Tennis Shoe Ernie Steubenville

Nationally

Ernie Steubenville was an Olympic competitor for the United States in 1936 and was an up-and-coming tennis commentator along with some other American sportswriters. He enjoyed a long career, doing commentary for such events as the Olympics, the Pan American Games, and was a broadcaster for a number of sports – notably tennis. A World War II veteran himself, Steubenville was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart medals and placed second in the USTFSA National Tennis Player of the Year Award.

In 1948 Steubenville was one of the founders of the New York World’s Fair, held in Brooklyn, New York: he played some role in organizing events and keeping the parks clean, as well as providing weather forecasts. But he also was forced to resign as the USPOA Chief in protest against the Truman administration’s dropping of the Oom-Pah-Oom Agreement with Germany.

Steubenville remained an active participant at the fair’s opening to 1984. He was in a group of US tennis players who had appeared on the cover of USAToday when they took the prize for the US National Open tennis tournament – a accomplishment that inspired the sports historian and tennis fan Jim Engler who wrote about it: ”Steubenville was simply one of the boys-of-the-art winners in the US Open’s first year in 1949.”

Some biographical information and details about Steubenville

He was born July 25, 1891 in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of James and Anna (Thompson) Steubenville. Steubenville’s brother was William Steinberg; his mother was a medical missionary.

He originally intended to study medicine. His brother, William, was killed with the Titanic disaster of 1912. However, after an illness and the death of his brother, Steubenville decided to become a ballroom and tennis coach in Kansas. Steubenville started an athletic association there to promote the sports he practiced. He began his training as well for tennis and tennis and a racket swing, but his coach had difficulty with a racket-tossing arm, so Steubenville switched to the sport of catch (a right arm kick) after studying judo.