Instead of letting his life remain shattered when a 1984 car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, John Howard Greer decided to take the world on from his new wheelchair one set of tennis at a time.

The former mechanic and Army reservist adopted the new sport and became an elite, world-ranked wheelchair singles and doubles player who inspired others in Hawaii and abroad until his death in November at age 56 from what the family said was non-COVID-19 causes.

“He became paralyzed and, literally, woke up the next day and dealt with the challenge before him and started wheeling, playing tennis and never stopped,” his sister, Kitty, said in a 2016 tribute when he was inducted into the U. S. Tennis Association Hawaii Pacific Hall of Fame.

Born in Hilo and a graduate of Castle High, Greer eventually turned pro in tennis, climbed as high as sixth in the world rankings and was part of the U.S. Team for the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

In the course of his career, he won 27 singles and 37 doubles titles, was a three-time U. S. World Cup member and appeared at Wimbledon, the U. S. Open and other historic events and venues.

Friends and former competitors praised Greer as a selfless contributor who was diesel driven in his pursuits and tirelessly encouraged others, becoming a pioneer in wheelchair tennis and helping to grow the sport here.

Greer was also a competitive outrigger canoe paddler who competed in the 2008 and 2012 World Sprints International and was a president of the nonprofit Pure Light Racing, which promotes adaptive canoe paddling.

But “wheelchair tennis became his obsession, for sure,” said his wife, Christine, who was a member of the Great Britain women’s team when they first met in at the World Cup in Barcelona in 1997.

Richard Julian entered wheelchair tennis after Greer and came to look upon him as an inspirational figure, a fierce competitor and, eventually, as a championship doubles partner. “He was just an amazing person to be around and such a great mentor for many of us.”

Julian said, “He was somebody you looked up to as the best player on the island but he was also well known internationally and a good representative of Hawaii getting to the elite professional level.”

Howard Tacub, a former state champion in singles and doubles who had helped coach Greer, said in a 2016 YouTube testimony, “I wondered what it would be like to play him at his game, him in a chair and me in a chair. (But) that was a mistake. That was really humbling. It gave me a great appreciation for what he (went) through and how good you have to be not just to hit the ball but to maneuver that chair.”

Madeleine Dreith, Director of Community Tennis for the HTA, said Greer, “Helped with community tennis programs in the parks and was instrumental in inspiring a lot of the players now in the Paralympics. Off the court, he was a quiet guy and you learned how special he was not from what he said but from what he did.”

The family said a celebration of life will be held at a future date.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.