Biography

The greatest tennis player Canada produced in the first half of the 20th century, Dr. Jack Wright represented Canada in Davis Cup play for eleven years and was ranked first in the country for five of those years. Ranking third in the world at his peak, Wright was the first Canadian to reach such international heights in tennis. Born in Nelson, B.C., Dr. Wright won the B.C., Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Northwest, and Inland Empire junior titles before moving to Montreal to attend medical school. As captain of McGill University's tennis team, Wright reached the greatest heights in intercollegiate play. Between 1924 and 1928, he won four Martin Cups as the top singles player at McGill, as well as three Canadian intercollegiate singles titles. Nationally, Wright was the top ranked Canadian player in five separate seasons. He held three national singles titles and four national doubles titles (three with Willard Crocker and one with Marcel Rainville). In addition, he was a member of every Davis Cup team between 1923 and 1933, during which time he played an astounding 40 matches, a Davis Cup record for a Canadian. Dr. Wright's greatest triumph came in Montreal in 1927 when, in a single Davis Cup match series, he defeated Japan's Tacheichi Harada, who was then ranked third in the world. Wright used his terrific service and his great volleying game to score an upset 6-3, 6-3, 8-6 victory that was the tennis sensation of the day. Dr. Wright retired from competition shortly before the onset of the Second World War. He served as a medical officer overseas and then settled in Vancouver. Canadians, however, did not forget his brilliant performance on the courts, nor could they ignore the headway he had made for the nation on the international tennis scene. In a 1950 Canadian Press poll, he was voted Canada's top tennis player of the first half of the century, and in 1991 he received an honoured place in the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame.