In 1953, the transition was made to CBS television and the show was widely watched until it went off the air in 1957. It was a novel way to take listeners back in time so that they could experience historic events. “You Are There” began as a CBS radio program hosted by Walter Cronkite in 1947. Jacquet reconnected with the love of his life, got married and started a family. But tennis was still in his heart and he beganĬoaching. His unorthodox coaching style and common sense philosophy proved successful. He developed good players and helped guide and support young men and women who attended prestigious universities such as Morehouse, Harvard Law School and Redlands and went on to achieve successful professions like ministry, music, law journalism and film. After years of traveling to tournaments, the road began to wear on him at the age of 29 he walked away from competitive tennis.
He became the 1954 National American Tennis Association Champion and had all the skills and hunger required to be a professional tennis player on the level of those he admired. He played with contemporaries like Oscar Johnson, Jimmie McDaniel and Pancho Gonzalez. The sharp- witted young, Jacquet, then took what he learned and applied it in his practices and matches.
Jacquet embraced every aspect of the game. When the tall, lanky young man walked onto the court with his wooded smallhead tennis racquet in hand, he knew that he was good. Some even said his serve and overhead were an early version of the strokes that would be evidenced by the legendary Arthur Ashe.īarely out of high school, if Jacquet wasn’t working whichever job he could find, could he be found on a tennis court? He learned a lot by sitting in the stands at Exposition Park watching the best players of the time. He studied ball placement and stroke production. The projects on the east side of Los Angeles in the 1940’s were rough, Earthna Jacquet got into fights growing up defending his name. When he was a teenager a friend dared him to play tennis, which helped him settle down and stay out of trouble.