November, 2006
NED WELD, KING OF A COURT OF RED CLAY

Jam-packed with about 200 uproarious witnesses, Longwood Cricket Club's veranda shook with partisan fervor as a couple of local youths on the court below - Harvardians Ned Weld of Weston and Paul Sullivan of Belmont - battled a pair of Mexican Davis Cuppers in the US Doubles Championships.

It was 1960, a first rounder that drew attention away from the stadium. At last, after 5 hot sets, Longwood members Weld and Sullivan beat 6th seeded Tonino Palafox and Joaquin Reyes, and many a glass was raised to them in the standing-room-only crush. Rarely did home-grown types make such an impression in the international tourney.

Weld and Sullivan were amused to learn that, while the crowd applauded them, the tournament director, John Bottomley, frowned.

"I didn't know whether to cheer or boo," laughed Bottomley. He had given the losers air fare from Mexico City plus a week's hotel lodging, a costly deal in that amateur time. "I can see Weld and Sullivan out here any day but Palafox and Reyes would have sold some tickets for me. I hope they enjoy their hotel."

Edward Winsor Weld, 69 when he died Nov. 19 of cardiac arrest at his Weston home, seldom played where tickets were sold. A man with a job in securities, he cruised the demanding New England amateur tennis circuit, made up primarily of clay court weekend tournaments where playing two and three singles matches a day (then some doubles) wasn't unusual. Soon after captaining a standoutg Harvard team and graduating in 1959, he began to make our province his fiefdom.

Husky, quick, determined, indefatigable, he was a grindstone in wearing down foes. For the better part of two decades Ned was the man to beat in these parts. Few did. He won the New England Championship a record 11 times, the first in 1963, the last at 41 in 1978.

Arthritic hips ended his tennis career. A friend and opponent, tennis coach Dick Ernst said, "Ned was a paragon of hard work. He outlasted everybody, and was a true sportsman. He might have won more than a hundred singles titles, but nobody was keeping track. One of his opponents said that playing Ned was like wrestling a bear."

For 15 years he was either the No. 1 or No. 2 in the sectional rankings -- No. 1 seven times. Occasionally venturing beyond the section, Weld held US rankings of Nos. 45-36-49 in 1964-65-67, and was named to the New England Hall of Fame in 1990. He won the US 35s Doubles with Mike Green in 1974.

During three winning varsity years for the Crimson (49-6), his personal marks were 45-6 in singles, 38-10 in doubles, including an unbeaten sophomore year in singles (13-0). These accomplishments earned him a place in the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1983. Therein he joined his father, Walter Weld, honored for soccer in 1916.

Vermont poet Jerry Johnson, a rival and friend, penned these lines in tribute:

Tennis with New England's King on a court of red clay-
that man, for endless summers, has kept us all at bay.
He will run you to the left, crosscourt you to the right,
place a delicate dropper your racquet will not bite.

He is the man, you see-this Ned, The Lion-Hearted-
nightmares for his rivals who wish they had not started.
There is no defense with wily Weld across the net-
the balls keep coming back and for him to quit, don't bet.

Born Feb. 20, 1937, in Boston, he leaves a sister, Mary Alexander of San Diego, two brothers, Walter Weld of Dover and Alexander Weld of Weston, and a host of admirers along New England's tennis trail.

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