University of San Francisco Athletics

Athlete All-American

Harry Likas

Honors:
Men's Tennis (1947-1948)

NCAA Singles Champion, 1948
Top-seeded Player on Dons Team, 1947 and 1948
Northern California Singles Title, 1948

USF Career Years: 1947-1948
Birthdate: February 27, 1924
Hometown: San Francisco
High School: Lowell High School

Henry “Harry” Likas was born on February 27, 1924 in San Francisco and attended Lowell High School. Prior to attending USF, he had won titles in the California State Junior, Pacific Coast Junior and Western Junior Tournaments. Likas was rated the Number One Youth in the Nation and won the Boy’s California Championship. At 18, Likas was selected to be on the National Junior Davis Cup team. In October 1946, Likas advanced to the quarter-finals in the first post-war match of the U.S. Open in Forest Hills. Later that year, he was one of sixteen tennis players to be invited to participate in the Sugar Bowl Invitational.

As the Dons opened their 1947 spring season, Likas was ranked 15th in the United States. He had already defeated many of the top players and was considered an outstanding player. Seeded number one for USF, Likas defeated players from Santa Clara, Saint Mary’s, University of the Pacific, and San Francisco State in both singles and in doubles. At the end of the season, the Dons boasted an outstanding record, sweeping all Bay Area competitions and were on their way to winning the Northern California Collegiate Crown.

His fellow teammate Harry Roche told Inside Tennis: "Harry's father had bought him a new Buick, beige I think, and he drove down to the UCLA campus where we played. Most of the guys were at school on the GI Bill and had State help. I got $1,000. But I had a wife and two kids and a construction job too. I had to take time off to play matches, and I couldn't play them all. But they were fun times."

In his last year for the Dons, Likas lost only one match. In the Northern California Invitational his backhand defeated Don teammate Conway Catton (6-1, 6-4). Likas and Harry Roche teamed to win their doubles match. The Dons won the team title and were presented with the William Johnson Memorial Trophy. The following month, Likas defeated Catton to win the Ojai Invitational. The headline in The Foghorn read, “Likas Rammycackles All Comers in Ojai Invitational.” Likas then went on to capture the 1948 NCAA Singles Championship, was seeded number five, and beat top-seeded Victor Seixas of North Carolina in a hard fought 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 match for the title.

Harry Likas continued on the tennis circuit outpacing future Wimbledon Champions Jaroslav Drobný, Bob Falkenburg, Budge Patty, and Dick Savitt in play before joining the corporate world in 1949. An avid supporter of tennis scholarships for college students, Likas served on the Board of the United States Tennis Association (USTA NorCal, then known as the Northern California Tennis Association, NCTA). In his role as a board member, he transitioned the old Pacific Coast Championships, a tournament he had won as a junior, into a money tournament, the Fireman's Fund Open International. The tournament was played at the Round Hill Country Club in Alamo, CA and, due to Likas' role, was televised nationally on PBS. Likas is a retired insurance executive and investment manager living in the Bay Area, and has coached professional tennis players. He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame.

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