Ellsworth Vines was ranked No. 1 in the world in men's tennis. After lettering in both tennis and basketball at PHS, Vines, then 19, took an athletic scholarship to play basketball at USC. In tennis, he used a powerful serve to help capture the U.S. Clay Court and U.S. Open singles titles in 1931. The next year, Vines won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon championships, earning his world No. 1 ranking. He played on the first professional tennis circuit that began in 1934. Vines later would reinvent himself as a golfer, competing on the PGA Tour and finishing in the semifinals of the PGA Championship in 1951. Vines was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (1962) and later the Southern California PGA Hall of Fame.  

*attended Pasadena High only when the campus was part of then Pasadena Junior College.