Gene Rayburn is best remembered as the jovial host of the popular show Match Game. He also loved tennis, including participating in charity and celebrity tennis events/tournaments.
Rayburn did his best to fit the game into his extraordinarily busy entertainment schedule, often bemoaning that he didn’t have more time to play. That said, he often combined his love of the game with philanthropic efforts.
For example, Rayburn participated in “Raising a Racquet,” a celebrity tennis match to benefit the Manhattan Women’s Political Caucus. He also talked about tennis on Match Game. While introducing a contestant who mentioned being an avid tennis player, Rayburn said: “I love tennis. I wish I could get good at it. You must play all the time to be good.”
While tennis was his avocation, he specialized in entertaining.
Born Eugene Peter Jeljenic in 1917, Rayburn began his career in radio, hosting radio programs during the late 1940s and early 1950s. He hosted programs with Jack Lescoulie and Dee Finch, including Scream and Dream with Jack and Gene, Anything Goes with Rayburn and Finch, and Rayburn and Finch. He also appeared in Broadway musicals and shows, and performed in local and national productions around the country. Examples included Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Come Blow Your Horn, Under the Yum-Yum Tree, Gypsy, and The Impossible Years.
Rayburn with his trademark smile (photo courtesy Tennis-Prose)
From the 1950s to the 1980s, Rayburn appeared on numerous game shows as both a panelist and a host. As a panelist, he appeared in The Name’s the Same, What’s My Line? To Tell The Truth, Tattletales, and Password Plus. He hosted Make The Connection, Choose Up Sides, Dough Re Mi, and The Amateur’s Guide to Love.
A generation of television viewers will remember Rayburn as the host of Match Game, which he hosted for three decades. He enjoyed incorporating spots into the show, and many athletes/sports broadcasters appeared on the show’s original run and the 1970s revival. They included Mel Allen, Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Joe Pepitone, and Sandy Koufax.
Gene Rayburn died in 1999, a month before his 82nd birthday. He was 81.
