipe which always stunk to high heaven, began a long monologue on the greatness of the Kramer/Schroeder combination.
A barefaced doublecross! I could hardly believe my ears. However, Parker and I had beaten them so often that Captain Pate had no hesitation in selecting us.
That afternoon, Frankie and I were beating hell out of Kramer and Schroeder as usual when I started to talk about the team choices. Then it dawned on me that Frankie had not been informed, since once again he had skipped the breakfast meeting.
When I told him, Frankie exploded. He sought out Captain Pate and asked him what the big idea was. It really was a situation. Both the Captain and Frankie knew that the USLTA had as good as promised to play Frankie in the singles, and each knew that the other knew.
Poor Captain Pate. He told the outraged Parker that the present team wasn't "exactly" official because he had the last word. In the meantime he (Parker) and Schroeder would
Play a challenge match. They did, and Parker with inspired fury swept Schroeder off the court.
Captain Pate shook his troubled head. Kramer plugged on for his buddy. Two days later we had another breakfast meeting which was attended by Parker--his first appearance. Following some general discussion Captain Pate made an announcement.
"Well, boys. Now we will pick the official team." Kramer leapt to his feet. "But Captain," he protested, "we picked the team at the last meeting. Don't you remember?"
"Well now I'm not too sure about that," the Captain replied. "Ted isn't playing too well. In fact, his record in the practice and challenge matches is very poor. Oh, I know, Jack, that he has the big match temperament, but I am very uneasy about his form."
Ted protested. Kramer argued and Parker waited. FinaIly Captain Pate said that he would leave the choice to us so we all voted exactly as we had before. Schroeder for the singles, Parker and I for the doubles.
Parker was white with fury. He stood up. "I'm a singles player not a doubles player," he shouted. "I refuse to play the doubles." And he walked out of the room.
My world was collapsing around me. First Talbert and now Parker. I rushed out into the hall, caught him by the shoulder and spun him round to face me.
"OK Frank, what's the big idea?" I remonstrated angrily. "We are the best doubles team and you should play. At least you owe me that. I've worked damned hard to earn the right to play."
"I am sorry about that, Gar; but what the helI ! I was promised the singles and if I can't play them I'm damn well not going to play the doubles."
"Already I knew I was fighting a losing battIe. Frankie, himself double-crossed and discarded, was unlikely to be troubled by his conscience doing the same thing to me. I made a last desperate try.
"Frankie, for Pete's sake be your age. What the blazes does it matter, singles or doubles? The honor and glory is the same. And another thing, the Association has paid expenses for both you and your wife to come here. Surely that means something to you?"
He never answered. I think he might have agreed. But I continued heedlessly.
"On form and performance I have the right to play singles as much as you have but I'm not kicking." Of course that was the last thing I should have said.
"Nobody has more right than me," he shouted , "I was promised. And I will not play doubles."He about turned and walked out of the hotel back to Audrey and seclusion. Later he announced he was ill.
I too was sick and broken-hearted. I was picked as fourth man on the team without the slightest prospect of playing. I couldn't help feeling that I might just as well have stayed at home, just as well not have bothered with tennis after I had been discharged from the Navy.
To play in the Davis Cup match had been my only reason for being in Australia. Now I wasn't going to play. Not because I wasn't good enough. Oh no! The reasons had nothing to do with tennis. The fault lay in my stars. My parents had omitted to reside in California when I was born.
I was not a blue-eyed boy at 120 Broadway, New York City, then home of the USLTA. I made the wrong friends on the team. Instead of Talbert and Brown I should have cultivated the friendship of the California power block, Kramer and Schroeder.
Schroeder! An enigma. In his prime a great tennis player, though not the best in the world as he egotistically boasted to everyone. If this was vanity, it was inexplicably contradicted by a refusal to sign autographs, even for children. He would· brush past them saying he hadn't the time.
The Salad Affair
At meals he was boorish. Tom Brown, Billy Talbert and I, having endured a few sittings with him, elected to eat together at our own table. That decision stemmed from the "salad affair" and the events that followed.
I was eating this salad and minding my own business when from across the table Schroeder reached across and speared a portion with his fork. I ignored it. He did it again.
I did not ignore it. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" I demanded. "Aw hell Gar," he replied ingratiatingly. "I'm only taking a little of your salad. You shouldn't mind."
"If you do that again I'll punch you on the nose," I said to him menacingly. Already he wasn't listening. He had already turned away to talk to Kramer.
A couple of minutes later he did it again. Without saying a word I picked up my plate, walked around the table and emptied the remains of my salad over his head.
"Geez Gar," he wailed, "What do you want to do that for?"
"I hate to see you go hungry," I replied and left the table to continue my meal elsewhere.
Incredibly, a couple of days later the same situation developed over soup and I dumped that in his lap as well.
Tom Brown's experience was even more provoking. A somewhat fussy eater, Tom always arranged for his steak to be prepared in a certain manner. After ordering one evening, he was called to the phone, and while away the special steak arrived.
Immediately, it was grabbed and eaten by Schroeder. When Tom returned and discovered what had happened there was nearly a stand-up fight in the hotel dining room.
Why Kramer liked Schroeder was a mystery to all of us, unless it can be explained by the necessity for Californians to preserve unity as the master race of American tennis. The Aussies also liked him. But they didn't have to live with him.
A few days before the match began the Australian press uncovered a black market in tickets, the source of which they traced back to the American team. Actually, four of us were involved: Captain Pate, Talbert, Brown and myself, though not on the scale suggested by the scurvy scribes. What happened was this.
Each member of the team had been given twenty five tickets. Since we four did not have that number of friends in Australia, we had given them to a doctor friend of Billy's to sell for us. They were our tickets and we assumed a right to do what we liked with them. We did not scalp the tickets, but sold them at the printed price.
On learning of the deal that was going on, Sir Norman Brookes, President of the Australian Lawn Tennis Association, had the poor doctor arrested and jailed. He then called on Captain Pate and demanded that the men responsible be severely reprimanded which was ironic as the Captain was one of those men.
Billy, Tom and I took our scolding in front of Sir Norman without betraying the good Captain, and then went down and bailed out the unfortunate doctor. At least, the proceeds helped to buy a gold cigarette case, engraved with the names of the team, which we presented to Captain Pate at the end of our training.
The Cup at Last
On December 26, 1946, the Davis Cup Challenge Round began at Melbourne. Tom Brown was sick, Frankie Parker was still hiding out and Billy Talbert was commentating for a local radio station.
I was reserve to the Californian "killers" Kramer and Schroeder. In straight sets Kramer disposed of Pails 8-6, 6-2, 9-7, and after five tough sets Schroeder triumphed over the Australian champion, John Bromwich, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3.
The following day the West Coast went on the court and sewed up the match for the States, winning the doubles in straight sets from Bromwich and Quist 6-,2, 7-5, 6-4.
On the third day of the match, Kramer beat Bromwich 8-6, 6-4, 6-4, and I got to play. I replaced Schroeder against Pails and won 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to make it a 5-0 victory. I think Captain Pate put me in because he appreciated my cooperation and felt a little sorry for me.
Of course, we had already won the Cup and I was questioned about this by the press who could not understand why I should want to play under the circumstances. . "I came here to play in the Davis Cup," I replied.
