LINK TO GEORGE H. BOSTWICK OBITUARY AND MEMORIAL SERVICE DETAILS
George H. Bostwick, Jr.
August 22, 1934 – July 7, 2022
by James Zug
George H. Bostwick, Jr., former world champion, died on 7 July 2022 at the age of eighty-seven. Pete Bostwick was one of the greatest amateur athletes of the twentieth century.
Bostwick first played court tennis in Aiken, where he grew up. In his thirties, he started playing tennis regularly, both at Greentree and at the Racquet & Tennis Club. He was world champion from 1969 to 1972, winning the title twice: in 1969 he beat Frank Willis 11-8 and in 1970 he defeated his younger brother Jimmy 7-1. In 1972 Jimmy turned the tables to claim the title.
One of the most laureled players in U.S. court tennis history, Bostwick won the U.S. Open singles in 1966, 1968 and 1971; the U.S. Open doubles (with Jimmy) in 1968, 1969 and 1970; the U.S. Amateur singles in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1971; the U.S. Amateur doubles in 1969 and 1973 (with Jimmy) and in 1983 (with Ralph Howe); the U.S. Parent & Child in 1989 (with Peter, III); the U.S. 50s in singles in 1994; the U.S. 55 doubles from 1990 through 1998 and again 2000 and 2001 with three partners; and the U.S. 60s in singles 1995, 1996 and 1997. In the 1960s and 1970s, he served on the board of the USCTA. In 1994 Bostwick was inducted in the inaugural class into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame.
Bostwick excelled in another half dozen other sports. He was an outstanding golfer and lawn tennis player and remains one of just three men to play in both sports’ U.S. national championship (in 1959 at Winged Foot he missed the cut by just three strokes; in 1952 he lost in the first round at the U.S. tennis nationals at Forest Hills). He twice won the Gold Racquets in tennis and racquets on the same weekend and won the U.S. Open in racquets in 1969 and 1970. He was a highly ranked squash player and won three age-group national titles. In ice hockey he led the Middlebury team, tried out for the 1960 Olympic team and was a stalwart on the St. Nicholas squad for a quarter century.
Not only was he the ultimate athlete, but Pete Bostwick was the ultimate sportsman—enthusiastic, competitive and always prioritizing fair play.
Memorial services are planned for September 7. Service details, along with the obituary, can be found by
clicking here.
Four World Champions –
Wayne Davies, James F.C. Bostwick, George H. Bostwick, Jr. & Northrup R. Knox
