HENRY VALENTINE, SHELTON HORSLEY & DELL SYLVIA:
KINGS OF THE COURT

Part Two in a Series
4/06/06
by Sara James

Henry Valentine, in his office at Davenport & Co., the current sponsor of the Richmond City Tennis Championships

The City Singles title didn't change hands much in the 1930's and 40's.  When Bobby Leitch went into military service, others finally had a shot.  Cliff Miller, a perennial champ who had won an amazing six titles (five in a row before Leitch came along) seized his opportunity in '42. In Leitch's absence, Miller made it to the finals but went down to newcomers Paul Pollard and Norbert Burgess.  Pollard captured the crown twice before Leitch returned and again became king of the court. When Leitch moved out of town, a new crop of players emerged.  Among them:  Frank Hartz, Henry Valentine, Delmer (Dell) Sylvia and Shelton Horsley.  This group ruled the courts from the mid 40's thru the mid 50's until Sam Wood's Byrd Park proteges became well-known East Coast powerhouses in the late 50's and early 60's.

Henry Valentine and Shelton Horsley were cousins who played tennis every day.  Henry went to Woodberry Forest, a posh boarding school west of Richmond.  Shelton grew up playing on his grandfather's court in Westmoreland Place, and attended St. Christopher's.  When Shelton was 15, he played in the semifinals of the city tournament and surprised the gallery by beating seeded player Joe Kranitzky.  In 1945, after completing their first year at University of Virginia, the two cousins were drafted on the same day and sent overseas.  Since the war was already over, their tour of duty didn't take long, and they returned to Richmond.

In 1947, Henry and Shelton teamed up but lost in the finals for the city doubles title.  In 1948, Henry lost the singles title to Frank Hartz.  In 1949, persistence paid off.  Henry and Shelton battled for the city singles title.  Henry won it.  He held the title for a year, then lost it to Shelton one year later.  The pair went on to win the city doubles championship two more times, before being defeated in the finals in '52 by Dell Sylvia and Bobby Payne.  Sylvia soon became the cousins' nemesis, with Dell and Shelton fighting it out for the title on Court 1 at the Country Club of Virginia for several years.   "Delmer was very quick, and had the most beautiful strokes," said City title winner Anne Whitfield Kenny about Dell Sylvia.   "He had a lovely game, but a hair-trigger temper.  He'd throw fits on the court, and used gamesmanship to win.  But some players figured out that the way to beat him was to let that temper beat Delmer....Shelton would just put his head down, and let Dell have his temper tantrum.  He refused to let Dell get the best of him.

Dr. Shelton Horsley

"Henry Valentine was a natural athlete.  He really should have won more," Anne said. (Anne will be featured in an upcoming article).

After winning the title in '49 at the age of 21, Henry Valentine became a registered rep for Davenport and Company.  He eventually was named President of the company in 1972, and served in that capacity for twenty years before retiring.  During those years, Henry took up golf.  "You don't find that many businessmen playing tennis these days," he claims.  At 79, he still walks the golf course.

Henry won the city title at age 21,  married at age 26 and had four children, all boys.  They played lacrosse, baseball and basketball-- not tennis-- he lamented.  "I had more damn fun playing tennis," Henry told me, as we sat in his corner office at Davenport & Co. recently. A useless tidbit:  Henry's birthday is the same day as Lou Einwick's (Lou is the current Executive Director of the RTA).  "I remember I'd get Lou and Massey and Huck to play doubles if I insulted them enough.  Lou would come play and just throw out garbage," he said laughing.

Henry said one of his fondest tennis memories was playing for the city title at CCV in 1948.  He collapsed in the finals against Frank Hartz due to heat exhaustion.  "I remember winning the first set 6-0, but then I hardly can recall anything after that.  Let me tell you sister, it was 2:00 in the afternoon and  96º.  I swore to myself that I would get in better shape, and I did.  I won the title the next year."  He defeated his cousin.

Shelton would become Dr. Shelton Horsley, attending Harvard and UVA Medical School.  He settled at MCV where he practiced for twenty years as a leading cancer surgeon.   He married and had 3 children, two girls and a boy, who all play tennis socially.  Due to back problems, Shelton gave up tennis to play golf.

Shelton, who also won the VA State singles title three times ('49, '50 and '52) remembers playing with wooden racquets and galleries full of people watching tournaments.  "Tennis was a much bigger sport in Richmond then than it is now," he said.  "In those days, you wouldn't see a page in the newspaper covering the City Tournament.  You'd see four pages of coverage of all the matches."

"Sam Woods had a lot to do with it.  There was so much interest in what was going on at Byrd Park, where he was teaching.

"And I really had a lot of fun playing in the Hotchkiss cup back in '60-'65.  It was a great bunch of guys:  Bruce Sylvia, Bitsy Harrison, Henry and Massey Valentine, Eddie Phillips.  Dell played too, but he could be such a brat."  The Hotchkiss Cup team, made up of the best players in the area, traveled to Baltimore and Washington, DC to represent Richmond.  "We won the cup several times," Dr. Horsley said.  "Which was good because Washington was so damn arrogant."  The cup still resides at the Country Club of Virginia.

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NEXT:  Men's Champions Bobby Payne, Bobby Bortner and Gene Wash. Women's Champions Amanda Tevepaugh and Anne Whitfield.