JOHN DUNN

John Dunn, founder of the Hempstead Lake Indoor Tennis Club, Cold Spring Valley Racquet Club, and Woodbury Indoor Tennis Court is renown on Long Island for his lifetime achievements in the tennis industry.

Most recently, John Dunn received the United States Professional Tennis Association Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eastern Regional Division.

John began playing tennis as a youngster in the 1930's and played on the Southside High School's undefeated State Championship Team. After serving in Europe and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, he began his long relationship with the Hempstead Lake State Park, where he ran and maintained the tennis courts. He set up tennis clinics, taught lessons, ran the Long Island Open tennis tournament, and was best known for his innovative style. Some of his students played in the U.S. Open and Wimbledon and hundreds received tennis scholarships. In the late 1950's, as a teaching pro at LI Estates, he negotiated leasing estate courts and thus became one of the founders of indoor tennis as we know it today. In the early 1960's, he purchased "Tennis House" which was part of the Winthrop Estate in Woodbury. Today, it is still one of the most spectacular private indoor tennis courts in the country. In 1970, he and his partner built the Hempstead Lake Indoor Tennis Club, which still operates as a world class facility.

After tennis became open in 1968, and teaching pros could compete, John qualified at Forest Hills for the U.S. Open and competed there for six years in the senior doubles with long tome friend, Paul Lynner. In 1983, he and his wife, Joan, and their nine children built the Cold Spring Valley Racquet Club in Cold Spring Harbor - which includes 8 clay courst surrounded by 4 acres of manicured grounds and a rustic 3 story post and beam clubhouse. He has 19 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.