Ex-Sportswriter, Airline Executive Tupper Dies

La Jolla resident Fred Tupper, who covered 13 summer and winter Olympics for the New York Times and was a renowned tennis and golf writer, died in an El Cajon convalescent home Thursday after a long illness. He was 75.

A London-based executive with Pan American World Airways for more than 20 years, Tupper founded Pan Am’s magazine and wrote a gossip column for a London newspaper.

But sports was his passion, and he spent his vacations from Pan Am covering such prestigious events as the Wimbledon tennis tournament in England.

Shortly after World War II, in which he served as a lieutenant commander in the Navy, Tupper began covering sports for the Times while maintaining his full-time job with the airline. During this time, Tupper made friends with many of the stars in the tennis and golf worlds, his wife, Barbara, said from her home in La Jolla.

“Jack Nicklaus, Tony Trabert, Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez. God, I had them all to my house,” said Barbara Tupper, who added that Tupper himself was a very good tennis player and golfer.

The two met in London after the war. Wednesday was their 33rd wedding anniversary, she said.

“He was a very amusing man,” Barbara Tupper said. “Very, very amusing. . . . He was a great storyteller.”

Tupper was born in Vermont and was a graduate of Andover Academy in Massachusetts and of the University of Vermont.

Tupper also is survived by a son, Rick, of La Jolla.

No services are planned. Cremation will be under the direction of the Neptune Society, and Tupper’s ashes are to be scattered at sea.

The family asks that contributions be sent to the Alzheimer’s Research Center at UC San Diego.