Outerbridge, Mary

Mary Ewing Outerbridge “Mother of Tennis”
Born: March 09, 1852
Died: May 03, 1886
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Citizenship: United States
Inducted: 1981

Contributions
Set up the first tennis court at Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club

Celebrated as the “Mother of Tennis,” Mary Ewing Outerbridge was undoubtedly one of the pioneers, but the claims by her adherents that she introduced the game to the U.S. are undocumented. The story is that she, a New Yorker, saw soldiers of the British garrison playing tennis in Bermuda, where she was vacationing in 1874, the year of the game’s patenting and early marketing. Intrigued, she is said to have taken a set home where her brother, Emilius Outerbridge, and friends set up a court at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club.

Tennis was indeed introduced to the U.S. at several locations in 1874, the first documented instance in Arizona. Outerbridge was born March 9, 1852, in Philadelphia, died May 3, 1886 (five years after the first U.S. Championships), on Staten Island, and entered the Hall of Fame in 1981.

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