Vic Braden, Tennis’s Pied Piper, Dies at 85
...a little late, but nothing was posted here previously...good article about him....
Vic Braden, who mixed psychology, biomechanics and a rapier wit to become an immensely influential teacher of tennis, spreading his cheerful gospel through camps, clinics, books and national television appearances, died on Monday at his home in Coto de Caza, Calif., in Orange County. He was 85.
His daughter Kristen Paul said the cause appeared to be a heart attack.
Jack Kramer, a professional tennis star of the 1940s and ’50s, called Mr. Braden “the No. 1 tennis coach in the world.” An instructional show Mr. Braden hosted on PBS in the early 1980s was carried by 238 stations. Some said he did for tennis what Julia Child’s PBS show had done for cooking.
He also appeared on NBC, wrote eight books, made instructional videos and taught thousands at his traveling tennis college in the United States, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and China. He lectured in all 50 states. In 1976, Sports Illustrated called him the highest-paid tennis coach in the world.
He trained champions, including Tracy Austin, to whom he claimed to have rolled tennis balls in her crib, and who, in a Twitter message after his death, called him “a pioneer, innovator and true legend in our sport.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/sports/vic-braden-tenniss-pied-piper-dies-at-85.html?_r=0
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