The History of St. Louis Tennis
Mark Winters
Butch Buchholz, whose given name was "Earl" and was a Jr., was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1940. Before Nick Bollettieri turned Bradenton, Florida into the tennis training/player development Promised Land and before Vic Braden and Robert Lansdorp did the same in Rolling Hills Estates, California, St. Louis made its mark.
And it was for much more than being the "Gate Way to the West" built by French traders (above the banks of the Mississippi River) and sold to the US in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The city was also the home of ragtime and St. Louis "Jump" Blues music, along with the Anheuser-Busch Brewery made famous by the signature Clydesdale horses.
Besides Buchholz, a 2005 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, and his brother Cliff, local tennis luminaries included another brother duo Bob and Chuck McKinley (a 1986 Hall of Fame honoree), along with Justina (née Brinka) Horwitz, Carol (née Hanks) Aucamp and Mary Ann (née Eisel) Beattie. Jimmy Connors, Ken and Doug Flach, Jimmy Parker, Renne Blount and Trey Waltke also used St. Louis to launch their tennis careers.
Earl Sr.
Butch's dad, Earl Buchholz Sr., was a tennis instructor at numerous tennis locations around the city. He did not drive a car. He bussed around town. Butch is credited with teaching more St. Louisans' tennis, by far, than anyone else.
