Eleonora Sears

{{Infobox tennis biography

|name = Eleonora Sears

|image =

|caption = Sears, in 1943

|fullname = Eleonora Randolph Sears

|country={{flagu|United States}}

|residence =

|birth_date = {{birth date|1881|9|28}}

|birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1968|03|16|1881|10|28}}

|death_place = Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.

|height =

|college =

|turnedpro =

|retired =

|plays = Right-handed

|careerprizemoney =

|tennishofyear = 1968

|tennishofid = eleonora-sears

|website =

|singlesrecord =

|singlestitles =

|highestsinglesranking = No.6 (US ranking)

|AustralianOpenresult =

|FrenchOpenresult =

|Wimbledonresult = 2R (1923)

|USOpenresult = F (1912)

|Othertournaments =

|MastersCupresult =

|WTAChampionshipsresult =

|Olympicsresult =

|doublesrecord =

|doublestitles =

|highestdoublesranking =

|grandslamsdoublesresults =

|AustralianOpenDoublesresult =

|FrenchOpenDoublesresult =

|WimbledonDoublesresult = 2R (1924)

|USOpenDoublesresult = W (1911, 1915, 1916, 1917)

|OthertournamentsDoubles =

|MastersCupDoublesresult =

|WTAChampionshipsDoublesresult =

|OlympicsDoublesresult =

|Mixed =

|mixedrecord =

|mixedtitles =

|AustralianOpenMixedresult =

|FrenchOpenMixedresult =

|WimbledonMixedresult = 2R (1923)

|USOpenMixedresult = W (1916)

}}

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

File:Eleonora Sears, Bain News Service.jpg

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.{{cite news|title=Six Hospitals Contest Will of Eleanora Sears|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1961&dat=19690222&id=gxIuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=F5cFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5174,3512318|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124212221/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1961&dat=19690222&id=gxIuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=F5cFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5174,3512318|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 24, 2013|access-date=June 22, 2012|newspaper=Palm Beach Daily News|date=February 22, 1969|via=Google News Archive}} 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.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppWA-zNJ0y8C&pg=PA19 |page=19 |title=Robert Lindley Murray: The Reluctant U.S. Tennis Champion |first=Roger W. |last=Ohnsorg |publisher=Trafford Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=9781426945137}}

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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ppWA-zNJ0y8C&pg=PA309 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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ppWA-zNJ0y8C&pg=PA292 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 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Fauquier/030-1017_Burrland_Farm_Historic_District_1997_Final_Nomination.pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Burrland Farm Historic District |author=Janet G. Murphy |date=January 1997 |publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218155223/https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Fauquier/030-1017_Burrland_Farm_Historic_District_1997_Final_Nomination.pdf|archive-date=18 February 2018 }}

She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968, joining her uncle Richard (inducted 1955).International Tennis Hall of Fame [https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/eleonora-sears]

File:Eleonora Randolph Sears, 1921.jpg (1921)]]

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.[http://showjumpinghalloffame.net/pdf/1992%20Eleonora%20R%20Sears.pdf Show Jumping Hall of Fame] 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.{{cite news|title=The Mother of Title IX: Trailblazing Athlete Eleonora Sears|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/22/the-mother-of-title-ix-trailblazing-athlete-eleonora-sears.html|newspaper=The Daily Beast|date=June 22, 2012|author=Peggy Miller Franck}}

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. Her habit of wearing trousers, both when competing in sports and in public, was criticized in media and social circles.{{cite news|title=Will Eleanora Sears Stop Wearing Em Now?: Fashionable Miss Sears Requested by the "Mothers" of Burlingame to Cover|newspaper=Atlanta Constitution|date=May 26, 1912|pages=C12D}}

Grand Slam finals

=Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)=

class="sortable wikitable"

!style="width:40px"|Result

!style="width:35px"|Year

!style="width:180px"|Championship

!style="width:50px"|Surface

!style="width:150px"|Opponent

!style="width:100px" class="unsortable"|Score

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss

1912

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

| {{flagicon|USA}} Mary Browne

| 4–6, 2–6

=Women's doubles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)=

class="sortable wikitable"

!style="width:40px"|Result

!style="width:35px"|Year

!style="width:180px"|Championship

!style="width:50px"|Surface

!style="width:150px"|Partner

!style="width:150px"|Opponents

!style="width:100px" class="unsortable"|Score

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win

1911

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|USA}} Hazel Hotchkiss

|{{flagicon|USA}} Dorothy Green
{{flagicon|USA}} Florence Sutton

| 6–4, 4–6, 6–2

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win

1915

|U.S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|USA}} Hazel Hotchkiss

|{{flagicon|USA}} Helen McLean
{{flagicon|USA}} Mrs. G. L. Chapman

| 10–8, 6–2

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win

1916

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|NOR}} Molla Bjurstedt

|{{flagicon|USA}} Louise Raymond
{{flagicon|USA}} Edna Wildey

| 4–6, 6–2, 10–8

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win

1917

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|NOR}} Molla Bjurstedt

|{{flagicon|USA}} Phyllis Walsh
{{flagicon|USA}} Grace Robert LeRoy

| 6–2, 6–4

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss

1919

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|USA}} Hazel Hotchkiss

|{{flagicon|USA}} Marion Zinderstein
{{flagicon|USA}} Eleanor Goss

| 8–10, 7–9

=Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)=

class="sortable wikitable"

!style="width:40px"|Result

!style="width:35px"|Year

!style="width:180px"|Championship

!style="width:50px"|Surface

!style="width:150px"|Partner

!style="width:150px"|Opponents

!style="width:100px" class="unsortable"|Score

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss

1912

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|USA}} William Clothier

|{{flagicon|USA}} Mary Browne
{{flagicon|USA}} R. Norris Williams

| 4–6, 6–2, 9–11

style="background:#ccccff;"

| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win

1916

|U. S. National Championships

|Grass

|{{flagicon|USA}} Willis E. Davis

|{{flagicon|USA}} Florence Ballin
{{flagicon|USA}} 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.{{cite journal|title=Friend and 6 Hospitals Share The Estate of Eleanora Sears|journal=The New York Times|date=1970|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/15/archives/friend-and-6-hospitals-share-the-estate-of-eleanora-sears.html?_r=0|access-date=22 September 2017}}