Karl Howell
Behr jr
Male
United States of America
1885-05-30
Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
1949-10-15
New York, United States of America
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Behr
Karl Howell Behr was born the son of Herman Behr and Grace (née Howell) Behr of New York City. He was the brother of Max H. Behr, the famous golfer. Karl Behr was educated at Lawrenceville School and attended Yale University and was admitted to the bar association in 1910. While at Yale he also played on the ice hockey team for three years.
Behr married Helen Monypeny Newsom on March 1, 1913, at the Church of the Transfiguration in New York City. The couple had four children together: Karl H. Behr Jr. (1914-2002), Peter Howell Behr (1915-1997), James Howell Behr (1920-1976), and Sally Howell Behr (later Mrs Samuel Leonard Pettit) (1928-1995). After her husband’s death, Helen remarried one of his best friends and former tennis partners, Dean Mathey.
Behr gave up a career in law, instead turning to banking. He was vice-president of Dillon, Read & Co. and sat on the board of the Fisk Rubber Company, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and the National Cash Register Company. At the time of his death, he was a director of the Inter-chemical Corporation, the Behr-Manning Corporation of Troy, New York, and the Witherbee Sherman Corporation. His clubs included the Downtown, University and Yale, and the Saint Nicholas Society.
In 1912, Behr booked first-class passage on board RMS Titanic in pursuit of fellow first class passenger Helen Newsom, who was a friend of Behr’s sister. Behr occupied cabin C-148 during the voyage. Sometime after the ship hit the iceberg, Behr met up with Helen, her mother and stepfather, Richard and Sallie Beckwith, and another couple, Edwin and Gertrude Kimball, on the boat deck. Under the watch of Third Officer Herbert Pitman, the group gathered around Lifeboat 5.
Gertrude Kimball asked Joseph Bruce Ismay if all of their group could enter the boat. Ismay replied, “Of course, madam, every one of you.” As a result, Behr and his friends were rescued in lifeboat 5, the second boat to leave the ship. After the rescue, several newspapers reported that Behr had proposed to Miss Newsom in the lifeboat.
While aboard the rescue ship, RMS Carpathia, Behr and several other passengers, including Molly Brown, organized and formed a committee to honour the bravery of Carpathia’s captain, Arthur Rostron, and the ship’s crew. They later presented an inscribed silver cup to Rostron, and medals to each of the ship’s 320 crew.
With Beals Wright, Behr had been runner-up in the men’s doubles at the 1907 Wimbledon Championships, losing to Norman Brookes and Tony Wilding in three sets, 4-6, 4-6, 2-6. He reached the No. 3 U.S. ranking in both 1907 and 1914.
Behr continued his tennis career after the sinking of Titanic, and was named to the 1914 U.S. Davis Cup team along with fellow survivor Richard Norris Williams II. However, Behr, who played on the 1907 U.S. Davis Cup, did not play in the 1914 Davis Cup Challenge Round against Australasia at Forest Hills. In 1915, he defeated Maurice McLoughlin, the world’s no. 1 ranked player at the time, in straight sets, 8-6, 7-5, 7-5, to win the tournament in Seabright, New Jersey.
Karl Behr died of cancer at his home on 15 October 1949, aged 64. He was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown, New Jersey. He was posthumously honoured by the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969.
1903 - 1920
1
78
55
1909 - Bergen County (Open)
Final
Frederick C. (Fred) Anderson 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-4
0-6
6-2
2-6
6-2
Round 1
Clyde James Curley 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
w.o.
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Gustave Adolphe Léon Dionne
6-4
2-6
6-0
Round 2
Charles Stedman (Chuck) Garland 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-2
6-4
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Conrad Bartling (Connie) Doyle
2-6
2-6
6-2
6-4
6-4
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
James Weber
6-2
6-3
6-2
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Edward Penniman Larned
6-4
6-2
6-1
Round 4
Robert Lindley Murray 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-4
6-3
3-6
9-7
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Harry C. Martin
6-1
6-3
8-6
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
G.W. Phillips
6-0
6-3
6-4
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Robert Leroy jr
4-6
6-4
6-4
6-4
Round 4
Bill Johnston 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
3-6
6-3
6-2
7-5
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
N.M. Vose
6-2
6-0
6-1
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Olin John Sweet
6-0
6-3
6-1
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Robert Leroy jr
6-2
6-4
2-6
-63
Round 4
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Robert Lindley Murray
3-6
6-2
7-5
3-6
8-6
Quarterfinals
Dick Williams jr 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-1
6-2
7-5
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Edgar Welch Leonard
w.o.
