Will Hartigan, 1989-2024, 2023 U.S. National Doubles Champion by Rob Dinerman
Dateline February 1, 2024
– We at DSR are sad to report the death earlier this week of Will
Hartigan, 34, one of the most popular players on the SDA pro doubles
tour during the past dozen years and the winner of a number of
prestigious invitational tournaments and regional championships in a
career highlighted this past March when he and partner Michael Ferreira
swept to victory in the 2023 U.S. National Doubles Championship at the
Germantown Cricket Club in suburban Philadelphia, defeating Lockie
Munro and Lyell Fuller in a four-game final. At the time of
Hartigan’s passing he was ranked No. 17 on the SDA tour (having
previously been ranked several times in the top 15) and No. 1 in the
U.S. Squash Open doubles rankings.
After a junior career in which he was ranked as high as No. 3 in the
various U.S. Squash age-group categories, Hartigan played in the Nos. 3
through 5 range on some of the best teams that Cornell has ever had,
culminating in the Big Red’s advance to the semifinals of the national
collegiate team championship --- known as the Potter Cup --- for the
first time in the history of the school during his senior 2011-12
season. Hartigan had a 15-5 record that season and contributed an
important win over Ryan Dowd to Cornell’s quarterfinal victory over
heavily-favored Yale.
After graduation, while pursuing a business career in asset and wealth
management in New York and Boston, mostly at Merrill Lynch and more
recently as a Senior Vice President at UBS, Hartigan has excelled as a
squash doubles player, demonstrating a combination of extraordinary
athleticism, superior racquet skills and an ability to mesh seamlessly
with his partners that enabled him to have noteworthy success while
playing either wall and with a variety of partners. In addition to his
2023 U.S. National Doubles run with Ferreira, Hartigan advanced
multiple times to the semis of SDA events (most notably the 2017 Briggs
Cup, the most lucrative stop on the tour, where he and Adam Bews had a
pair of five-game wins over Bobby Burns/Fred Reid and third seeds
Ferreira/Yvain Badan); reached the finals of the 2019 U. S. Mixed
Doubles with Shirin Kaufman (losing 15-13 in the fifth game to Sabrina
Sobhy and Ryan Mullaney); had a two-month stretch from November 2015 to
January 2016 with Addison West during which they won,
sequentially, the Silver Racquet, the Gold Racquet and the William
White; notched three-straight U. S. National Century Doubles
70-and-over titles with Ed Minskoff from 2016-18; captured the 2015 New
York City Met A crown with Peter Cipriano and the incredibly
competitive Racquet & Tennis Club Championship with Ferreira the
last four times that it has been held (2018-19 and 2022-23); and
reached the finals of the 2022 and 2023 Mass States Open championships
with Charlie Humber and the 2023 U. S. Father & Son tournament with
his father, Tony.
Throughout that time, Hartigan’s engaging personality and the positive
energy he constantly exuded, both on and off the court, endeared him to
spectators and his fellow players alike, and the zest with which he
both played and lived his life was so omnipresent and contagious that
the news of his sudden passing was universally received with an
overwhelming combination of disbelief, shock and sadness. The eloquent
UBS statement praised Hartigan for having an impact “that transcended
the balance sheets” and aptly concluded that, “His life was a testament
to the positive influence one can have when driven by a genuine passion
for the well-being of others. As we remember and honor William, let us
also reflect on the values he embodied --- integrity, dedication, and a
commitment to making a meaningful difference in the lives of those he
touched.” In addition to his father, Will Hartigan is survived by
his mother, Cecile, and sisters Margaret, Elizabeth and Ann.
Will Hartigan and Michael Ferreira after winning the 2023 U.S. National Doubles last March in Philadelphia
Will Hartigan and Peter Cipriano after winning the 2015 Met A Doubles title
