Role Tennis player Grand slams won (singles) 2 | Wimbledon SF (1924) Parents Duane Williams Name R. Williams Education Harvard University | |
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Full name Richard Norris Williams II Born January 29, 1891Geneva, Switzerland ( 1891-01-29 ) Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand) Highest ranking No. 2 (1916, Karoly Mazak) Olympic medals Tennis at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Mixed doubles Similar People | ||
Int. Tennis HoF 1957 (member page) | ||
Richard "Dick" Norris Williams II (January 29, 1891 – June 2, 1968), generally known as R. Norris Williams, was an American tennis player and RMS Titanic survivor.
Contents
Biography
Williams was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Philadelphia parents Charles Duane Williams, a direct descendant from Benjamin Franklin, and Lydia Biddle White. He was tutored privately at a Swiss boarding school and spoke fluent French and German. He started playing tennis at age 12, mainly under the guidance of his father.
Tennis career
In 1911 Williams won the Swiss Championship. A year later he entered Harvard and became the intercollegiate tennis champion in singles (1913, 1915) and doubles (1914, 1915).
He is best known for his two men's singles titles at the U.S. Championships in 1914 and 1916. He was also on the victorious American Davis Cup team twice: in 1925 and 1926 and was considered a fine doubles player. He also had a reputation in singles of always hitting as hard as possible and always trying to hit winners near the lines. This made him an extremely erratic player, but when his game was sporadically "on", he was considered unbeatable.
Williams was ranked World No. 2 for 1916 by Karoly Mazak, and World No. 4 in 1923 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph.
During the 1924 Olympics, at the age of 33 (and with a sprained ankle), Richard Norris Williams became a Gold Medalist in the mixed doubles, partnering Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman. He went on to captain several winning Davis Cup teams from 1921 through 1926 as well as the 1934 team. At age 44 he retired from Championship Tennis.
He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (Newport, Rhode Island) in 1957.
RMS Titanic
Williams also gained fame as being a survivor of the RMS Titanic disaster in April 1912. He and his father, Charles Duane Williams, were traveling first class on the liner when it struck an iceberg and sank. Shortly after the collision, Williams freed a trapped passenger from a cabin by breaking down a door. He was reprimanded by a steward, who threatened to fine him for damaging White Star Line property, an event that inspired a scene in James Cameron's film Titanic (1997). Williams remained on the doomed liner almost until the very end. At one point Williams' father tried to get a steward to fill his flask. The flask was given to Williams and remains in the Williams family.
After being washed overboard by a wave that also took off Colonel Archibald Gracie and Second Officer Charles Lightoller, along with several others, the 21-year-old Williams made his way to the Collapsible A Lifeboat holding on to its side for quite a while before getting in. When Williams entered the water he was wearing a fur coat which he quickly discarded along with his shoes. Those in Collapsible A who survived were transferred to Lifeboat 14 by Fifth Officer Harold Lowe. Although abandoned by RMS Carpathia, Collapsible A was recovered a month later. On board the lifeboat was the discarded fur coat which was returned to Williams by White Star.
Even after entering the lifeboat he spent several hours knee-deep in freezing water. Carpathia arrived on the scene to rescue survivors. (His father was lost in the disaster.) The ordeal left his legs so severely frostbitten that the Carpathia's doctor wanted to amputate them. Williams, who did not want his tennis career to be cut short, opted instead to work through the injury by simply getting up and walking around every two hours, around the clock. The choice worked out well for him: later that year, he won his first U.S. Tennis Championship, in mixed doubles, and went on to win many more championships including the Davis Cup with fellow survivor Karl Behr.
It was not until after the publication of A Night to Remember (1955), a book about the Titanic disaster, that Williams became acquainted with its author Walter Lord. In 1962, Williams met with Lord and gave a detailed account of the sinking. Although it has been reported that his father, among others, was crushed by the falling forward smokestack, and that he barely escaped that fate, Williams does not mention that in his talk with Lord.
Military service, business career, historical society
Williams served in the United States Army during World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor. After the war he continued playing championship tennis.
Williams, also a noted Philadelphia investment banker, was President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Death
Richard Norris Williams died of emphysema on June 2, 1968, aged 77 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.