Maury Schwartzman, a tennis pro whose lessons about the game and about life reached a long list of champions during his 60 years of teaching on the courts, died of congestive heart failure Sunday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. He was 81.
"Maury was probably the most underrated pro in the country. I think he was one of the best," said Steven Krulevitz, a former All-American, Davis Cup competitor and Schwartzman protege now coaching at the Greenspring Racquet Club.
Of Baltimore's four top professional tour players -- Mr. Krulevitz, Elise Burgin, Andrea Leand and Pam Shriver -- Mr. Schwartzman had an early hand in the training of all but the last.
There are also hundreds of amateur players and teaching pros in the region who used lessons learned from Mr. Schwartzman to build their careers, in and out of tennis.
At his death, the Stoneleigh resident was head pro at the Bare Hills Tennis Club, where he had taught for 20 years. He continued to teach young players there until just three weeks before his death.
"His love of the game and his desire to help people play the game were above everything else, and that's saying a lot," said Lenny Schloss, a former tour player who now teaches at the Baltimore Tennis and Fitness Center in Pikesville.
Maurice "Maury" Schwartzman was born in Baltimore. He graduated from City College in 1930 and attended the University of Maryland, where he captained the tennis team. He ranked No. 1 there and was undefeated.
He first picked up a tennis racket, he said, when he took up a neighborhood challenge and hit a tennis ball against a wall 165 consecutive times.
About 1936, he began teaching at L'Hirondelle Country Club in Ruxton. When World War II interrupted, he became an artillery instructor at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. After the war, he returned to the private clubs, but also taught and scouted for talent on the public courts at Druid Hill Park.
That's where he spotted Chuck Abelson, a poor kid who turned up in dungarees and high-top sneakers and began smacking the balls against a wall as hard as he could.
"A couple of balls winged by his ear and he said, 'Come here young man, and I'll show you how to hit that ball before you kill somebody,' " said Dr. Abelson, who later used his tennis talent to win a college scholarship, and became an oral surgeon.
"Maury was probably one of the most important people in my life," he said. "It went well beyond tennis. He . . . made you believe in yourself. He made you reach a little higher, try a little harder."
"He wouldn't let you move too fast," Dr. Abelson said of the free lessons. "As a kid you'd want to try all the fancy shots. But he wanted to make sure you understood the fundamentals."
Mr. Schwartzman insisted that his students show up every day, dress properly, control their anger and work hard on the basics until they were instinctive.
He watched his best students reach the heights with other coaches. But "I like what I'm doing," he said. "My strong point is taking 7-year-olds and 8-year-olds and drilling them to become good players. When I can't run enough to return their shots, I have to give the kids to someone who can."
He stuck with his trademark white tennis slacks as the game changed around him, sometimes for the worse. "I can do without the crudeness," he said.
In 1991, Mr. Schwartzman was honored by the Greater Baltimore Tennis Patrons Association, which created a scholarship in his honor at the University of Maryland.
He is survived by his wife of 34 years, the former Judith Tormey; a son, Charles Schwartzman of Westbury, N.Y.; two daughters, Margaret Schudel of Baltimore and Kathleen Schwartzman of Monkton; and a sister, Miriam Konigsberg of Baltimore.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Ruck Towson Funeral Home, 1050 York Road, with burial at the Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.
Memorial donations may be made to the Greater Baltimore Tennis Patrons Association, P.O. Box 5416, Towson 21285; or to Performing Arts for Children's Education, Baltimore Music Club, 949 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson 21286.