Bryan Grant

Bryan Grant

Bryan Morel "Bitsy" Grant, Jr (December 25, 1909 – June 5, 1986) was an American amateur tennis champion. At 5 feet 4 inches (162 cm) and 120 lbs (54 kg), Grant was the smallest American man to win a championship on the international tennis circuit. A right-handed retriever, he was able to beat heavy-hitting greats such as Don Budge and Ellsworth Vines even when playing on grass. His nickname was "Itsy Bitsy the Giant Killer". At a young age, Grant was already a star in football, basketball and tennis at local Atlanta schools. In 1929, he won the Georgia state (GIAA) tennis title. Grant had gained national stature in tennis long before his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1933. During World War II, he served in the Pacific Islands as a US Army Rifleman in and around Papua New Guinea. His letters to his future wife attest that he fought out of a foxhole for several months, and saw heavy and repeated firefights.Grant was a member of the Piedmont Driving Club. Grant died at the age of 76 at his home he shared with his sister, Harriet Keyes Grant behind Lovett School in Townsend Place. He was survived by his sister, Harriet, his son Bryan M. Grant III, his daughter, Mary (Grant) McDonald, and his three grandchildren, Bryan M. "Beau" Grant IV, Jeffrey Bryan McDonald, and Christopher McDonald.

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