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First Woman Tennis Player
May Sutton is America's first woman tennis player of international reknown. She wins the Pacific Southwest Championship at age 13. After marrying Tom Bundy in 1912, she retired to raise a family, but she returned to competitive tennis in 1921. She reached the finals of the national doubles championship in 1925 and the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon singles in 1929. Sutton had speed, a strong serve and forehand, and the willingness to rush the net and volley when the opportunity arose. She was a -
Lucy Diggs Slowe
Lucy Diggs Slowe wins the singles title at the first American Tennis Association (ATA) national tournament, becoming the first female African-American national champion in any sport. After Slowe's death, Howard University named a graduate women's residence hall in her honor. Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall opened in 1943. Located at 1919 Third Street, NW, the hall today operates as a co-ed residence. And, the District of Columbia honored her by naming Lucy Diggs Slowe Elementary School. -
Suzanne Lenglen
Suzanne Lenglen vs Helen Wills - 1926 Cannes, France
At the Summer Olympics, France's Suzanne Lenglen abandoned the customary tennis garb for a short, pleated skirt, sleeveless silk blouse, and matching sweater. She won two gold and a bronze medal and became the first female celebrity athlete. -
Ora Washington
Ora Washington, a black American woman, wins her first American Tennis Association's singles title, a title she held for 7 years; she regains it in 1937. Her record held until Althea Gibson broke it with 9 titles. In professional tennis, she won the American Tennis Association's national singles eight times in nine years between 1929-1937 and 12 straight double championships. -
Ann Curtis
Swimmer Ann Curtis becomes the first woman to win the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, presented annually by the Amateur Athletic Union since 1930. The Sullivan Award is named after the former AAU president and given to the athlete who, “by his or her performance, example and influence as an amateur, has done the most during the year to advance the cause of sportsmanship.” An athlete cannot win the award more than once. -
Patty Berg
Patty Berg hits the first "hole-in-one" for a woman in a golf tournament. Berg took up golf in 1931 and began her amateur career in 1934, winning her first title that year - the Minneapolis City Championship. She came to national attention by reaching the final of the 1935 U.S. Women's Amateur, losing to Glenna Collett-Vare in Vare's final Amateur victory. Berg won the Titleholders in 1937. In 1938, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur at Westmoreland and the Women's Western Amateur. -
Helen Shablis
Helen Shablis of the USA is the first woman's Tenpin Bowling World Champion. Helen Shablis won the all-events title at the 1963 USBC Women's Championships. In the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs competition in 1963, Shablis captained the U.S. women's team that captured a European-style team title; she also earned the Women's All-Events title and paired with Dorothy Wilkinson to win the women's doubles title. -
Ann Meyers
Ann Meyers is the first high school player to make the women's national basketball team. Meyers was the first player to be part of the U.S. national team while still in high school. She was the second woman to be signed to a four-year athletic scholarship for college, at UCLA. She was also the only woman to sign a contract with a National Basketball Association team, the Indiana Pacers (1979). -
Lynne Cox
Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim the Bering Strait from Alaska to the former Soviet Union. Lynne Cox (born 1957 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American long-distance open-water swimmer and writer. In 1971, she and her teammates were the first group of teenagers to complete the crossing of the Catalina Island Channel in California. She was always the slowest swimmer in her swim classes. -
Heather Fuhr
Heather FuhrHeather Fuhr is the Ironman Triathlon World Champion. Heather Fuhr (born January 19, 1968 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a female triathlete from Canada, considered one of the best women runners in triathlon. Fuhr was the Ironman Triathlon World Champion in 1997. Among her other victories are winning Ironman USA in 1999, 2001–2003 and 2005. She is married to Roch Frey.
