Bernard Peter (Bernie)
Schwengers
Male
Canada
1880-05-26
Surrey, England
1947-12-06
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Bernard Schwengers grew up playing on the courts of the Vancouver Lawn Tennis Club. He was a three-time champion at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis event in both singles and doubles. He was the singles champion in 1900 and 1906 as well as the doubles champion in 1906. During this time, he was also competing at the Victoria Lawn Tennis Club Championship and won the singles event in 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910 and 1914, and the doubles in 1901 and 1907.
Schwengers tended to play events on the west coast, but he did travel to Ontario and Quebec for the big events, including the Quebec provincial open, which he won in 1911. He was also four-time champion at the British Columbia Open in 1907, 1908, 1910 and 1914 and a two-time doubles champion, 1906, 1907. He also won the pacific North-west Championship five consecutive years from 1909-1913.
Schwengers was an asset on the 1913 and 1914 Canadian Davis Cup team as he played both singles and doubles. In 1913, the team faced-off against South Africa and they were counting on Schwengers in both singles and doubles. He lost his first singles match, but came back and won his doubles with R.B. Powell in a close four-set match. He then won his singles match to up the final score to 4-1 over South Africa.
Canada played two more ties that year, the first was against Belgium and Schwengers again proved why he was an asset to the team and why ?the 1913 team was considered one of the Best Davis Cup teams Canada has ever produced? (BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum). Canada topped Belgium 5-0 and Schwengers was responsible for three of the five wins. He captured his first singles match in straight sets and his second match in four. He competed with Powell again in doubles and the two defeated Watson and W.H. Du Vivier in three-sets.
?Bernie Schwengers, whom Al Stevenson, Tennis B.C.?s most illustrious historian, calls the greatest all-round athlete the province ? or the nation ? has ever produced. Schwengers? record of achievements certainly lends credibility to that claim. He had signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, played a superb rugby and soccer game, and even had his photo appear in Sandow?s Muscle Magazine, the Gentleman?s Quartely of the period.? (Peter Ustinov, Advantage Canada)
1900 - 1914
9
65
49
1914 - British Columbia Championship (Open)
1912 - Canadian International Championships ()
1911 - Canadian International Championships ()
1911 - Province of Quebec Championships (Open)
1910 - British Columbia Championship (Open)
1908 - British Columbia Championship (Open)
1908 - Mainland Championships (Amateur)
1907 - British Columbia Championship (Open)
1907 - Mainland Championships (Amateur)
Poule
Norman Brookes 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-2
6-3
6-2
Poule
Tony Wilding 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
7-5
6-3
6-1
Round 1
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
H.C. Keefer
6-2
6-1
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Alexis F.R. Martin
w.o.
Round 3
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
F.L. Baker
6-2
6-4
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Henry van Dyke Johns Jr
6-2
6-4
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
M.G. Rowcroft
6-1
6-2
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Henry Cushman Breck
6-2
6-1
6-4
Challenge Round
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler
w.o.
Poule
Victor Gauntlett 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
11-9
6-3
6-0
Poule
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Reginald Frederick Le Sueur
6-3
6-3
6-3
Poule
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
A. Georges Watson
6-4
6-1
6-0
Poule
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Paul de Borman
4-6
6-4
6-2
6-2
Round 1
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Claude Saville Grace
6-3
6-2
2-6
4-6
8-6
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Roderick McNair
4-6
7-5
6-1
6-2
Round 3
Arthur Gore 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-1
6-3
4-6
11-9
Poule
Dick Williams jr 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-4
6-2
6-4
Round 1
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
bye
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Edward Bertram Spafford
6-1
6-4
6-0
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Clunie Saint Clair Miller
6-3
6-1
6-3
Semifinals
Tony Wilding 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-2
6-1
7-5
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
L.B. Buchanan
6-1
6-1
Round 3
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Beverly Alan Rhodes
6-1
6-3
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Arthur Ewart Jukes
6-3
7-5
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Elia Francis Fottrell
6-3
8-6
Final
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-3
3-6
4-6
6-3
6-3
Challenge Round
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler
6-2
3-6
6-3
7-5
Challenge Round
F.N. McCartney 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
w.o.
Round 1
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Malcolm Bonnell
7-5
6-1
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Reginald Tait Gaunt
?
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Frank Reinier Duminy
10-8
6-3
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Robert Baird
13-11
6-2
6-4
Challenge Round
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
w.o.
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Col. Frederick Henry Wickham Guard
6-2
6-1
6-1
Challenge Round
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
D.S. Montgomery
6-1
6-3
Round 3
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Ray W. Thompson
6-1
6-1
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Edward Herbert John Cardinall
6-2
1-6
7-5
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Conrad Peter William Schwengers
6-4
6-4
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Francis J. Marshall
6-2
5-7
6-1
6-2
Challenge Round
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler
6-1
2-6
6-3
3-6
6-4
Challenge Round
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
3-6
6-4
2-6
6-4
6-3
Preliminary Round
Benjamin Franklin Nourse 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
w.o.
Challenge Round
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
R. Bruce-Smith
6-3
6-1
6-2
Round 1
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
bye
Round 2
Walter Alling Goss 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
w.o.
Round 3
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Edward G. Jordan
6-3
6-1
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
T.H. Bowden
6-2
6-2
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler
6-1
0-6
6-4
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Lewis Ransom Freeman
12-10
3-6
6-2
6-0
Round 1
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
D.H. McDougall
w.o.
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Major B.L. Muspratt-Williams
6-0
6-0
Quarterfinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Conrad Peter William Schwengers
w.o.
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Reuben Gay Hunt
6-4
6-4
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Albert Toller Goward
6-1
6-1
6-2
Challenge Round
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler
8-6
6-2
3-6
6-4
Semifinals
Final
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Frank T. Payne
6-2
6-1
3-6
10-8
Semifinals
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Albert Toller Goward
8-6
7-5
Final
Joseph Curtis (Joe) Tyler 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
5-7
6-4
6-4
1-6
6-4
Final
Captain P. Wight 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-4
6-4
2-6
6-2
Semifinals
Albert Toller Goward 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
2
sets
to
0
Round 2
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
P. Byrne
6-1
6-1
Round 3
Bernard Schwengers 1 *
Robert Henry Pooley
6-2
6-4
Quarterfinals
Robert Powell 1 *
Bernard Schwengers
6-2
6-4