B.P. Schwengers

Major Accomplishments

Member of the first Canadian Davis Cup team in 1913 and 1914.
Member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Member of BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

Biography

Bernard Schwengers grew up playing on the courts of the Vancouver Lawn Tennis Club. He was a three-time champion at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis event in both singles and doubles. He was the singles champion in 1900 and 1906 as well as the doubles champion in 1906. During this time, he was also competing at the Victoria Lawn Tennis Club Championship and won the singles event in 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910 and 1914, and the doubles in 1901 and 1907.
Schwengers tended to play events on the west coast, but he did travel to Ontario and Quebec for the big events, including the Quebec provincial open, which he won in 1911. He was also four-time champion at the British Columbia Open in 1907, 1908, 1910 and 1914 and a two-time doubles champion, 1906, 1907. He also won the pacific North-west Championship five consecutive years from 1909-1913.

Schwengers was an asset on the 1913 and 1914 Canadian Davis Cup team as he played both singles and doubles. In 1913, the team faced-off against South Africa and they were counting on Schwengers in both singles and doubles. He lost his first singles match, but came back and won his doubles with R.B. Powell in a close four-set match. He then won his singles match to up the final score to 4-1 over South Africa.

Canada played two more ties that year, the first was against Belgium and Schwengers again proved why he was an asset to the team and why “the 1913 team was considered one of the Best Davis Cup teams Canada has ever produced” (BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum). Canada topped Belgium 5-0 and Schwengers was responsible for three of the five wins. He captured his first singles match in straight sets and his second match in four. He competed with Powell again in doubles and the two defeated Watson and W.H. Du Vivier in three-sets.

“Bernie Schwengers, whom Al Stevenson, Tennis B.C.’s most illustrious historian, calls the greatest all-round athlete the province – or the nation – has ever produced. Schwengers’ record of achievements certainly lends credibility to that claim. He had signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, played a superb rugby and soccer game, and even had his photo appear in Sandow’s Muscle Magazine, the Gentleman’s Quartely of the period.” (Peter Ustinov, Advantage Canada)