Eugene L. Scott, 1937 - 2006

The passing of Tennis Week founder and publisher Eugene L. Scott has prompted an outpouring of love, support, condolences and tributes from Scott's friends, colleagues and readers.

Obituary (The New York Times)


If you'd like to post a tribute, please submit it here.

Cliff Kurtzman, Publisher and Editor-in-chief, Tennis Server
We are saddened by the loss of a pioneer in our industry, yet take homage in finding so very much to celebrate in his many accomplishments and the legacy he leaves behind. Tennis Week followed us onto the Internet in 1997, adding its voice and great content to the "tennis web," and I remember receiving a "thank you" from Gene at the time. He will be missed.

Everyone at Wilson Racquet Sports
To our friends at Tennis Week and the entire Scott Family,

On behalf of everyone at Wilson Sporting Goods, it is with profound sadness that we extend our deepest sympathies and regret to learn of the passing of Gene Scott. The tennis world has truly lost one of its most celebrated and tireless advocates, and we join you in grieving the loss of this extraordinary individual.

As a lifelong ambassador for the sport, Gene left a unique and lasting imprint on the lives of all who knew him, and the void he leaves behind will be felt across every imaginable level of the tennis community. While everyone who had the privilege to know him will certainly have a cherished memory to recall, we at Wilson will always remember with great fondness our traditional “Super Show” dinners where Gene would inevitably end up holding court long into the evening. These gatherings were an annual highlight for us and will be sorely missed by all of his friends here.

Put simply, Gene Scott meant so much to so many. As a mentor, an icon, a friend and a dedicated family man, Gene achieved greatness in every aspect of his life. He was a man of unwavering character and vision who also served as the collective heart and conscience of the tennis industry. We extend our most sincere condolences and mourn the passing of one the truest friends the sport will ever know.

Mark Gonzalez - Alpha Racquet Sports
Indeed a sad day for the game of tennis! What a gentleman, what a player, and what a pioneer of the tennis media.
On behalf of our company we extend our sincere condolences to Mr. Scott's family and the entire staff at TennisWeek.

Ken Bunting, Associate Publisher, Seattle P-I; former USTA PNW board member
Since I only became a tennis fan in the 70s, I didn't know Gene as a player, only as a tennis journalist.
In that regard, he is not only top tenner in my estimation, he was No. 1.
Some of you oldsters may recall that when Gladys Heldman was publishing World Tennis magazine, she somehow worked a deal to have a Gene Scott column and another insert from TennisWeek in her magazine each month. I was always struck that it was, month after month, the best writing and the most interesting information in the World Tennis..

Jon Vegosen, Chairman, USTA Collegiate Committee
Gene Scott was a pillar of the tennis community; one of its most important voices. He challenged all of us to look at tennis from a different vantage point. He was a great friend of college tennis and recognized the vital role it plays in the sport. Gene's unparalleled knowledge, passion, boldness, wit, and grace will be sorely missed. With deepest sympathy to Gene's family and his friends and colleagues at Tennis Week.

Madeline Hauptman, President & Co-Inventor, PowerAngle Diagonal Rackets
Gene Scott was a veritable gentleman and a scholar. He was the pulse of tennis, and he will be sorely missed. I knew Gene for twenty years, and he always had a way of bringing out the best in people. PowerAngle is a small cog in the wheel of tennis, but Gene was always kind and made me feel welcome in the industry. One summer, he gave my daughter an internship in the art department at TennisWeek and enabled her to hone her computer graphic skills. His powerfully-written and eerie last column, Vantage Point, mentioned the word obituary twice. His own obituary, turns out, attests to what an amazingly full life he experienced. His family should be very proud of his accomplishments. My heart and prayers are with them. For sure, the tennis industry has lost one its most important icons, Gene Scott.

Madeline Hauptman, President & Co-Inventor
PowerAngle Diagonal Rackets
Scarsdale, New York

Wendell Niles, president of Niles International Productions and friend
Nelle and I were so shocked and saddened to hear of Gene's passing. It just doesn't seem possible that I won't be able to call Gene or have lunch with him when we're in New York. The last time we got together was about six months ago at "21" and Gene was his usual self. We had a lot of laughs about some of my celebrity tennis events that he had attended, especially in Monte Carlo where he had been a guest of mine. Gene added so much to any event he came to. My wife Nelle knew Gene going way back to the late '50s and early '60s when she worked at World Tennis for Gladys Heldman. She always enjoyed hanging out with him at all the Eastern tournaments. He was gracious, knowledgable about everything and just a lot of fun to be around. He will be greatly missed not only in the tennis world but as a friend. Our hearts go out to Polly and their children.

