Joe Becknell, an Atlanta tennis teaching professional, senior national champion and member of the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame, died Monday. He was 86.
Richard Howell, a long-time friend and chairman of the Hall of Fame, confirmed the news.
Becknell began teaching tennis in 1966, when he became assistant teaching pro at Atlanta’s Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. He retired in 2007 after many years at the Carl Sanders Family YMCA in Buckhead but continued to teach part-time, in latter years using a walker on the court.
Becknell began playing tennis seriously only as an adult but quickly became one of the city’s best. Once a baseball pitcher at Mercer and an expert table-tennis player, he started playing his new sport daily, honing his game with senior tennis players at Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, including Bitsy Grant himself.
“I learned a lot sitting at the bleachers at court one watching them play,’’ Becknell said in a 1996 AJC interview. “They were a good example of you didn’t have to hit the ball hard.’’
Credit: Becknell family
Credit: Becknell family
In 1966, at age 28, Becknell played 1963 Wimbledon champion Chuck McKinley in the Atlanta Invitational and won the first set 6-0. McKinley rallied to win 0-6, 6-0, 6-4. Becknell won the Atlanta City Open in 1968.
Becknell once said his biggest tennis thrill was winning the Georgia State Open’s 35-and-over men’s doubles in 1977 with Bobby Dodd, the former Georgia Tech football coach. Becknell was 39 while Dodd was 68. That got them a place in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” feature.
From 1992 to 1996, Becknell won four USTA Men’s Clay Court doubles titles in the 50 and 55 divisions with partner John Skogstad.
“He was one of the most beloved, if not the most beloved, of anyone in the history of Bitsy Grant (Tennis Center)‚’’ Howell said. “Everybody liked him. All the players, from the best player to the worst or the most cocky to the most humble, always liked Joe Beck.’’
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at H.M. Patterson & Son-Oglethorpe Hill Chapel preceded by a 10 a.m. visitation.
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