Vitas Gerulaitis

AKA:

The Lithuanian Lion

Birth Name:

Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis

Birth Date:

July 26, 1954

Birth Place:

Brooklyn, New York

Death Date:

September 17, 1994

Place of Death:

170 Meadow Lane, Southhampton, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Cemetery Name:

St. Charles Resurrection Cemeteries

Claim to Fame:

Sports

Dashing and daring, Vitas Gerulaitis was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lithuanian immigrants. He was the sport’s ultimate jetsetter in the late 1970s, adored by a legion of female fans, who screamed, “Take me home!” after his matches. He was also an intense competitor to his closest rivals, Connors, Guillermo Vilas, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, who became good friends. During a golden era for men’s tennis, he rose to a career-high No. 3 and was ranked inside the Top 10 for seven straight years until 1983. On his last day, staying in the pool house of a friend in Southampton, NY, Gerulaitis ordered a sandwich and watched golf on television. At 3 p.m. the next day, 17 September, a housekeeper found his body. An inquest found that he had died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty propane heater, which had seeped into the heating and air conditioning system. He was 40 years old.

Fun Facts

Vitas had an excellent sense of humor. To this day, the tennis world is quick to recall his quip after beating Jimmy Connors in the semi-finals of the January 1980 Masters. Although Gerulaitis had won their first meeting indoors at New York in 1972, Connors had gone on to claim their next 16 matches. At the press conference, a reporter asked Gerulaitis how he had finally managed to beat Connors after losing 16 in a row. Gerulaitis grinned and said, “And let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.” The room erupted with laughter.

Back at home, Gerulaitis was ‘Mr New York’. As a freshman at Columbia University, prior to turning pro one year later in 1971, he had owned a yellow Datsun 240-Z sports car. Later, in his native New York, he would leave his Long Island home for a night out in a yellow Rolls Royce with the personalized number plate ‘VITAS’. His non-stop reverie, whether it was dinner at the Playboy Club, drinks at Daisy, or discos like Annabel’s in London or Studio 54 in New York with his many friends, included artist Andy Warhol, his ‘fraternal twin’, Borg, and McEnroe. He earned the nickname, ‘Broadway Vitas’. Every New Yorker knew him… and loved him.

At his funeral, Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, and John McEnroe carried him down. They were his blood brothers. To the end.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

St. Charles Resurrection Cemeteries

2015 Wellwood Avenue

Farmingdale, New York, 11735

USA

North America

Map:

Map of St. Charles / Resurrection Cemeteries

Grave Location:

Section 28, Plot 8, Range D, Grave 8269

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery make your way to the interment chapel in the center of the cemetery. Across from the chapel is Section 28. Within Section 28 you will walk towards the large monument called The Pieta. Tennis legend Vitas Gerulaitis is buried closest to the monument.