Willard Frederick Crocker was born July 21, 1898 in Newton, Mass. He studied medicine and later majored in English at McGill, from 1920 to 1924 and developed into one of the best tennis players in Canada by the age of 24.
He played on the Canadian Davis Cup team for eight straight years from 1923 to 1930, winning four matches and serving a stint as playing captain in 1926.
He captained the McGill team in 1920, winning the Canadian intercollegiate singles and doubles titles that year. In 1923, he won the intercollegiate singles title again while serving as team president.
Crocker was rated as one of the top players in Canada and was commended by several critics of the game at the time, both in Canada and in the United States. He was Canada's No. 2-ranked player for four straight years from 1926 to 1929.
His game was beautiful to watch, always steady but with flashes of brilliant play that indicated he had studied the game from the theoretical side. His serve was powerful and effective and he had an ability to receive everything well. He brought the crowd to their feet time and time again with hard drives off his forehand and his backhand shots down the side lines. His low volleys also were exceptionally good.
Crocker twice swept both the Ontario and Quebec provincial singles and doubles titles in 1923 and 1925. In 1923, he won the Canadian indoor singles title and was a finalist at the outdoor championships.
He also won the Canadian singles titles in 1925 and 1929. In doubles play, he won three Canadian outdoor titles with Jack Wright, his McGill and Davis Cup teammate, in 1923, 1925 and 1929.
In indoor play he teamed with Wright to capture three Canadian doubles titles (1922, 1925 and 1926).
Crocker acted as a musical director of the McGill theatrical Red & White Review in 1924-25. He was recognized as one of the best piano players around the university and composed a number of well-known pieces at the time.
He was inducted posthumously into the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in addition to the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.
