Simply the Best Amateur In the World

When Harvard men's squash Co-Captain Kenton Jernigan turned pro April 12, an era in collegiate and amateur squash came to an end.

You wouldn't have heard about it from Jernigan, though, because the unassuming Dunster House senior has always let his accomplishments speak for themselves.

And those accomplishments have spoken loudly, indeed.

Since his freshman year, Jernigan has been the dominant player in collegiate squash. While Harvard has run its team record to an incredible 42-0, Jernigan has never lost an individual match during regular-season competition.

Jernigan has also won three intercollegiate individual championships. Perhaps most impressive, he's won the Ivy League Player of the Year award--the squash equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy--no less than four times.

The computer science major has ruled the world amateur ranks as well. He's won the U.S. men's amateur crown, the top amateur squash honor in North America, three times. This year, while shooting for a record-tying fourth consecutive title, he lost in a stunning upset to Yale senior Hugh LaBossier in the finals.

Quiet and unobtrusive off the court, Jernigan is an incredibly intense competitor whose court presence becomes downright fearsome when he dons his no-fog goggles. More than a few Princeton fans literally gasped in amazement when a particularly psyched-up Jernigan took the court during February's Harvard-Princeton match.

"Once Kenton ignites, there's no question about who's the more talented player and there's no question who's going to win," Crimson Co-Captain David Segal says. "Once he's decided he's going to win, that's it. It sounds inflated, but its's true."

Jernigan has played pro tournaments in the past as an amateur, and has been ranked as high as 15th in the world.

Whatever the future may hold, Kenton Jernigan has written a remarkable chapter in the tradition of Harvard squash.