Obituary: Bruce Karr

The ITF is saddened to learn of the death of former wheelchair tennis player and tournament director Bruce Karr, winner of the ITF's Brad Parks Award in 2006.

Karr dedicated much of his life to wheelchair sports and began the National Wheelchair Sports Fund (NWSF) in the USA in 1986, with the primary purpose of raising funds to finance wheelchair athletes and programmes. After moving to Florida with his wife Verena, in 1989 Karr started a tennis tournament for 19 wheelchair players, which went on to become the Florida Open.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s the Florida Open in Boca Raton, with Karr as Tournament Director, was one of the largest and most prestigious tournaments on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and annually attracted the world’s best players. In 2002 the Florida Open was voted ITF Tournament of the Year by players on the Tour.

For much of its duration the Florida Open had ITF 1 Series status before being awarded Super Series status in 2010, making it one of the top tier of standalone wheelchair tournaments outside of the Grand Slams.

Karr served as a Regional Director for the former National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis, helped in the transition of wheelchair tennis into the USTA and served on the USTA Wheelchair Tennis Committee for a number of years.

In 2006 he was named as the recipient of the ITF’s Brad Park Award for his outstanding contribution to wheelchair tennis.

Outside of wheelchair tennis, between 1960 and 1978 Karr competed in five Paralympics, winning twelve gold medals in variety of sports, including wheelchair basketball, archery, table tennis and swimming. He was also inducted into the USA Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame.