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Show PHANTOM PARTNER Kramer 'Had'to Win For Joe, His Dead Pal By OSCAR FRALEY . NEW YORK, Dec. 27 (UP) Time and Jack Kramer caught' up to Australia's Davis cup forces today to square a debt for a dead pal. . "Jake," the tow-headed former coast guardsman, teamed with bull-shouldered bull-shouldered Ted Schroeder to win the deciding doubles match which brought the big silver mug back to these shores. Kramer's steady play was a perfect per-fect complement to Schroeder's speed. And "Jake" was playing with a phantom at his side. It was that of another cotton-topped lad, a husky youngstsr who never got his cbanca for revenge, buf was a cheering image In Kramer's mind as tha ball r i i- s -f ' J M J Jack Kramer . . Who won for V. 8. and for dead pal, Joe Hunt. sped back and forth over ths net down under there In Melbourne. The silent (pectator on the aide-lines. aide-lines. Invisible to anyone but "Jake," was his onetime tennla partner, Joe Hunt. The same Joe who teamed with Kramer back In 1939 and dropped the duke to Australia, which sent the cup skidding from Ameri-ica'a Ameri-ica'a possession. Awkward Boy They were just two frightened and still awkward boys that day when the veteran Adrian Qulst and the hard-hitting John Bromwich stalked out on the court at Merlon Cricket club and sent. them down to defeat. Qulst and Bromwich went triumphantly tri-umphantly home, and then to war. And, with the United States still on Mars' sidelines, Kramer and Hunt dreamed of the days when they would hsve a hand la winning back the silverware. - But before they could get at the relished Davis cup job there was a bigger game to be won. "JheSUnlted States was in It now, so Kramer sailed with the coast guard and Hunt set his sights on naval aviation. Big Joe finally won his wings and waa flying steadily toward the date with the Australians. Aus-tralians. Hunt Killed But on a fine February afternoon In 1945 Joe was ordered up for routine rou-tine gunnery practice. He waa making mak-ing a run on a target towed by another plane when something went wrong with his single seater fighter and the 26-year-old tennle star spun 10,000 feet into tha ocean off Dayton Day-ton a beach. To Kramer, In action in the Pacific Pa-cific with the coast guard, it only made their boyhood dream a bit sharper. Joe wouldn't be there to help him now, and the job was completely com-pletely on his shoulders. So "Jake" came back to tennla after the guns were stilled and devoted himself to getting Into court form. It didn't take too long, although al-though he waa plagued with all kinds of injuries snd aliments, blls-tera blls-tera ruined hi chances at Wimbledon Wimble-don and aching legs some of hi other trie. But they came to the national and ha emerged top man. Schroeder Step In And, when the U. S. Davis cup challengers went to Australia, It somehow seemed only light that Schroeder a naval officer like Joe-should Joe-should receive the official nod to compose a two-man team with Kramer. Kra-mer. But atsndlng in the wsy again, juat aa seven yesrs ago on the sun-swept sun-swept court st Merlon, were Bromwich Brom-wich and Qulst. Qulst, however, wa aeven year older. And Kramer no longer was the raw, awkward kid of 1939. That and the phantom in the front court finally paid off the dreams of two once-beaten youngsters who vowed to bring the Davla cup back to the United States. |