Round 2
Rowland (Roy) Hazard III 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
w.o.
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
S.R. Smith
6-1
6-2
6-3
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Alfred D. Hammett
6-2
8-6
6-4
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
V.D. Ward
6-3
6-2
6-2
Round 4
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Charles Stanley Rogers
7-5
6-4
6-4
Quarterfinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
George Church
6-2
6-2
6-0
Semifinals
Wallace Johnson 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
4-6
6-0
6-3
6-2
Preliminary Round
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Richard W. Stevens
6-4
4-6
6-4
6-4
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Robert P. Schwengers
6-0
6-1
6-3
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Walter Merrill Hall
6-3
4-6
6-2
6-0
Round 3
Raymond Little 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-0
10-8
6-8
1-6
6-4
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
William D. Bourne
6-2
6-0
6-1
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
N. Wadsworth
6-4
1-6
6-2
6-1
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Charles Edward Sands
w.o.
Round 4
William Jackson Clothier 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
2-6
6-2
6-3
6-4
Preliminary Round
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
bye
Round 1
George Olds Wagner 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
w.o.
Preliminary Round
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Benjamin M. Phillips
w.o.
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Walter V. Bennett
9-7
6-3
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
William Rosenbaum
6-0
6-2
Quarterfinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Raymond Little
6-1
6-4
Semifinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Otto Helmuth Hinck
6-3
6-1
Final
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Edward Penniman Larned
6-1
6-4
6-3
Preliminary Round
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
bye
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
S.N. Carr
w.o.
Round 2
Reverend H.J. Rendall 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
0-6
6-2
6-2
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Theodore Mavrogordato
6-2
6-8
6-4
6-4
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Henry Wilson-Fox
6-2
6-2
6-4
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
John Rendall
6-2
9-7
4-6
6-3
Round 4
Norman Brookes 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-4
6-2
2-6
3-6
6-1
Round 1
Richard Holkins (lefty) Palmer 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-3
4-6
4-6
6-2
8-6
Poule
Norman Brookes 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
4-6
6-4
6-1
6-2
Poule
Tony Wilding 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
1-6
6-3
3-6
7-5
6-3
Round 1
Robert Harry Hotham 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
w.o.
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Cyril Hatch
w.o.
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Bill Larned
6-4
6-4
7-5
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Henry J. Holt jr
6-3
6-2
6-3
Round 4
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
E.V. Page
6-0
6-3
6-3
Quarterfinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Robert Leroy jr
1-6
6-4
6-3
6-3
Semifinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Raymond Little
2-6
6-2
6-8
11-9
6-4
Final
William Jackson Clothier 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-2
6-4
6-2
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Godfrey Lowell Cabot
6-3
6-0
6-1
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
G.F. Wales
6-4
6-2
6-1
Round 4
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Roosevelt Pell jr
7-5
7-9
6-1
6-4
Quarterfinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Irving Christian Wright
9-7
6-4
6-3
Semifinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Frederick George Anderson
6-3
6-2
6-0
Final
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
William Jackson Clothier
6-1
8-6
6-4
Challenge Round
Bill Larned 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
8-6
3-6
6-2
6-3
Unknown
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Elliott Middleton
6-3
6-3
Quarterfinals
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Walter T. Hayes
6-3
6-2
Semifinals
Raymond Little 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-4
7-5
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Ward C. Burton
6-1
6-3
6-1
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
W.K. Mueller
6-0
6-2
6-2
Round 4
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Craig Biddle
6-1
6-0
6-4
Quarterfinals
Bill Larned 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-2
6-1
6-1
Round 1
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Albert Leonard Hoskins
6-2
7-5
9-7
Round 2
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
Ogden Mills jr
w.o.
Round 3
Karl Howell Behr jr 1 *
S.C. Whipple
6-8
6-1
6-0
6-2
Round 4
William Jackson Clothier 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
5-7
6-2
6-2
6-3
Round 2
E.A. Freshman 1 *
Karl Howell Behr jr
6-1
6-3
4-6
3-6
6-2