NEWT MEADE’s 100th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED BY THE CYNWYD CLUB    
By Rob Dinerman



Dateline August 30, 2023 --- This past Friday. August 25th, the Cynwyd Club in suburban Philadelphia had a lunch to celebrate the 100th birthday of its oldest and longest-serving member, Newton B Meade Jr., universally known as Newt, who served as President of the host club from 1963-65. Although Meade is primarily known for his exploits over many decades in tennis --- in which sport he represented the U. S. in numerous team and individual competitions, beginning with playing on the 1941 American Junior Davis Cup team at age 17 --- he also was perennially nationally ranked in squash in both singles and doubles and won the U.S. National Doubles 50-and-over title with Treddy Ketcham in 1974 and the 60-and-over event with Thomas Schweizer in 1984.

Meade is also credited with introducing his wife, Betty Woll Meade, to squash in the mid-1960’s, and, under his guidance and that of the Cynwyd Club’s legendary squash pro Norman Bramall, she progressed astonishingly swiftly, to the point where she won the U. S. Nationals three-straight years from 1966-68. During this same time frame, Meade and his wife won the U. S. Husband/Wife championship at Forest Hills, beating Billy Jean King and Larry King, Billie Jean’s husband at the time, along the way.  In 1968, Betty Meade accomplished a rare squash Singles/Doubles “double” by also winning the U. S. National Doubles crown with Bunny Vosters, making her only the fourth American woman to win both the national singles and doubles championships in the same year. Tragically, just a week after that latter accomplishment, she was involved in a car accident and had to have her left leg amputated at the knee. Somehow she was still able to play tennis as well as golf, even with a “leg” made of ash-wood, until the early 1980’s, when she was diagnosed with cancer. She died at age 53 in 1990 and was elected posthumously to the U. S. Squash Hall of Fame in 2006. Three years after her death, Newt Meade married his current wife, Beverly.

One of the highlights of the birthday celebration occurred when Meade received a phone call midway through from Vic Seixas, the 1953 Wimbledon champion and tennis’s oldest living Grand Slam champion (and a three-time U. S.  National 40-and-over squash champion as well), who himself turns 100 today. These two contemporaries, teammates on that 1941 U.S. Junior Davis Cup squad and close friends throughout the eight-plus decades that had followed, had an exciting “live” phone call that was hooked up to a speaker phone, thereby enabling all 50-plus attendees to listen in. Sandy Harrison, a Past President (from 2012-14) of the Cynwyd Club who currently serves as the club’s Historian, arranged the entire event, including orchestrating the Seixas phone call. Meade, who was understandably thrilled at having been honored in this fashion, was extremely gracious throughout the event --- during which he received a plaque from the club congratulating him on his milestone birthday --- and at the end of the formal ceremonies, he let everyone know how much he appreciated their thoughtfulness and generosity.

The plaque has a photo of Meade under the following inscription:

With profound respect and affection
The Cynwyd Club honors
NEWT MEADE
On the occasion of his 100th birthday
For his extraordinary tennis achievements and loyal devotion
To the Club for over eight decades,
Always conducting himself as a
True sportsman and consummate gentleman.

Although Meade stopped playing squash tournaments during the early 1990’s, he continued to compete in  age-group tennis for the next 20 years, during which his tennis-related travels took him to Turkey, South Africa, Spain, France and England, as well as all over the United States. As recently as this past year, he was still playing this sport recreationally at the Cynwyd Club, and in a recent phone interview conducted shortly after he began the second century of his life, his voice was strong, his memories remarkably clear and his enthusiasm for the racquet sports he has played so well for so long undimmed by the passage of time.


Editor’s Note: Rob Dinerman would like to thank Joyce Davenport, Gil Mateer and Sandy Harrison for their contributions to his research, as well as Newt Meade himself and his wife Beverly.