

From the Saturday clinic he conducts to this day, Jack Neer’s voice rings in my ears. “Jathan, move your feet!” “Get that toss up!” “Hit your second serve with the same motion – stop pushing the ball!”
Local tennis legend Jack Neer was born in Portland, OR on August 27, 1933. Coming from a family of athletes, he played several sports. He didn’t immediately fall in love with tennis. “My sister played,” he says, “and invited me to hit a few balls with her at Grant Park.” Things did not go well, at least according to his sister. “I preferred baseball at the time,” Jack says, “so I kept trying to hit the ball over the fence – home-run!” Thereafter, Jack’s sister found others to play tennis with.
Jack became serious about tennis at age 15. Never having had formal lessons, Jack relied on advice from “some of the old guys” at the Irvington Club where he played.
In 1951, he won the Oregon State High School Singles Championship. After a year at the University of Oregon, he transferred to the University of Portland, and was there for three years. During this time, he posted an eye-popping record in singles and doubles matches: 105 to zero. In the 1954-55 NCAA championships, he made it all the way to the quarterfinals. Along the way, he beat players from top tennis powerhouses such as UCLA. “They couldn’t believe they’d been beaten by someone from the University of Portland,” he chuckles. “The University of what!?”
After college, the Multnomah Club offered him a $500 stake to play on the eastern U.S. grass court tour. Tennis was officially amateur in those days. Players got tennis equipment and clothing and they got fed so long as they remained in the tournament. However, Jack notes that top players appeared to get compensated “off the record.”
After many hours traveling from Portland on a propeller plane, Jack arrived in Philadelphia, where he had the opportunity to play singles and doubles with some of the top players in the world, including Tony Trabert, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Vic Seixas and Roy Emerson.
For Jack, there was nothing fancy about traveling on this circuit. He didn’t have a car and had to hitch rides to each tournament. “The top players would stay in houses,” he says. “But for guys like me, it was bedding down on a squash court.” To stick around in the tournament and stay fed, Jack tried to play in all categories – singles, doubles and mixed doubles. He remembers a time when he lost in the second round. He shook his opponent’s hand and then sprinted to the snack bar. “I ordered a bunch of food before they took my name off of the list!”
Jack spent three years in the Air Force, playing tennis and being on the Air Force basketball team. He won the Air Force doubles title and made the finals in singles.
He happened to be at a squash court one day when someone he didn’t know asked if he wanted to play. Jack agreed and defeated the man. He turned out to be a brigadier general. Afterward, he said, “I want to make you my aide.”
They developed a lifelong friendship and the general ended up with three stars. When Jack’s term was up and he was ready to be discharged, the general tried to persuade him to remain in the Air Force as his aide in a broader capacity. But Jack was ready to come home.
Jack continued to play a lot in the northwest, winning the Oregon Men’s open singles championship eight times, and the Portland City Open 11 times. He also won four State of Washington championships. From 1967 to 1969, he was the top ranked player in the Pacific Northwest.
Jack continued to compete in senior events, including winning the Oregon Senior Championship 15 times, a Canadian National Senior Championship and the Nike World Championship in the age 65-plus group.
From time to time, he had opportunities to play exhibition matches with legends of the sport, including Pancho Gonzales, Tony Trabert, Margaret Smith Court, Maureen Connolly and Jimmy Connors.
Over time, tennis created travel opportunities for Jack (with improved accommodations over his early eastern grass court circuit experience.) This included a series of clinics he held and exhibition matches he played in 1977 in Saudi Arabia.
Jack’s professional playing career was ending around the time that tennis let go of the amateur notion and tournaments began offering prize money. Compared to Novak Djokovic’s career prize money earnings of $148 million, Roger Federer’s $130 million and Rafael Nadal’s $121 million, Jack’s is more modest: $38.16. He still wonders, “Why the 16 cents?”
Jack is a member of his high school’s Hall of Fame, the University of Portland Hall of Fame, where he was named as one of its 10 top athletes of the 20th century, and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1977, the Portland Athletic Club on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. opened. Its owner, Marion Blackburn, asked Jack to become a tennis instructor. He’s been there ever since.
Jack’s professional coaching career began during the Borg-Connors-McEnroe-Navratilova-Evert era when tennis was hugely popular in the United States. “We had people clamoring for lessons,” he says. “I’d teach from about eight or nine in the morning to noon. I’d take a break, and then teach until 10:00 in the evening.”
In reflecting on changes in the sport over the years, Jack notes some of the obvious differences – improved equipment, great athletes, great facilities, and top players with entourages. He notes some other differences too. “If you watch grass court tournaments today,” he says, “you’ll see that in the late stages, the grass is pretty much chewed up along the baseline yet by the net it’s still pristine.
“In my day, it was the exact opposite. Grass courts weren’t kept up the way they are now. You never knew which way the ball was going to bounce. Out of necessity everybody served and volleyed. The safest thing was to get to the net as quickly and often as possible.”
Jack also notes that topspin is currently king. “In my day, pretty much everybody hit the ball flat or slice.”
As a tennis coach, Jack identifies the following traits as essential: “Number one, you have to have knowledge of the game. You also need to be observant to notice weaknesses or potential growth opportunities. You need energy. And you need to treat people with respect.”
Why continue teaching and coaching as you’re approaching 90? “It’s greatly satisfying,” Jack says, “when you help people develop a skill that makes a real positive difference in their lives.”