BB.lv: From the Titanic to the court. Stories of tennis players who escaped from a sinking ship

PLAY TO THE LAST

American tennis player Richard Norris Williams was born into a wealthy family. He received a good education and grew up in excellent conditions. At the age of 12, he began playing tennis and traveled around the world to various competitions with his father. One of these trips turned into a drama for the athlete.

The family decided to return to America from the tournament on the Titanic. A father and his 21-year-old son bought first-class tickets to a new ship that was much talked regarding at the time. On the night of the tragedy, the men at first did not understand what had happened, and at that moment, when the ship was already taking on water, they visited a bar and then a gym. Like many other passengers, the Williamses did not believe until recently that the Titanic might sink.

Only when the situation became critical did the men come to their senses. Mostly women and children were taken onto the lifeboats. To survive, many jumped into the icy water and there looked for some chance of salvation. My father didn’t make it: following the jump, he was crushed by the liner’s pipe, which collapsed into the water. His son was saved by a deep dive, which allowed Richard to navigate a dangerous area of ​​debris underwater. “In tennis, my father taught me to never give up and play until the last point. I acted the same way that night. I was lucky to find a badly damaged lifeboat barely floating on the surface,” Williams later wrote in his memoirs.

Together with him, there were regarding 30 other people on this boat, but in the end only 11 of them survived, the rest died of the cold while waiting for rescue; there was a lot of ice water in the boat. Richard was in a depressing state following being rescued. He lost consciousness and his legs were severely frostbitten. Doctors on the ship Carpathia, which was the first to arrive to help the survivors of the Titanic, intended to amputate his legs to save his life, but Williams did not give his consent.

The tennis player began to independently disperse the frozen blood in his legs, walking along the deck of the ship every two hours day and night, barely moving his legs. Surprisingly, when the ship arrived in America, Richard was already moving quite confidently. He managed not only to recover and completely return to normal life, but also to become a real sports star. He has won such prestigious tournaments as the US Open, Davis Cup, and Wimbledon. Also in 1924, he became an Olympic champion in mixed doubles with Hazel Hotchkiss-Whiteman. After finishing his sports career, he found himself in the financial sector. Richard Williams lived to be 77 years old.

LOVE AND GUILT

Another passenger on the Titanic was American tennis player Karl Baer. He went on a voyage on the Titanic because he fell in love with his sister’s friend, Helen Newsom. He even wanted to marry her, but the girl’s family did not approve of their relationship, so her parents decided to take Helen with them on a grand tour of Europe. This was done in order to separate the couple for a long time. When Karl found out regarding this, he changed his business schedule and joined his lover. After their European adventure, they decided to return to America together on the “unsinkable ship.”

During the shipwreck, Karl helped Helen and her family get to the lifeboats. The man planned to start rescuing other passengers, but Helen asked her beloved to also get into the boat, because it was filled mainly with physically weak people, there was simply no one to row. Karl agreed and following a long time he reproached himself for this – it seemed to him that people considered this act to be cowardice.

After returning home, Baer lost sleep – he was tormented by phobias and a feeling of guilt towards those whom the ocean had taken. He needed the help of a psychotherapist; he even stayed in a mental hospital. The athlete’s love for Helen helped him cope with his illness. But Karl really felt better when he returned to the court. “Only on the court did I feel free. Therefore, each time I forced the demons lurking outside the court to wait for me longer,” the tennis player sneered.

Karl married Helen, they had four children, and he became a successful lawyer. In his free time, he played tennis and even achieved success at a high level. For example, in 1915 he won a tournament in New Jersey. And before that he became a quarterfinalist at the US Open. Ironically, he lost to Richard Williams in that tournament. They formed a strong friendship following both survived the Titanic disaster.

Karl Baer died at the age of 64 from cancer. He, like Williams, is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.