Frank Conner

Frank Conner (January 11, 1946, Vienna, Austria) was an American professional golfer and amateur tennis player who, along with the all-time tennis great Ellsworth Vines, is the only man to have ever played in the national Open championships of both sports. It is arguable which of the two was the better golfer: both of them played for a number of years on the Professional Golfers of America Tour. Vines won at least one PGA event and had a number of high finishes; Conner had a number of second-place finishes on the PGA Tour and won two events on the official Nationwide Tour but never an actual PGA tournament. Vines, of course, was a far greater tennis player, being the World No. 1 player for four years in the 1930s. Although a fine amateur tennis player, Conner never won a major tournament and, in the three years he entered what was then called the United States National Championships, he lost twice in the first round and once in the second round; Vines had won the same championship two years in a row before turning professional.

Until the introduction of Open Tennis in 1968, the United States National Championships were amateur events sanctioned by the United States Lawn Tennis Association and for many years were played at the West Side Tennis Tennis at Forest Hills in the Queens borough of New York City. Vines won the event in 1931 and 1932; as a young amateur Conner played at the same venue from 1965 through 1967. He lost his first-round match in 1965 to Jim Osborne 4-6, 4-6, 4-6. The next year he lost his first-round match to John Powless 4-6, 3-6, 4-6. His final year, he beat xx Cooper in the first round 6-2, 5-7, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, then lost a close second-round match to Australian Ray Keldie 6-3, 6-0, 3-6, 2-6, 5-7 after having won the first two sets.