(1928 – )
The innovative founder of the modern junior squash scene, Fred Weymuller changed the way many players first learned the game. In the late 1960s he developed a junior squash program at the Heights Casino in Brooklyn, where along with his wife Carol Weymuller, made it the model of all future club programs: the Weymullers were the first to take juniors to the Nationals (in 1982 all four girls’ division winners were protégés), the first to start a summer squash camp, the first to lead international summer squash tours, and at a time when most juniors were not allowed to play in private clubs, made the Heights Casino a hotbed of junior squash by inventing the method of group teaching. Among the dozens of champions to come out of their program was fellow Hall of Famer Alicia McConnell. Fred served on the first US Squash Junior Committee and coached the U.S. Junior Boys team at the 1984 and 1986 World championships. Anticipating the change to softball, he was one of the earliest advocates for the game, starting softball leagues in New York and encouraging off-season play. He was also the first to suggest the idea of Bronze and Silver tournaments for less experienced juniors. As president of the North American hardball pro tour, he helped develop a certification process for teaching pros. From 1980 to 2000 he taught squash and tennis at the Genesee Valley Club, the University Club of Rochester and the Rochester Squash & Fitness Club. Awarded the President’s Cup in 1994, Fred Weymuller quietly and creatively led the late twentieth-century expansion of U.S. squash.
