Thursday, July 6, 2017

Nancy Jeffett obit

International Tennis Hall of Fame member Nancy Jeffett dies at 88

 

 She was not on the list.


DALLAS -- Nancy P. Jeffett, who was instrumental in arranging the first network broadcast of women's tennis, has died. She was 88.

International Tennis Hall of Fame spokeswoman Anne Marie McLaughlin on Friday confirmed the 2015 inductee's death. A news release said she died peacefully Thursday.

Jeffett was among the first female promoters in the sport. She staged the Maureen Connolly Brinker Memorial Tournament in 1969. Three years later, it became the first televised women's tournament and the first to award prize money. The tournament evolved into the Virginia Slims of Dallas.

Jeffett and Connolly, a nine-time Grand Slam singles champion, co-founded the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation to help get more people involved in the sport.

Jeffett was the longtime chair of both the U.S. Wightman Cup and Federation Cup.

She was the only American woman who wasn't a Wimbledon champion to be named an honorary member of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Jeffett had received the USTA Service Bowl and the Golden Achievement Award, given jointly by the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Federation for her commitment to growing tennis worldwide.

A memorial service will be July 14 in Dallas at St. Michael and All Angels Church.

effett was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 16, 1928. A tennis player during the 1940s, she became one of the country's first woman tennis promoters in 1969 when she created and held the first Maureen Connolly Brinker Memorial Tournament, named in honor of Maureen Connolly. In 1972, she successfully arranged the network television broadcast (on an unknown television network) of the Connolly Brinker Memorial Tournament, marking the first time women's tennis was shown on national television. The tournament was also the first to award prize money.

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