Roger Lee Pharr – Orlando’s Tennis Legend

Tennis was not Roger Pharr’s profession, but for more than 70 years it was his passion!

To paraphrase a song by Harry Chapin: “Tennis was his life, it was not his livelihood. It made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good. He played with all his heart and he played with all his soul. Tennis made him whole.”

Orlando Tennis Center at Sunshine Park

Roger Pharr began playing tennis when he was 15, at the Orlando Tennis Center in what was the old Sunshine Park at the corner of Livingston Street and Parramore Avenue adjacent to the old Fairgrounds.

The Orlando Tennis Center first opened in 1932. With its red-clay courts, it was once the site of top national amateur tournaments with tennis greats such as Don Budge, Pancho Gonzales, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura, Fred Stolle, and Bill Tilden.

The clay courts went away in 1982 and the OTC underwent a renovation in 1987, after the courts were damaged during the construction of additional parking for the Amway Orena. Sixteen new court, benches, water fountains and new landscaping were added.

Early Days

Interviewed by Melissa Isaacson of the Orlando Sentinel about the center’s golden days, Roger recalled meeting Pancho Gonzales at the OTC around 1947.

I remember Gonzales coming to Orlando when he first started winning. He was about 19 at the time, and I was about 17. It rained one day during the tournament, and he was hanging around the clubhouse, and he challenged me to a game of ping pong. I was a hotshot pingpong player because I played all the time, and I beat him. Every now and then I’ll tell someone I have a win over Pancho Gonzales. Then I have to tell them it was in pingpong.

Senior Division

In a 1985 article, “Florida’s Super Older Athletes Have Sunshine on their Shoulders,” Russ White of the Orlando Sentinel wrote:

Pharr is like fine wine, the older he gets the better he gets at playing his favorite sport – tennis. Pharr has been an excellent player from the time he took up the game at 16, through his college days at the University of Florida to his golden moments today at center court. Pharr won the National 55 Clay Court Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., last summer. He will be ranked among the top five 55-year-old men in the country for 1985. He played in 25 tournaments this past year and plans a similar workload in 1986… At 6 feet 1, 188 pounds, Pharr is only 3 pounds heavier than he was 20 years ago; pounds he says will come off after the holidays…

^{Orlando Sentinel, Dec. 31, 1985, p. C1.}

Vintage Tennis

In the early 1990s, Roger participated in a group called “Vintage Tennis,” described as a good-time tennis league of men and women 55 years and over. Members participated in mixed doubles round-robin tournaments at tennis facilities in Central Florida. The events often included a senior champions doubles exhibition featuring local stars including Betty Pratt, Roger Pharr, Nate Smith and Kay Merrell.

In September 1993, Vintage Tennis conducted its annual Senior Tennis Day at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs with an exhibition by four of Central Florida’s top seniors, including Roger Pharr who, at the time, was ranked by the Florida Tennis Association as No. 2 in men’s 55s and 60s.

Surgical Tennis

An article published in 1994, describes Pharr’s tennis skills:

They call it “surgical” tennis. The precision with which 64-year-old Roger Pharr drives a tennis ball is nothing short of masterful.

With all those shots skipping within eight inches of the lines and corners, Pharr breezed through a field of seniors to win the Ocala Senior Winter Open (over-60 division). In an all-Orlando final he decisively stopped Herb Smetheram, 6-0, 6-3.

“He has so many ways to beat you, he just has to decide which one to use, said Smetheram of Pharr.

Pharr is a tennis legend. He played in the national grass courts championships against number one ranked Lou Hoad in the 1955. He laughs at the rumor that he took Hoad to three sets. ‘It was a best of five sets match.’ He says with a grin. He is currently ranked second in Florida and sixth in the nation among men 60-65 years old.

Pharr recalls Ocala’s once glorious association with Florida tennis in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Jervey Gantt was the president of the Florida Tennis Association. “Ocala had the best tournament in the state. We played at Tuscawilla Park and they fed you two meals. We ate at the old VFW hall on Friday night and they served chicken all day on Saturday. People came from all over the state to play in it.”

^{Ocala Star-Banner, January 17, 1994, p. 5B.}

Roger was still playing tennis in 2018 and was featured in an article in March 6 edition of The Community Paper.

Orlando native Roger Pharr plays tennis about four days a week at the busy and popular Orlando Tennis Centre downtown, a complex with a storied history. Pharr is 87 years old. A 20-time OTC champion in doubles or singles between 1956 and 1979, Pharr is “the most respected tennis player in Orlando,” said Thomas Sweitzer, OTC’s manager.

Pharr has been playing tennis at OTC, located at Livingston Street and Parramore Avenue, since 1945. ‘The first time I tried to hit the ball when I was a beginner, I totally missed it. I don’t miss to many these days, but I don’t play the young men anymore,” he said. “I can’t see as well, and I don’t move as fast. I love the game. The tennis center means quite a bit to me. Everyone is looking forward to the move to the new park. It will be a very nice place to play.” 

^{The Community Paper, www.YourCommunityPaper.com}

United States Tennis Association of Florida

Roger was a member of the USTA Florida and his achievements are documented in the pages of its yearbooks with Florida rankings and committees on which he served.

In 1980 he was presented the Exceptional Male Player (Adult/Senior Division) Award. In 1991, he was inducted into the UTSA Florida Hall of Fame.

In October 2016, the Roger Pharr Tennis Classic, named in his honor, was presented by Solinco at the Orlando Tennis Center at 649 West Livingston.

Roger Phaar has probably been mentioned in newspapers around the country thousands of times during the 70 years he played tennis and competed in tournaments. These are just a few from 1983-2019 culled from newspaper databases at OCLS.

