WEEKENDER : Neer Tournament Concludes

The 14th annual Phil Neer Tennis Tournament will wrap up play for another year with singles, doubles and mixed doubles competition in five divisions all day Saturday and Sunday at the Recreation Park tennis courts in El Segundo.

The tournament, which has grown each year, opened play last weekend with its namesake missing for the first time since it was organized in his honor in 1977.

Phil Neer, a longtime El Segundo resident and a national collegiate tennis champion of the 1920s, died the day after Christmas last year and just two days after his 88th birthday.

Neer, the NCAA singles champion in 1921 and half of the 1922 NCAA championship doubles squad, taught the sport in El Segundo for several decades following his graduation from Stanford University in 1925.

Stanford, which now boasts one of the premier tennis programs in the nation, organized its team after Neer campaigned for it on campus in 1918. He later went on to play in eight U.S. Open tournaments at Forest Hills and won three California state doubles championships.

Tournament information: (213) 322-3842.