A. Carter Fergusson died last weekend at the age of ninety-three.
Fergusson famously played in sixty-two consecutive National Singles tournaments. From 1948 through 2009, he participating in either the team, in the open or in a masters draw at the Nationals. He ended his streak in 2009 at the age of eighty-eight.
Introduced to the game at Haverford School in the late 1930s, Fergusson led Yale to two national championships, including in 1947 when he went 13-0 at number one on the ladder. He was inducted into the College Squash Association Hall of Fame in 1994.
In 1948, he played number one on the five-man Philadelphia team at his first National Singles in Boston. In the finals, with the overall match tied at 2-2, he won the decisive No.1 match, upsetting the defending champions Detroit. He went on to win numerous tournaments, including the Pennsylvania States, the Woodruff-Nee and the DeForest-Tyler and was ranked as high as No.3 in the nation.
Fergusson was an active squash administrator. He was the president of Merion Cricket Club (1976-79) and the U.S. Jesters (1967-70) and was USA Representative of the Jesters from 2006 until his death. He was the longtime chair of US Squash’s endowment committee and ranking committee and was a member of numerous other committees including nominating. One of the last of the pre-Second World War squash players, Fergusson was a friend to many generations of players.
Fergusson worked for his family’s company, Alex C. Fergusson, a textile, tanning and soap supply firm. He is survived by his wife Dudy and their three daughters, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
In October 2014 US Squash recognized Carter Fergusson’s extraordinary consistency by renaming an important award in his honor. The A. Carter Fergusson Grand Master Honor Roll, celebrating a lifetime of contributions and accomplishments in squash, will, in perpetuity, recognize his tremendous legacy.
