The Life and Times of Art "Tappy" Larsen

[johnyandell]

Let's get your thoughts on Gardnar Mulloy's "The Life and Times of Art "Tappy" Larsen"!

[klacr]

The stories are always rich from Gardnar!
I've heard the name Art Larsen before but admittedly do not know anything about the guy. Seems like a real character. The tapping sounds like it could be diagnosed as OCD but back then they just thought it was "weird". I won't even begin to assess and diagnose the imaginary eagle.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Lugano, Switzerland

[don_budge]

The Balance…the Eagle and the Babes

I won't even begin to assess and diagnose the imaginary eagle.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Lugano, Switzerland

Every one needs to have a secret friend. In his case he couldn't have enough. Don't forget the multiple women…whereas the Obsessive/Compulsive behavior may be deemed to be "weird" the thing with the women I find to be entirely healthy.

One may be a byproduct of the other…the eagle being a masculine entity needed to balance the oestrogen of Art's "Babes".

Gardnar Mulloy is a rich individual in terms of character and having lived a life. I love the old guys. Their is much to be gleamed from the stories…from their demeanor. There is much to be learned from them and in turn it is only proper that we show them the richly deserved respect they have coming to them.

I wonder if Art was "tapping" on the Babes. As strange as Art Larsen's ticks may have appeared to others back then…today they can be viewed in a different light. This is the perspective of time and serves as a warning to not be to hasty to judge others…just because they are different. It seems in spite of his seemingly somewhat offbeat behavior he was an appealing person. He reminds me of someone that I know.

They may only be hearing a different drummer and marching to a different beat. Besides…Art was left handed. He sees things as if looking into the looking glass. You must cut him some slack.

[klacr]

Every one needs to have a secret friend. In his case he couldn't have enough. Don't forget the multiple women…whereas the Obsessive/Compulsive behavior may be deemed to be "weird" the thing with the women I find to be entirely healthy.

One may be a byproduct of the other…the eagle being a masculine entity needed to balance the oestrogen of Art's "Babes".

Gardnar Mulloy is a rich individual in terms of character and having lived a life. I love the old guys. Their is much to be gleamed from the stories…from their demeanor. There is much to be learned from them and in turn it is only proper that we show them the richly deserved respect they have coming to them.

I wonder if Art was "tapping" on the Babes. As strange as Art Larsen's ticks may have appeared to others back then…today they can be viewed in a different light. This is the perspective of time and serves as a warning to not be to hasty to judge others…just because they are different. It seems in spite of his seemingly somewhat offbeat behavior he was an appealing person. He reminds me of someone that I know.

They may only be hearing a different drummer and marching to a different beat. Besides…Art was left handed. He sees things as if looking into the looking glass. You must cut him some slack.

Nothing wrong with multiple women. The key is to make sure they don't know each other.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Copenhagen, Denmark

[stotty]

I think Tappy may have had some quite serious issues that perhaps he never overcame. War is a terrible thing and can seriously mess young men up. Veterans over here often have trouble fitting in once there time is served, and many turn to alcohol and suffer mental health problems. At least Tappy had tennis to turn to which must have been a good thing for him after the war. He was also a good looking man which was another good asset.

Despite his success with women, I don't think he ever married. I wonder what he did for a living after the accident?

[johnyandell]

So far as I could tell, nothing. Maybe some of those women took care of him? Disability? Who knows?

When I started teaching at Golden Gate Park in 1979, there were a myriad of world class players and even more world class characters. This one older dude, blond, about 40 pounds overweight, hung out all day. He wore loud non matching patterned double knit jackets and slacks and wide ties.

One day when I was in the pro shop, he pulled a Jack Kramer out from under the jacket and banged off 10 perfect swinging forehand volleys against the wall inside the club house. The balls all hit in about a 2 square inch area. He didn't say a word, just nodded, put the racket back under his jacket and walked off.

It was Art Larsen.

[kenh]

In the late 70's I was playing some tournaments in the SF area and was practicing at Golden Gate Park courts. there were 4 middle age men playing doubles on a nearby court. None of them looked much better than a solid club player as I watched them a bit out of the corner of my eye. One player had a golden warm-up suite on with a little grease on the leg of the pants. His hair also looked a little greasy and slicked back up on the sides. (I think we used to call them fenders) He walked with a limp. His opponent threw up a good deep lob that would have beaten a lot of good young players and this guy hobbled back deep into the court, scissor kicked, and knocked the cr*p out of the ball with a big time overhead. I thought what the heck was that? Where did that come from? It was huge. I asked someone and they told me that player was Tappy Larson. I was so fortunate to see one of the legends of the game still out playing when all the bright lights and stardom had gone.