Jerry Kirk, 67: Avid tennis player and doubles champ

Tennis was Jerry Kirk’s world and he traveled the globe playing the game he loved, friends said.

Mr. Kirk, who was well-known on the senior circuit, spent much of his time playing or traveling to a tournament, said George Dickinson, a friend since college.

“From the tournament side, senior tennis is a very active circuit,” Mr. Dickinson said. “And he played in a tournament, what seemed like every week or so.”

Jerry L. Kirk, of Atlanta, died unexpectedly at his home Dec. 19. He was 67. A cause of death was not immediately available. A memorial service has been planned for 1 p.m. Thursday in Kellett Chapel at Peachtree Presbyterian Church. His body was cremated and the Cremation Society of Georgia was in charge.

At the time of his death, Mr. Kirk was an active tennis player and spent his time playing and managing his real estate investment properties, Mr. Dickinson said.

A former tennis pro at the Capital City Club, who was also the city tennis director in Atlanta, Mr. Kirk was born in Miami. According to a 2008 interview for a Florida tennis blog, Mr. Kirk said his love for tennis started while watching people play at a park near his home.

“Then I got asked to play and they would loan me a racket,” he said at the time. “To practice I would hit against the fire station wall.”

Mr. Kirk attended Georgia Tech and walked on to the tennis team, where he eventually earned a scholarship, said former teammate Walter “Wally” Johnson.

“If you put the team back together right now, he’d be the best player now,” Mr. Johnson said. “And that’s because he never stopped playing. He could move as fast as a guy 20 years his junior.”

Mr. Kirk graduated from Tech with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He later received a master’s degree in math from Georgia State. He worked for a time at Lockheed and Georgia Power, friends said. He was also a math teacher at Gainesville Junior College, where he also coached tennis.

Mr. Kirk was a champion doubles player and had won, or placed, in a number of tournaments, said friend James Purdy.

“That's where his focus was, on doubles, not singles,” Mr. Purdy said. “And it sort of fit his personality.”

Over the past 10 years, Mr. Kirk has been part of a twosome that won two notable events: a world title in Perth, Australia and a United States Tennis Association national clay court tournament in New Orleans. For both events, he partnered with Hugh Thomson, and the duo was ranked No. 1 in the South at least a half dozen times, Mr. Thomson said.

Mr. Kirk was a lifelong bachelor, “but it wasn’t because the ladies weren’t interested. The ladies loved Jerry,” Mr. Dickinson teased.

Mr. Kirk was constantly joshing his friends about one thing or another, especially their tennis game.

“He was always on me about my doubles game,” Mr. Dickinson said. “But I was also always on him about one thing or another.”

Mr. Kirk had a great many friends who went above and beyond for him, simply because he was such a good guy, Mr. Dickinson said.