June 19, 2016

 

The Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame mourns the loss of William Bill Bos Jr. (Class of 1994), who passed away peacefully on June 8, 2016 at the age of 89.

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Bos was born in Holland, Michigan on November 5, 1926. In high school he received a basketball scholarship to Michigan State, where he began teaching tennis.

 

Bos attended Michigan State and Kalamazoo College on scholarship where he played basketball. He then attended The University of Michigan where he received his Masters Degree.  Bos joined the navy during WWII and went on to coach at Annapolis, at the U.S. Naval Academy. He coached the varsity tennis team to a winning record each year while playing many of the top schools in the country. In 1963, he went to work at the Dallas Country Club where he developed their tennis program to the highest level in club history. He was there 13 years and then spent the next 12 years at Brookhaven Country Club. In 1990 he went on to become the Director of Tennis for the Lakewood Country Club and remained there through 1997.

 

In his later years, Bos organized tennis camps all over the city of Dallas for all ages. He received many honors in his lifetime. In addition to the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and in 2002, in Las Vegas, he received the 40 year service award at the World Conference on Tennis.

 

Bos coached tennis for almost 50 years and what he enjoyed most about coaching was motivating people and watching them improve. It was estimated that Bos coached more people in Texas than any other pro and those people were the most exciting aspect of his career. He played with and coached a star-studded cast of celebrities from Rod Stewart, Roger Staubach to President George Bush. He shared his enthusiasm with everyone who stepped on a tennis court.

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