Clifford Sutter was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Fred W. Sutter, who died December 17, 1943 and resided at 5526 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans. Fred W. Sutter was a bakery owner who, with the help of neighbors with whom he wished to play tennis, built his own grass tennis court on two vacant lots adjacent to Sutter's property on Loyola Avenue in New Orleans, and Fred W. Sutter's sons Eddie, Cliff and Ernie grew up from early childhood playing on that court. Cliff Sutter became the only male New Orleanian to play the main draw singles at Wimbledon, in 1933, where he beat Germany's Baron Gottfried von Cramm. Cliff's younger brother Ernie, who like Cliff won the Intercollegiate singles twice in the 1930s, was severely wounded while serving in the U.S. Army in North Africa in 1943 during WWII, curtailing his tennis career. Ernie became a top lawyer with Shell Oil Co. after the war and eventually made a tennis comeback, winning the U.S. Veterans' Doubles Championship at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston with his brother Cliff in 1961.
Tennis career
Sutter played his collegiate tennis at Tulane University, where he won the NCAA singles championship in 1930 and 1932. In 1931, he won the singles championship and was a doubles finalist at the Tri-State Tennis Tournament, defeating Bruce Barnes in the singles final. He also won the doubles title in Cincinnati in 1930 with his long-time tennis partner Maurice "Dukey" Bayon. At the U.S. National Championships, Sutter reached the semifinals in 1932 which he lost in five sets to World no. 1 and eventual champion Ellsworth Vines. He reached the quarterfinals in 1930, 1933 and 1934. Sutter was ranked World No. 5 for 1932 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph. His brother Ernie was also a tennis player. Ernie won the NCAA singles for Tulane twice, 1936–37, reached the quarterfinals in singles in Cincinnati in 1934, and once beat Bobby Riggs on clay in the River Oaks tournament in Houston, shortly before Riggs would win Wimbledon in 1939. In 1991 Sutter was inducted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame.