Personal life

Roger Lee Pharr was born in the Conway area of Orange County on June 13, 1930. He was the only child of Wendell Woodward Pharr and Lillian Louise Spurgeon.

Education

Roger attended Orlando High School when it was located in what is now Howard Middle School. While he took up tennis around 1945, but he is not listed as part of the tennis team at Colonial High School in the 1947 or 1948 Tigando yearbook. His Senior Class photo entry shows that he was a member of the Honor Society, the first year it was in place at OHS.

After completing high school, Roger attended the University of Florida in Gainesville. The 1950 census lists 19 year old Roger as a resident of Murphree Hall on the Gainesville campus. He is featured in the Tennis section of the 1951, 1952 and 1953 yearbooks. He was Co-Captain of the Men’s Tennis Team in 1952.

Roger became a member of the Friends of the Library in 1987 as reported in the April Friends of the Library Newsletter. He was a regular visitor to the Orlando Public Library in downtown Orlando.

Military Service

According to discharge papers recorded at the Orange County Court House, Roger was inducted into the U.S. Army Reserves on October 19, 1953 and assigned to the Personnel Center at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He was given an honorable discharge on October 18, 1955. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal.

Professional Life

In the 1959 Orlando City Directory, Roger is listed as a CPA with the W.O. Daley and Company at 419 Magnolia Avenue.

The following year, he joined Orlando Federal Savings and Loan Association as a Controller working at the Orlando Federal Savings and Loan at 2301 East Colonial Drive. In 1962 he was CPA, Assistant Treasurer and Controller at the branch at the corner of Magnolia and Livingston. He also changed residences, moving from the Conway area to College Park.

By 1970, Roger was the Vice President and Controller of Orlando Federal Savings and Loan. He continued in this position for several years, until being promoted to Senior Vice President in 1976. Orlando Federal was bought by Dade Federal Savings and Loan (later CenTrust) in 1976. It is not known if Roger Pharr continued working after they changed owners.

Ancestors

Roger Pharr is the son of Wendell Woodward Pharr and Lillian Louise Spurgeon. He was the nephew of Orange County Supervisor of Elections, Dixie Barber.

Wendell Pharr was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 1894, where his family had a large farm. Wendell’s parents George and Nitocris and several of their children moved to Orange County around 1920 settling in the Conway area. Dixie Barber recounted in an oral history interview in 1975, that the family land was at 4400 Lake Margaret Drive which just north of the Conway Cemetery where many of the family members are buried. It is thought that Wendell did not settle in Conway until around 1925.

Wendell married Lillian Spurgeon on August 8, 1929. Wendell first worked for his brother as a bookkeeper at Orlando Fruit and Produce Company. Later directories list him as a partner with Crittenden-Pharr Fuel Oil Service at 2590 Conway Road and Pharr & Dunlap Service Station at the same location.

Wendell and Lillian divorced in 1948 when Roger was 18. Wendell remarried around 1951. City directories indicate that Roger was living with his father and stepmother Myrtis in their home at 4440 Lake Margaret Drive in 1959.

Wendell Pharr died July 26, 1968. His obituary and funeral notice state that he was a former Orange County Commissioner, a 50-year charter member of the VFW and 35-year member of American Legion Post 19.

Roger’s mother, Lillian Louise Spurgeon was born March 19, 1908 to S. J. and Eliza Spurgeon. She was 21 years old – 14 years younger than Wendell – when they married in August 1929. Her father was residing with the family in April 1945. He died June 5^th of that year. 

Sometime after getting divorced in 1948, Lillian married Louis Pollio and moved to River Edge, New Jersey. Lillian lived in College Park at 1201 Vassar Street with her husband Louis from 1961 until her death on March 3, 1975. She was survived by her husband Louis Pollio, her son Roger, a brother and three sisters.

Roger Pharr married Frances Maxine Farrell on September 29, 1973, but they divorced in July 1975 shortly after his mother’s death.

Final Resting Place

Roger Pharr, his mother, father and many other family members are buried in the Conway Cemetery, also known as the Conway United Methodist Church Cemetery, at 4404 Anderson Road in Orlando.

In August 1969, shortly after the death of Wendell Pharr, Lillian and Louis Pollio purchased the SE 1/4 of Lot 7, Episcopal Block, Conway Methodist Church Cemetery. The same month, Roger purchased the S 1/2 of the NE 1/4 of Lot 7.

Roger’s mother Lillian died on March 3, 1975. Her 2nd husband Louis Pollio is buried at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida, as he was a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II. He died March 30, 2003.

Later Roger Pharr had a beautiful marker installed with the PHARR surname and a memorial for his mother and for himself with everything but the death year.

Roger Pharr never got to play at the new Orlando Tennis Centre at John Young Parkway and Princeton as he passed away in 2022, but he would have loved it.

Roger Pharr may no longer be among us, but he will be remembered for his generosity, talent, determination, dedication and most of all, his love for tennis.

Lillian Louise Pharr Endowment

Several years before his passing, Roger Pharr contacted library director Mary Anne Hodel about his wish to make the Friends of the Library the beneficiary of his estate. In a letter dated February 18, 2020, he gave a detailed account of his assets and a brief biography.

Roger Pharr bequeathed a generous sum to the Friends of the Orange County Library System in honor of his mother Lillian Louise Spurgeon Pharr. The Lillian Louise Pharr Author Series, funded by the endowment, will enable the library to bring exceptional authors and meaningful conversations to the Orlando community.

Author John Green

An Evening with Author John Green, on January 24, 2025, is the first event sponsored through the Lillian Louise Pharr Endowment Fund and the Friends of the Orange County Library System.