Eleonora Randolph Sears (September 28, 1881 – March 16, 1968) was an American tennis champion of the 1910s. In addition, she was a champion squash player, and prominent in other sports; she is considered one of the leading all-round women athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
Early life
Sears was the daughter of Boston businessman Frederick Richard Sears and a granddaughter of T. Jefferson Coolidge (who was a great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson) and Hetty Appleton, and a cousin of Henry Cabot Lodge. Sears' father was also known for playing the first tennis game in the United States, his opponent being his cousin James Dwight who brought the game from Europe.
Sears was raised in wealth and privilege. She was acquainted with Corinne Douglass Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt, all related to President Theodore Roosevelt. She played tennis at a competition organized by Ava Lowle Willing, the wife of John Jacob Astor IV, and she attended the wedding of tennis champion Robert Wrenn. For a while she dated Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, the sporty scion of the Vanderbilt fortune.Ohnsborg 2011, p. 309.
Career Sears won the women's doubles at the U. S. Women's National Championships four times, including three consecutively (1915–1917). In singles, she was a finalist in 1912, where she was beaten in straight sets by Mary Browne. She teamed with Willis E. Davis to take the national mixed doubles championship in 1916.Ohnsborg 2011, p. 292
In August 1938 at the age of 56, she lost to Dorothy Bundy in the second round of the Essex County Club Invitational in Manchester, Massachusetts 6–0, 6–1.
She lived in Boston, and eventually inherited a waterfront mansion known as “Rock Edge" in Beverly, MA to use as a summer residence. In later years it became her primary residence, and she was living there when she died in 1968.
She purchased the Burrland Farm for horses in 1955, then "deliberately gutted and burned [its mansion] down" in 1961 to reduce property taxes. She sold the farm in 1966.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968, joining her uncle Richard (inducted 1955).International Tennis Hall of Fame
Eleonora Sears rode horses competitively and was elected to the U. S. Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1992. She also owned and raced Thoroughbred horses. She was the first woman to play polo on a men's team.
Sears was the first female national squash champion, a founder of the Women's Squash Racquets Association, and coach of the U. S. Women's International Squash Team.
She gained media attention for her long-distance walks and hikes. As well, she was one of the first American women to drive an automobile and fly a plane. She played 19 sports in all, including rifle shooting, boxing, football, and ice skating. Her habit of wearing trousers, both when competing in sports and in public, was criticized in media and social circles.
Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1912U. S. National Championships Grass Mary Browne 4–6, 2–6
Doubles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1911U. S. National ChampionshipsGrass Hazel Hotchkiss Dorothy Green Florence Sutton 6–4, 4–6, 6–2Win 1915U.S. National ChampionshipsGrass Hazel Hotchkiss Helen McLean Mrs. G. L. Chapman 10–8, 6–2Win 1916U. S. National ChampionshipsGrass Molla Bjurstedt Louise Raymond Edna Wildey 4–6, 6–2, 10–8Win 1917U. S. National ChampionshipsGrass Molla Bjurstedt Phyllis Walsh Grace Robert LeRoy 6–2, 6–4Loss 1919U. S. National ChampionshipsGrass Hazel Hotchkiss Marion Zinderstein Eleanor Goss 8–10, 7–9
Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1912U. S. National ChampionshipsGrass William Clothier Mary Browne R. Norris Williams 4–6, 6–2, 9–11Win 1916U. S. National ChampionshipsGrass Willis E. Davis Florence Ballin Bill Tilden 6–4, 7–5
Later life and death Later in life she lived in Florida with Marie V. Gendron (July 22, 1903 – January 26, 2004), nickname madame, who, at Sears' death, inherited her whole estate. She retained half of it, including Sears' house in Florida, jewelry and works of arts, and gave the rest to six Massachusetts hospitals.
See also
International Tennis Hall of Fame
References
External links