WWII Hero Honored at U.S. Open Tennis Championships

The U.S. Tennis Association hosted the 2025 Lt. Joe Hunt Military Appreciation Day yesterday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, in Queens, New York.

This U.S. Open tennis tournament event is dedicated to honoring and recognizing members of the U.S. military, named in honor of Hunt, the only U.S. Open champion to die in service to his country.

Several speakers at the event paid tribute to Hunt.

More than a tennis player, Hunt was the U.S. Nationals champion, an NCAA champion, a Naval Academy graduate and a Navy football star. Like so many of his generation, he put aside his personal achievement to answer his nation's call, said Navy Rear Adm. Michael Boyle, director of the Navy staff.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Hunt "traded aces on the court for the challenge of becoming an ace in the sky, earning his wings of gold as a naval aviator," he said.

This year marks 80 years since his sacrifice, and it also marks a historic milestone: the 250th birthday of the United States, Navy, Marine Corps and Army, Boyle noted.

"Our sacred duty is to fight with toughness, tenacity and integrity to defend this nation. That is what 250 years of service means," he added.

Joe Hunt, grand-nephew of Lt. Joe Hunt, said, "The military has a code which says we shall never forget, and that is what this day is very much about. To those of you who wear and have worn the uniform, we will not forget your service.

"We truly appreciate your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your families, and we will never forget you," he added.

More About Lt. Joe Hunt

Hunt won the 1943 U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York City while on leave from the Navy in early September of that year.

He is the only man in history to win the U.S. national boys' (then 15-and-under), juniors' (18-and-under), collegiate and U.S. men's singles titles. 

Hunt also played football at the U.S. Naval Academy, winning a game ball in the 1941 Army-Navy game after beating Army 14-6 in Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1941. Eight days later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Due to wartime needs, Hunt's class graduated early on Dec. 19, 1941, instead of in the spring of 1942. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the destroyer USS Rathburne, an antisubmarine warfare training ship homeported in San Diego. 

At the end of September 1943, Hunt was assigned to the destroyer USS Kearny, which escorted a merchant convoy to Casablanca, Morocco. However, he wanted to fly and was eager for combat duty, according to his grand-nephew Joe Hunt, a Seattle attorney who was named for his great uncle. 

Hunt requested a transfer to aviation, and it was granted. His training began at Naval Air Station Dallas on Dec. 30, 1943. In May 1944, he received advanced aviation training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. He wanted to defend his tennis title that year, but his leave request was denied.

On Feb. 2, 1945, Hunt's F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean east of Daytona Beach, Florida, during a training flight. Hunt and his aircraft were never recovered.

Hunt left behind a wife, Jacque Virgil Hunt, whom he married in 1942. 

Hunt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1966.

On Sept. 1, 2014, Hunt was honored on center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium during the U.S. Open, an event he won 71 years earlier. 

Every year since 2019, the U.S. Open has celebrated his service and honored service members and veterans on "Lt. Joe Hunt Military Appreciation Day."