Alan Schwartz-Former USTA President
We served together in 1995-6 as the first ever members of the USTA board of directors who made a living in tennis.

With an incredible ability to convincingly enunciate a position and with a deft use of words, he forced all of us to rethink positions we routinely accepted as givens. There were no sacred cows for Gene.

Gene was a tennis renaissance man in every sense of the word. All tennis will miss him.

He leaves an unfillable void.

Alan Schwartz

Marguerita- friend, Tennis Week contributor
Gene become my friend since the day we met at Arthur Ashe's wedding.I always remember Gene coming over from the other end of the ballroom to talk to me.He gave me his business card .For quite a long time I was a contributor to Tennis Week with my drawings and caricatures.

I always made fun of him and I could see tears coming out of his eyes,with my series The Wasp & the Nice Jewish Girl.
Of course the wasps I was drawing,were insects as in other occasions when I created very funny and edgy caricatures for the newspaper's covers.

In 1997, Gene asked me to illustrate a book, written by his mother: "How Drew Came to Have a Baby Sister". We always corresponded and played with words. I will always remember Gene.He was one of my dearest friends. And I am very sad that he left us.
Marguerita

Victoria Odell, former Tennis Week staffer
My first job out of college was working for Gene at Tennis Week. It was an honor to have worked for such a brilliant, passionate, and well respected man. I am grateful to Gene for all the exciting and memorable opportunities he provided. Gene took care of his staff like a family. Even years after leaving Tennis Week you always knew you were welcome in the office or at his annual US Open Tennis Week party. I knew he was just a phone call or e-mail away if I ever needed anything. I last saw Gene at the 2005 US Open. I last heard from Gene about a month after the Open when we received a "Thank You" note for a small gift we sent him. He wrote that since we missed seeing Lucy and Sam at the Open he was including a recent photo of them. Enclosed was a beautiful photo of Gene, Polly, Lucy and Sam. He was so proud of his family. I miss you Gene and still can't believe you are gone. My sympathies to Polly, Lucy and Sam.

Amit Guha, CEO, Powerelief, a Tennis Week Advertiser.
I am really shocked! Gene represented truth and conscience. I was fortunate to meet with him several times and also spent long hours with him at various tennis events. He was highly sophisticated, truly intellectual, yet very humble. A gem of a person, a giant in heart, he was a source of inspiration to many of us. Gene was beyond tennis… he was different, and he was a rare individual. He truly had some influence in my business decisions. I still recall the day I first met him at the tennis club in the east Manhattan, and he will always be remembered. Gene, we will miss you. Our prayers and thoughts are with Polly, Luci and Sam. Ôm Peace!

Brooke Valenti, former Tennis Week employee
Eugene L. Scott brought so much to the court and to each and every tennis enthusiast. He set the bar high in the world and expected a great deal from people yet offered so very much in return! You will be missed and remembered by all for a lifetime.

Lisa Somermeier - Friend, Tennis Week Staffer, Tennis Consultant
There are givers and takers in tennis. Gene Scott was a king among men. He was the best friend tennis ever had. He was the "Giver". He was the guy Kipling described in "IF". He was pure. He was true. He loved the game.

With the exception of Arthur Ashe, most of their generation acted as the generations that came before, which was to take from our sport. Dollars got in their way. The greed for money and power overcame basic common sense. But not our Prince. Gene always did right. Given a fork in the road, Gene always chose the right path.

Gene was my constant for 40 years. He mentored me from the age of 12. I worked in all capacities for him. Before there was Tennis Week I worked for Sports Investors. You name the position, I did it. We were all blessed... Now I see Gene and ELLSworth and Bill Tilden and Fred Perry all playing on the most beautiful grass. What a fantasy doubles match! Vitas on a baseline, Arthur at the other baseline, Plimpton in the chair and Frank Hammond on the service line. White chalk flies in the breeze. I will think of Gene.......

Lisa Somermeier Consultant
Beverly Hills, CA

Maya Belyaeva, Octagon, Former Kremlin Cup staffer
First of all, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to Polly, Lucy and Sam. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this time. I am so terribly sorry.

