Louis Edwin Kuhler, Jr. (July 11, 1902 - March 21, 1925) was a promising young American tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player who was ranked as high as No. 26 in the United States before he died at age 22.

Kuhler, born in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, was the son of Louis Sr. and Mary Fromeyer Kuhler. In 1922, at the age of 20, he won the tournament in his hometown now known as the Cincinnati Masters

Cincinnati Masters

The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...

. In the next year, 1923, he successfully defended his singles title and took the doubles title as well (with Howard Cordes). Also in 1923, he won the Ohio State championship over Kirk Reid of Cleveland.

The following year, 1924, he reached the quarterfinals in Cincinnati before falling to former National junior champion Julius Sagalowsky

Julius Sagalowsky

Julius Sagalowsky was an important American amateur tennis player in the 1920s....

. Also, at the Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 state championships he was the singles runner-up (falling to George Lott

George Lott

George Martin Lott was an American tennis player and tennis coach who was born in Springfield, Illinois, United States. Lott is mostly remembered as being one of the greatest doubles players of all time. He won the U.S. title five times with three different partners: John Hennessey in 1928; John...

) and won the mixed doubles with Olga Strashun.

Kuhler did not get much of a chance to add to his laurels in 1925. He died of encephalitis

Encephalitis

Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...

 (an inflammation of the brain) four months shy of his twenty-third birthday. He was buried in Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery

Spring Grove Cemetery

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is a nonprofit garden cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the second largest cemetery in the United States and is recognized as a U.S. National Historic Landmark....

on March 23, 1925.

Sources

• From Club Court to Center Court by Phillip S. Smith (2008 Edition; ISBN# 978-0-9712445-7-3)