About Horace Rice
Horace Rice (5 September 1872 – 18 January 1950) was an Australian tennis player. The left-handed Rice, who played in knickerbockers and long black socks, won the Men's Singles title at the 1907 Australasian Championships, beating Harry Parker in the final. Parker, with his "ever varying placing strokes kept his opponent flying about from side to side of the court and from the net to base line. This, however, had little effect upon Rice, whose staying powers were remarkable, and whose returns almost always were sure and accurate". He was also runner-up at the Australasian championships 3 times (in 1910, 1911 and 1915). He reached the semi finals in 1920 aged 47 and faced Ron Thomas. Rice was 2 sets to 1 down, 5-2 down and faced two match points on Thomas' serve, before staging a comeback to force a fifth set, before eventually losing. He reached the semi finals again in 1923 aged 50 but on a hot day lost in four sets to Bert St. John. He won the Men's Doubles title at the 1915 Championships, partnering Clarence Todd. Edgar Rice, the youngest of the brothers, one occasionally sees still having his game on the Sydney Cricket Ground courts. At the time of winning his last Grand Slam title and his only one mixed doubles title (on 18 August 1923), he was 50 years and 347 days, which is the all-time record for men in tennis history.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.