The whole reason I work in tennis is because Gene hired me to the Kremlin Cup’s Moscow office nine years ago. It was the honor for me to be the part of his team and to be able to learn form the most knowledgeable and respectful person in our filed. I want to express my greatest appreciation for everything Gene helped me with and thank him for his trust in me.

The saddest word the human being knows will always be "goodbye". Goodbye Gene! You will always be in my heart! Thank you so much for giving me the chance to work with you! You will be greatly missed.

Susie Parish – Former Tennis Week/Kremlin Cup staffer
I was deeply saddened to learn of Gene’s sudden passing. I had the privilege of working for him at Tennis Week, the Kremlin Cup, and the President’s Cup. Amongst the many memories, I will always look back fondly on those special times in Moscow with Gene – like trips to the Bolshoi for some culture, late night dinners at the Radisson with the tournament crew of Vica, Merrill, Gene and me. Man, we had some great debates among that feisty group!

Most people would be happy in this world to be a great lawyer or a great tennis player or a great writer. Gene was each of those and more. I always admired him for how bright and talented he was. He was a great mentor and friend. I feel very fortunate for having known Gene and wish I had kept in better touch with him, as he deeply touched my life.

My sincerest sympathies to you, Polly, and your children.

skip schwarzman
I did not know Gene Scott, but as a young player in the late 60's I did know many players from the NYC area, and quite naturally I learned about Gene Scott and how they all respected him as a tough competitor.
I consider myself fortunate to be a long time subscriber to Tennis Week (with some lapses, mea culpa), and it's no exaggeration to say that today's tennis blogs and bloggers owe a huge debt to Vantage Point, and the USTA does, too. It may have been impossible to always agree with Gene Scott, but man, he was the only one bothering to print anything that cut to the core. I'll miss his voice. My condolences to his family.

Brad Falkner - The Tennis Channel, Tennis Week contributor
Though I read Gene's words for years, I only knew him personally for a few years and it seemed to me that Davis Cup ties always brought out the best in him.

In February of 2004 I was working on a story for the magazine and needed to attend the first round tie between the U.S. and Austria in Connecticut. I took the red-eye in from L.A., met up with the TW staff in the Rye office and in a caravan of cars we all drove up to Connecticut for the tie.

What I enjoyed most about the tennis that day was sitting next to Gene and Richard in the front row and watching Robbie Ginepri, in his first Davis Cup match, come back from a 0-2 deficit against Jurgen Melzer. In the time that I knew him, Gene would rarely sit and watch an entire match – he had too much energy and wanted to do too many things to sit in one spot like that – but he did sit with us for the entire match that day because it was a great comeback and because it was Davis Cup, which he loved so much. Gene was in top form and I’ll never forget him saying that Melzer had perfect legs for a tennis player. I was most impressed by what he did after the match.

Gene invited the entire TW staff to spend the weekend at his house in Connecticut. Friday was such a long day because of the matches and when they all got back to his house that night, he put on some music, poured some wine and they sat around like a family – the Tennis Week Family – together. When you were with him, Gene could make you feel a part of his family. He will always remain one of the most unique and powerful voices in tennis.

Brad Falkner
The Tennis Channel

Claudio Colucci - Match Point Tennis Magazine, Italy
I don't believe that there are words that would justly express the sadness of the loss.

While remembering the good memories of His legacy, our thoughts and prayers immediately rush to the sorrow of the ones left behind, the children, Lucy and Sam, Mrs. Polly Eastman Scott and brother Timothy Scott.

Andre, Kent, Richard, Carole, Bobbi, Selina, Terry and the rest of the TW crew are part of the immediate family and all of you are also on our mind. We in the tennis world count on you to keep the Legacy going.

Claudio Colucci
Match Point Tennis Magazine, Italy

Melissa Brown-Subin, Former Tennis week staffer and friend
Gene Scott is my American hero. He has impacted and touched more lives 'in and out' of the tennis world than anyone I know. Gene had intelligence, strength and power that made him a true leader.

Gene is a real friend. After guiding me through my professional tennis career, he gave me a wonderful opportunity to work at Tennis Week. I was so lucky and blessed to have Gene guide and support me through such a difficult lifestyle transition. He taught me about the world outside tennis. I thank him for helping me become the person I am today. I will always appreciate Gene and he will be in my heart forever

Gene's life will be celebrated for eternity.

My prayers and deepest sympathy for Polly and the children

Love always, Melissa

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