Jimmy Van Alen Initially it was a best-of-nine-points, sudden death tie-break which made it possible to have simultaneous match points for both players. Via a few intermediary steps this would evolve into the current best-of-twelve-point tie-break. He was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965. He was a great fan of Clement C. Moore's famous poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" which is more commonly known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas". He purchased and restored the Clement C. Moore house on Catherine Street in Newport, RI and would make an annual public reading of the poem to children during the
A Visit from St. Nicholas composer Alma Deutscher (b. 2005). Four hand-written copies of the poem are known to exist and three are in museums, including the New-York Historical Society library. The fourth copy, written out and signed by Clement Clarke Moore as a gift to a friend in 1860, was sold by one private collector to another in December 2006. It was purchased for $280,000 by an unnamed "chief executive officer of a media company" who resides in New York City, according to Dallas, Texas-based Heritage Auctions which brokered the private sale. Moore's connection with the poem has been questioned by Professor Donald Foster,