Arthur Ashe
Arthur Ashe was born on 7/10/1943 in Richmond, Virginia. He died 2/6/1993 at age 49 in New York from AIDS he contracted from
a blood transfusion he received for a heart surgery.
Steve Ballesteros
Maureen Connolly
Gloria Connors
Gloria Florence Thompson Connors was born in 1924. She died on 1/8/2007 at age 82 in Belleville, Illinois. Gloria is the mother of tennis great Jimmy Connors. She competed in the US National Championships at Forest Hills in 1942 & 1943.
Brad Drewett
Vitas Gerulaitis
Vitas Gerulaitis was born on 7/26/1954 in Brooklyn, New York. He died on 9/18/1994 at age 40 in Southhampton (Long Island), New York from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was born 8/25/1927 in Silver, South Carolina. She died 9/28/2003 at the age of 76 in East Orange, New Jersey from respiratory failure. Gibson was the first African American to win Wimbledon and the first black woman to play in what became the U.S. Open. She was also the first black player on the Ladies Professional Golfing Association Tour.
Pancho Gonzalez
Ricardo Alonso Gonzales was born 5/9/1928 in Los Angeles, California. He died 7/3/1995 at the age of 67 from cancer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gonzales won 4 amateur Grand Slam titles and 12 professional Grand Slam titles. He was ranked #1 for 9 years during the 50s and 60s.
Suzanne Lenglen
Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was born on 5/24/1899 in Compiegne, France. She died on 7/4/1938 at age 39 from pernicious anemia. Lenglen was one of the greatest female tennis players in the years before the Open era. She won 31 Grand Slam titles (16 French Open
and 15 Wimbledon – in singles, doubles and mixed doubles). In 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium, she won the gold medal in women’s singles and mixed doubles, and the bronze medal in women’s doubles. She was the last French female to win Wimbledon (in 1925) until
Amelie Mauresmo won in 2006.
Mathieu Montcourt
Mathieu Montcourt was born on 3/4/1985 in Paris, France. He died on July 6, 2009 at age 24 in Paris. The investigation into his death is ongoing.
Bobby Riggs
Robert Larimore Riggs was born 2/25/1918 in Los Angeles, California. Died 10/25/1995 at age 77 from prostate cancer in Encinitas, California. Riggs won 6 amateur Grand Slam titles and 4 professional Grand Slam titles He was ranked # 1 in 1946 and 1947. Riggs later became popular when he challenged the two best female tennis players, Margaret Court and Billie Jean King, in order to prove that male athletes were better than female athletes no matter the age (he was 55 years old). He beat Court but lost to Billie Jean King. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
Margaret Russo
Margaret Russo died on 10/11/2005 at the age of 56 in Vienna, Virginia
from brain cancer.
Horst Skoff
Horst Skoff was born 8/22/1968 in Klagenfurt, Austria. He died 6/7/2008 at age 39 in Hamburg, Germany from a heart attack.
George Toley
George Andrew Toley was born on 4/23/1916 in Los Angeles, CA. He died on 3/1/2008 at age 91 in Pasadena, CA.
Professional Tennis Coach – University of Southern California
Toley led USC to 10 NCAA team titles
Member of the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame