Joseph Sill
Clark
Male
United States of America
1861-11-30
Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States of America
1956-04-14
Chestnut Hill, Phi, United States of America
Joseph Sill Clark, Sr. was a champion American tennis player. Clark won the 1885 U.S. National Championship in doubles, partnering with Dick Sears. He was also the inaugural singles and doubles national collegiate champion, in 1883. When he died in 1956 he was Philadelphia's oldest practicing attorney.
Clark was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 30, 1861, to a family of bankers and financiers. His father, Edward White Clark, was a partner in the family firm, E. W. Clark & Co.. Clark's brother, Clarence Munroe Clark, would also become a tennis player of note.
As a student at Harvard University, Joseph Clark won the U.S. intercollegiate singles and doubles titles in its inaugural staging, in the spring of 1883. In the singles, he defeated fellow Crimson player Dick Sears.
Clark graduated Harvard in 1883 and later earned a law degree. He and his brother, Percy Hamilton Clark, opened a law practice together at 321 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. The practice centered on the "street railway, electric light, and power businesses" operated by E. W. Clark & Co., his family's financial firm.
In 1885, he took the U.S. National lawn tennis doubles title, and also became champion of Canada, the first American to be so. Clark was also a three-time semi-finalist at the U.S. National Championships lawn tennis singles in 1885, 1886 and 1887. He captured the first two U.S. National mixed doubles championships in 1888 and 1889, partnering with Marian Wright.
He served as president of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association from 1889 until 1891.
On November 26, 1896, Clark married Kate Richardson Avery (1868-1951), whose family owned Avery Island in Louisiana. She was the daughter of Dudley Avery (1810-1879), who was the brother-in-law of Tabasco sauce inventor Edmund McIlhenny (1815-1890).
Their children included two sons: future Philadelphia mayor and U.S. Senator Joseph Sill Clark, Jr. and Avery B. Clark. They had at least three grandchildren: Joseph Jr.'s children Joseph S. Clark III and Noel (née Clark) Miller, and Avery's daughter Kate Avery Clark.
In 1955, Clark was inaugurated into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Clark died April 14, 1956, in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1882 - 1893
12
68
49
1889 - Bar Harbor Club (Open)
1887 - Lenox Tournament (Amateur)
1886 - Bar Harbor Club (Open)
1886 - Wentworth Invitation (Amateur)
1885 - Nahant Invitation Tournament (Amateur)
1885 - Young America Cricket Club Invitation (Amateur)
1885 - Canadian International Championships ()
1884 - Far and Near LTC Open Tournament (Amateur)
1883 - Longwood Bowl (Amateur)
1883 - Intercollegiate Spring Championships (Amateur)
1882 - New Jersey State Championships (Open)
1882 - Richfield Springs (Amateur)
Round 1
Charles Edward Sands 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-4
6-2
4-6
6-3
Round 1
Clarence Rhodes Budlong 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
3-6
6-2
2-6
8-6
6-3
Preliminary Round
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Quincy Adams Shaw Jr.
w.o.
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
B.E.B. Mitchell
6-4
6-1
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Henry Mortimer Billings Jr.
6-0
8-6
Semifinals
Henry Warner Slocum Jr. 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-4
6-4
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Ernest I. White
6-1
4-6
6-1
6-3
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Theodore Horton
6-0
6-1
6-3
Round 3
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
J.H. Hunt
6-4
6-2
6-4
Quarterfinals
Marmaduke Dudley Smith 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-1
6-0
6-4
Final
Marion Randolph Wright 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
4-6
6-3
6-3
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Frederick (Fred) W. Smith
6-2
6-4
6-0
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Henry Mortimer Billings Jr.
6-3
7-5
6-3
Round 3
Charles Amherst Chase 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
2-6
6-2
6-4
11-9
Challenge Round
Valentine Gill Hall 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
7-9
6-3
6-2
3-6
6-4
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
W.R. Weeden
6-3
7-5
6-4
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Samuel Thompson Chase
2-6
6-1
0-6
6-4
7-5
Quarterfinals
Oliver Samuel Campbell 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
10-12
7-5
6-3
6-3
Preliminary Round
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Deane B. Miller
6-4
6-4
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
T.L. Slade
6-3
6-1
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Robert Palmer Huntington Jr.
4-6
6-2
6-3
4-6
6-2
Challenge Round
Howard Augustus Taylor 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-1
6-4
6-3
Challenge Round
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Robert Livingston Beeckman
?
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Francis Laurens Vinton (Tracy) Hoppin
6-3
3-6
6-1
6-2
Round 2
Henry Warner Slocum Jr. 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-2
6-3
6-2
Preliminary Round
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Deane B. Miller
6-3
6-0
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Charles Prentice Howland
6-4
6-1
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
D. Folsom
6-5
6-2
Semifinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Oliver Samuel Campbell
6-2
6-4
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Henry Warner Slocum Jr.
6-2
6-3
6-4
Challenge Round
Howard Augustus Taylor 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-8
6-1
1-6
6-3
6-3
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Quincy Adams Shaw Jr.
8-6
6-3
8-6
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Fred Mansfield
3-6
6-2
6-8
6-1
6-4
Semifinals
Henry Warner Slocum Jr. 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-8
6-4
6-3
6-3
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Richard W. Stevens
6-4
6-3
6-4
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Edward Peale MacMullen
3-6
4-6
6-1
6-5
6-1
Semifinals
Howard Augustus Taylor 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-5
5-6
6-3
6-3
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Philip Shelton Sears
6-1
6-3
2-6
6-8
7-5
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
T.L. Edgar
6-0
6-1
6-1
Round 3
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Godfrey Malbone Brinley
6-0
6-4
6-3
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Henry Warner Slocum Jr.
1-6
6-5
6-5
6-2
Semifinals
Howard Augustus Taylor 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-5
6-2
6-3
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Robert Livingston Beeckman
6-2
1-6
8-6
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Alexander Moffat
7-5
1-6
6-3
Semifinals
Wallace Percy Knapp 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-4
6-3
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Alfred Edwin Plummer
6-2
6-1
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Alexander Monro Grier
6-4
6-4
Semifinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
William Edward Glyn
6-1
10-8
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Isidore Frederick Hellmuth
6-3
3-6
6-1
6-2
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
W. Trimble
6-3
6-0
Quarterfinals
Richard Dudley Sears 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-0
6-5
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
W.P. Metcalfe
6-2
6-0
Round 3
Howard Augustus Taylor 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
3-6
6-2
7-5
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
G.W. Green
6-2
6-5
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
W.B. Merriman
6-0
6-2
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
A.T. Greenough
6-4
6-0
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Richard Field Conover
6-3
7-5
0-6
6-3
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Mr. Barker
6-4
6-2
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
James Brown
6-3
6-1
Quarterfinals
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
G.W. Beals
6-1
6-0
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
James Dwight
6-4
6-3
5-7
6-4
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
George Sargent
6-1
6-1
Round 1
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
T.M. Brown
6-3
6-0
Round 2
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
Mr. Baillie
6-3
6-0
Round 3
James Dwight 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-1
6-0
Unknown
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
E.K. Butler
3-6
6-2
6-1
Quarterfinals
Crawford Allen Nightingale 1 *
Joseph Sill Clark
6-2
1-6
6-3
Final
Joseph Sill Clark 1 *
A.C. Denniston
?