By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Barry MacKay is best known as a tennis commentator, and he's in his 34th year as chairman of the ATP Tour event in San Jose, Calif. Yet the Wyoming, Ohio, native was once the nation's top-ranked player and later a fixture on the barnstorming professional circuit that existed before the Open Era.

MacKay is the most celebrated player among the seven names to be inducted in the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame's second class, announced Wednesday by the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Association.

"I'm honored and delighted by this," said MacKay, who now lives in Sausalito, Calif.

The class of inductees includes both groundbreakers and legends of local tennis: Al Bunis, Tom Price, Paul Flory, Kathy Graeter, Nat Emerson and Ruth Sanders Cordes. The first class consisted of Tony Trabert and Bill Talbert.

MacKay lived in Wyoming until he was 13, when his family moved to Dayton. There, he won two Ohio singles titles at Oakwood High School, and in 1957, he won the NCAA singles championship while a senior at Michigan.

He starred on the U.S. Davis Cup squad from 1956-60, going 26-4 and helping win the Cup in 1958 against Australia. He called a straight-set victory over Rod Laver in a 1959 Cup loss to Australia his finest match, and in 1960, he won 17 tournaments and became the top-ranked U.S. player.

He turned pro in 1961, joining the Jack Kramer Tour, which crisscrossed the country.

"There were six of us players, and we traveled in three station wagons with three wives and with a truck that carried the court," MacKay said. "You'd unroll it in gymnasiums, at fairgrounds."

MacKay played on the tour for six years, retired, then returned to pro tennis briefly in 1970.

MacKay is one of only four Greater Cincinnati natives ever ranked in the U.S. top 10. The others are Trabert, Talbert and Emerson, who was ranked No. 7 in 1908.

Emerson's finest showing was reaching the semifinals of the 1908 U.S. National Championship, now called the U.S. Open.

Emerson and Cordes are deceased. Cordes won the U.S. National Clay Court singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles in 1917.

Flory and Bunis made great contributions to tournament tennis. Flory built the local international tournament from obscurity in 1974 into one of the world's 13 biggest today. In 1973, Bunis founded the Grand Masters circuit, the first senior tour of any kind.

Price has been a distinguished player, coach, administrator and volunteer. He was director of Cincinnati's international event for 10 years in the 1950s and '60s, and the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan tournament is named for him.

Graeter, 60, has more Met singles titles (seven) and doubles crowns (17) than any other woman. Until missing it last year, she had played in the event every year since she was 13.

The induction banquet will be Aug. 9 at the Western & Southern Financial Masters. Tickets are $25; a $15 ticket to the matches that evening is also required. Information and tickets: (513) 533-9871.

Inductee bios

• Barry MacKay, 67, was nation's No. 1 player in 1960. Member of Men's College Tennis Hall of Fame and USTA/Midwest Hall of Fame. Currently TV commentator and tournament chairman of the Siebel Open.

• Paul Flory, 81, tournament chairman of the Western & Southern Financial Masters. Has run that event since the fall of 1974. Winner of the ATP's Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for contributions to charity.

• Al Bunis, 79, founder of the first senior tennis tour. Won doubles title (with Bill Talbert) and reached singles semifinals in 1943 at Cincinnati's international tournament.

• Tom Price, 81, member of the USTA/Midwest Hall of Fame. Was tournament director of Cincinnati's international event for 10 years and Met referee for 18 years.

• Kathy Graeter, 60, has Met- record seven singles and 17 doubles titles.

• Nat Emerson, deceased, reached No. 7 U.S. ranking in 1908. Was first winner, in 1899, of Cincinnati's international tennis event. Doubles finalist of U.S. National Championships in 1906 and '08.

• Ruth Sanders Cordes, deceased, won U.S. National Clay Court title in 1917. Won five singles titles and one doubles crown in Cincinnati's international tennis event.Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame