A creator of 'the indoor Wimbledon'

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Edward Fernberger, 86, of Rydal, a retired real estate developer and a tennis-tournament director for 30 years, died of pneumonia Aug. 24 at Abington Memorial Hospital.

In 1962, Mr. Fernberger and his wife, Marilyn Friedman Fernberger, chaired the U.S. Amateur Indoor Tennis Tournament in the field house at St. Joseph's College. By 1969, the event had become the men's U.S. Pro Indoor Tennis Championships at the Spectrum. When Jimmy Connors trounced Swedish star Bjorn Borg there in 1976, he told a reporter, "This is the indoor Wimbledon."

In the 1970s, the Fernbergers' nonprofit corporation ran both men's and women's pro indoor tournaments. Proceeds had exceeded $1 million by 1978 and paid for tennis programs for more than 100,000 youngsters in the Philadelphia area.

After the women's tournament lost its sponsor in 1979, the Fernbergers continued to direct the annual men's Pro Indoor Tennis Championships until retiring in 1991.

The Fernbergers, who played tennis for fun, got involved in competition in the 1950s when they joined the junior development committees of the Philadelphia Tennis Association and the Middle States Tennis Association and helped develop a junior program at Philmont Country Club in Huntingdon Valley.

The three Fernberger children were active in junior programs, and every winter the family traveled to Florida for a junior tournament. There the family met rising tennis stars from across the United States and abroad, the Fernbergers' son Jim said.

His parents established an indoor tournament in Philadelphia to encourage up-and-coming players and give them opportunities to play in the winter, he said.

The Fernbergers frequently had players as houseguests. "John Newcombe was my roommate," Jim Fernberger said. An Australian, Newcombe won seven Grand Slam singles titles, including three at Wimbledon.

Over the years, the Fernbergers became friendly with top players including Pete Sampras, Arthur Ashe, and Bobby Riggs. When the flamboyant Riggs challenged Wimbledon champion Margaret Court to a match on Mother's Day in 1973, Mr. Fernberger told an Inquirer reporter: "I think tennis needs a little carnival atmosphere every now and then. It gets the game back on the sports pages, and it gets people talking about it. It's good for the game."

A talented photographer, Mr. Fernberger took hundreds of photos at the U.S. Pro Indoor Tennis Championships and other tennis events. He and his wife attended more than 30 Wimbledon tournaments and attended the U.S. Open for 50 years. Many of his photos were published in World Tennis magazine, and he provided photos for tournament programs.

After he and his wife moved from Huntingdon Valley to Rydal in the 1990s, he donated his collection of more than 100,000 photos to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. The Fernbergers also donated items from their extensive collection of tennis memorabilia to the archives there.

Mr. Fernberger grew up in Germantown and graduated from Germantown Friends School, where he played baseball and football. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific and the Philippines.

After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife.

He worked for the Gimbels department store in Philadelphia before joining his mother-in-law, Edith Friedman, in starting a real estate development firm in Huntingdon Valley. He retired from the firm in the early 1990s.

Mr. Fernberger served on the boards of the Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission and the Philadelphia Sports Congress. He was a lifetime member of the Philadelphia Police Athletic League board and a 60-year member and current president of the board of Mount Sinai Cemetery in Philadelphia.

He was a volunteer at Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

In addition to his son and wife of 63 years, Mr. Fernberger is survived by another son, Edward Jr.; a daughter, Ellen; four grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sept. 20 at Germantown Friends Meeting, 47 W. Coulter St.

Memorial donations may be made to the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center, 4842 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia 19129.