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Eric Freak

Eric Freak was an outstanding tennis player who, with sound coaching from longtime PAC master T.G. Luke, succeeded in school boy championships and appeared set on a brilliant career in the game.

Harry Hopman, a legend in Australian tennis, coached at PAC in 1932 and declared in the press that Eric Freak was the finest tennis prospect in Australia. Freak even managed to take a set from Hopman in the Australian titles at Memorial Drive that year! The Wimbledon Champion of 1933, Jack Crawford, felt that Freak could succeed at Wimbledon and wanted to take him there.

This promising start was cut short in 1934 when the 18-year-old Freak died from a ruptured appendix. Freak's parents were devastated by his death and worked hard to ensure that following their deaths there would be a lasting memorial to their son at the school. This wish was realised with the opening of the Eric Freak Memorial Chapel in 1972. A large cabinet of his tennis trophies can be seen in the school museum.