Maureen Connolly

Maureen Connolly

Full name	Maureen Catherine Connolly Brinker
Country	United States
Born	September 17, 1934(1934-09-17) San Diego, California, U.S.
Died	June 21, 1969(1969-06-21) (aged 34) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Retired	1954
Plays	Right-handed
Int. Tennis HOF	1968 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking	1
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (1953)
French Open	W (1953, 1954)
Wimbledon	W (1952, 1953, 1954)
US Open	W (1951, 1952, 1953)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1953)
French Open	W (1954)
Wimbledon	F (1952, 1953)
US Open	F (1952)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	F (1953)
French Open	W (1954)

Maureen Catherine ("Little Mo") Connolly Brinker (September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969) was an American tennis player who was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year.

Biography

Connolly was born in San Diego, California, U.S. As a child, she loved horseback riding, but her mother was unable to pay the cost of riding lessons. So, she took up the game of tennis.

Connolly's career began at the age of 10 on the municipal courts of San Diego. Her first coach, Wilbur Folsom, encouraged her to switch from a left-handed grip to right and she soon became a baseline specialist with tremendous power, accuracy, and a strong backhand. After Folsom she was coached by Eleanor 'Teach' Tenant who had also previously coached Alice Marble the Wimbledon champion of 1939. At age 14, she won 56 consecutive matches and the following year became the youngest ever to win the U.S. national championship for girls 18 and under.

At the 1951 U.S. Championships, the 16 year old Connolly defeated Shirley Fry to become, at that time, the youngest ever to win America's most prestigious tennis tournament.

Connolly successfully defended her U.S. title and won Wimbledon in 1952. For the 1953 season, she hired a new coach, the Australian Davis Cup captain Harry Hopman, and entered all four Grand Slam tournaments for the first time. She defeated Julie Sampson Haywood in the Australian Championships final and Doris Hart in the finals of the French Championships, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Championships to become the first woman, and only the second person, to win the world's four major titles in the same year, commonly known as a "Grand Slam". She lost only one set in those four tournaments.

In 1954, Connolly did not defend her title at the Australian Championships but successfully defended her French and Wimbledon championships. On July 20, 1954, two weeks after she won her third straight Wimbledon title, she was horseback riding when an accident with a truck crushed her right leg, ending her tennis career at age 19.

Grand Slam singles results for Connolly's 11 appearances:

1. Australian Championships - 1 time: Winner 1953
2. French Championships - 2 times: Winner 1953, 1954
3. Wimbledon - 3 times: Winner 1952, 1953, 1954
4. U.S. Championships - 5 times (1949–1953): Winner 1951, 1952, 1953

Connolly won the last nine Grand Slam singles tournaments she played, including 50 consecutive singles matches. During her Wightman Cup career from 1951 through 1954, she won all seven of her singles matches.

Connolly's achievements made her the darling of the media and one of the most popular personalities in the U.S. She was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for three straight years from 1951 through 1953. However, Connolly recognized the downside of her tennis career, saying, “I have always believed greatness on a tennis court was my destiny, a dark destiny, at times, where the court became my secret jungle and I a lonely, fear-stricken hunter. I was a strange little girl armed with hate, fear, and a Golden Racket.”[1]

In June 1955, Connolly married Norman Brinker, a member of the 1952 Olympic equestrian team for the United States, who shared her love of horses. They had two daughters while she remained partially involved in tennis, acting as a correspondent for some U.S. and British newspapers at major U.S. tennis tournaments and as a coach for the British Wightman Cup team during its visits to the U.S. In Texas, where the couple lived, she and her husband established the "Maureen Connolly Brinker Foundation" to promote junior tennis.

In 1966 Connolly was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, from which she died at age 34 in Dallas, Texas on June 21, 1969, and was interred in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas.

According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Connolly was ranked in the world top ten from 1951 through 1954, reaching a career high of World No. 1 in those rankings from 1952 through 1954.^[1] Connolly was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1950 through 1953. She was the top ranked U.S. player from 1951 through 1953.^[2]

Connolly was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969 and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 1956, Connolly was also inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface.[2]

Brinker Elementary School in Plano, Texas is named in honor of Connolly. The school was dedicated on November 20, 1988.^[3]

Connolly was portrayed by Glynnis O'Connor in Little Mo, a made-for-television biographical film which first aired on September 5, 1978 on NBC.^[4]

Grand Slam record

• Australian Open
  • Singles champion: 1953
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1953
  • Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1953

• French Open
  • Singles champion (2): 1953, 1954
  • Women's Doubles champion: 1954
  • Women's Doubles runner-up: 1953
  • Mixed Doubles champion: 1954
  • Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1953

• Wimbledon
  • Singles champion (3): 1952, 1953, 1954
  • Women's Doubles runners-up (2): 1952, 1953

• U.S. Open
  • Singles champion (3): 1951, 1952, 1953
  • Women's Doubles runner-up: 1952

Grand Slam finals (18)

Singles (9)

Wins (9)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1951	U.S. Championships	Shirley Fry Irvin	6–3, 1–6, 6–4
1952	Wimbledon	Louise Brough Clapp	6–4, 6–3
1952	U.S. Championships (2)	Doris Hart	6–3, 7–5
1953	Australian Championships	Julie Sampson Haywood	6–3, 6–2
1953	French Championships	Doris Hart	6–2, 6–4
1953	Wimbledon (2)	Doris Hart	8–6, 7–5
1953	U.S. Championships (3)	Doris Hart	6–2, 6–4
1954	French Championships (2)	Ginette Jucker Bucaille Grandguillot	6–4, 6–1
1954	Wimbledon (3)	Louise Brough Clapp	6–2, 7–5

Women's doubles (6)

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1953	Australian Championships	Julie Sampson Haywood	Beryl Penrose Collier Mary Bevis Hawton	6–4, 6–2
1954	French Championships	Nell Hall Hopman	Maude Galtier Suzanne Schmitt	7–5, 4–6, 6–0

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1952	Wimbledon (1st)	Louise Brough Clapp	Doris Hart Shirley Fry Irvin	8–6, 6–3
1952	U.S. Championships	Louise Brough Clapp	Doris Hart Shirley Fry Irvin	10–8, 6–4
1953	French Championships	Julie Sampson Haywood	Doris Hart Shirley Fry Irvin	6–4, 6–3
1953	Wimbledon (2nd)	Julie Sampson Haywood	Doris Hart Shirley Fry Irvin	6–0, 6–0

Mixed doubles (3)

Win (1)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1954	French Championships	Lew Hoad	Jacqueline Patorni Rex Hartwig	6–4, 6–3

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1953	Australian Championships	Hamilton Richardson	Julie Sampson Haywood Rex Hartwig	6–4, 6–3
1953	French Championships	Mervyn Rose	Doris Hart Vic Seixas	4–6, 6–4, 6–0

References

Tennis portal

1. ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 702. ISBN 0-942257-41-3. 
2. ^ United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc.. p. 261. 
3. ^ Brinker Elementary - About Us
4. ^ Little Mo – All Movie Guide.

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame

Persondata
Name	Connolly, Maureen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 17, 1934
Place of birth	San Diego, California, U.S.
Date of death	June 21, 1969
Place of death	Dallas, Texas, U.S.