President-elect Donald Trump, a fanatical golfer with a base of support in mixed martial arts, has turned to a former college tennis player to implement his economic goals.
On Tuesday, Trump announced the nomination of Howard Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, to serve as his Commerce Department secretary.
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Lutnick, 63, played varsity tennis at Division III Haverford College, and was honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association in 2017 with an award recognizing him as a “shining example of a student-athlete taking the tools and experience he gained on the tennis court … and applying them throughout a distinguished professional career.”
At Haverford, Lutnick played under the school’s legendary head coach Marty Gilbert, who was known to have been instrumental in bringing the sport of tennis to Israel. According to Haverford’s athletic department website, Lutnick finished his senior season with a 7-4 record before graduating in 1983.
Lutnick was the main financial donor behind the Haverford’s 100,000-square-foot athletic center, which opened in 2005 and was named in honor of Douglas B. Gardner, a Cantor Fitzgerald executive who was one of the hundreds of the firm’s employees, including Lutnick’s brother Gary, who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Cantor’s offices were located in the upper floors of the World Trade Center’s north tower.)
In 2008, Lutnick funded a new tennis facility for Haverford named for his brother.
Currently, Lutnick serves as co-chair of Trump’s White House transition team. The other co-chair is Linda McMahon, the former president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, who herself had been in the running to lead Commerce.
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