Connolly, Maureen

Maureen Connolly

1934-1969

American tennis player

Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly's career ended prematurely with a freakish accident, and cancer cut short her life. But Connolly, who won all nine of her Grand Slam women's tennis events, still played long enough to make an indelible mark on the game. "Whenever a great player comes long you have to ask, 'Could she have beaten Maureen,'" wrote Lance Tingay, tennis correspondent for the Daily Telegraph of London. "In every case the answer is, I think not."

Connolly won her major titles as a teenager. She was the first woman to sweep all four major Grand Slam events in one year, 1953. She took the Wimbledon and U.S. Open three straight years apiece in the early 1950s. She became the youngest U.S. Open champion at 16 years, 11 months, until Tracy Austin broke the record in 1979. She arrived East from San Diego in 1949 and, according to the Hall of Fame, "would soon have the world under her right thumb while technically a junior, not yet 19, an obstreperous intruder overthrowing the established order of older women." A bizarre accident, however, ended Connolly's career. In 1954, a truck struck the back of her leg while she was riding horseback in San Diego, shortly after winning Wimbledon. She died of cancer in 1969, at age 34.

Parents Couldn't Afford Riding

Tennis was actually a backup recreational activity for Connolly, whose divorced mother could not afford horseback riding. Connolly first wielded a racket at age ten and after her first coach, Wilbur Folsom, switched her to right-handed play, she went under the tutelage of Eleanor "Teach" Tennant, who had influenced the Hall of Fame careers of Helen Wills (later Helen Wills Moody, eight-time Wimbledon champion) and Alice Marble. Tennant would not let Connolly talk with other women's tennis players. "Maureen approached tennis with an intense hatred for her opponents, a trait that Tennant encouraged," the Gale Group 's Women's History Month Web site wrote. "Maureen believed that she could not win if she did not despise her opponent. Winning became a singleminded pursuit for the talented youngster."

After sweeping tournaments in Southern California, Connolly came to New York and won the U.S. junior titles in 1949 and 1950. She reached the second round of the mainstream U.S. Open tournaments both years.

A sportswriter nicknamed her "Little Mo" for her powerful, accurate strokes, in reference to "Big Mo," the U.S. battleship Missouri. She was not overly strong and disdained the volley, but compensated with a methodical baseline game. "Sportswriters raved about her engaging blend of teenage charm and killer instinct on the court." the Women's History Month web site reported. "Fueled by her intense passion to win, her drive and energy on the court swept her past all of the best women players of her day. Later in life she remarked about the fear that drove her and the talent that she displayed."

Fallout with Coach

During her first major championship run, the 1951 U.S. Open, Tennant had told Connolly that Doris Hart, the tennis star's friend and semifinal opponent, had insulted her. Connolly defeated Hart and then overtook Shirley Fry in a tough, three-set match. After the tournament, Connolly discovered Tennant's misrepresentation and she and Hart resumed their friendship. Connolly split with Tennant for good at Wimbledon when Connolly played despite a shoulder injury when Tennant wanted her to default. After a match, Connolly called a press conference, a rarity for a player in those days, and announced the split.

Connolly once admitted that competitive tennis at such a young age wore on her. "Tennis can be a grind and there is always the danger of going stale, if you think about it too much," she said. "You can get embittered if you train too hard and have nothing else on your mind. You have to be able to relax between matches and between tournaments."

Australian Davis Cup captain Harry Hopman became Connolly's coach and his wife, Nell, her chaperon. With the Hopmans' a stabilizing influence, Connolly's game, already potent, moved up a level in 1953. She joined Don

Budge as the only player, man or woman, to capture the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open the same year. She dropped only one set in the Australian and French tournaments combined, then beat Hart in tough Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals—the 8-6, 7-5 Wimbledon final at the All-England Club was especially memorable.

Career Ends Tragically

Connolly added the French Open and Wimbledon titles to her resume in 1954-by then she had also won seven straight matches in the Wightman Cup international team competition against Britain. But her career then ended "with heartbreaking suddenness" as the International Tennis Hall of Fame described on its Web site. On July 20, 1954—back home in San Diego after capturing Wimbledon—Connolly was riding her thoroughbred colt, Colonel Merryboy, when a cement truck collided with her and the horse. She was thrown from the animal and suffered a broken bone and severed calf muscles in her right leg. "I knew immediately I'd never play again," she said.

Chronology

1934	Born September 17 in San Diego, California
1949	Travels East to launch tennis career
1951	Graduates from Cathedral High School
1954	Tennis career ends after truck strikes her leg while she was riding horseback
1955	Marries Norman Brinker
1966	Diagnosed with cancer
1968	Co-founds Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation with friend Nancy Jeffett
1969	Dies of cancer at age 34 in Dallas, Texas

She married Norman Brinker of Dallas, a restaurateur and former member of the U.S. equestrian team, and they had two children, Cindy and Brenda. Despite Connolly's inability to play in tournaments, she could still teach children. She worked as a tennis instructor and, with friend Nancy Jeffett, co-founded the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation in 1968. She died six months later, on the eve of the Wimbledon tournament. She had battled stomach cancer since 1966. The Brinker foundation today sponsors a variety of youth activities, including tournaments such as the Maureen Connolly Challenge trophy and "Little Mo" events for boys and girls.

The Connolly Legacy

Spellbound Pictures of Brooklyn, New York, is working on a documentary film celebrating the 50th anniversary of Connolly's Grand Slam win. In 1978, a feature film, "Little Mo," starring Anne Baxter and Mark Harmon, detailed Connolly's tennis successes and personal tragedies.

"Little Mo was a champion at tennis," nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova wrote in Little Mo's Legacy: A Mother's Lessons, a Daughter's Story, written by Connolly's daughter, Cindy Brinker Simmons. "Had her accident not cut short her remarkable career, we all would have been chasing her records. More importantly, she was a champion at life by affecting others in a positive way."

Awards and Accomplishments

1950-51	Won United States junior championships
1951-53	Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year
1951-53	Won three consecutive U.S. Open singles championships
1951-54	Captured all seven singles matches as U.S. defeated Britain in four straight Wightman Cup tournaments
1952-54	Won three straight Wimbledon singles championships
1953	Completed pure Grand Slam, winning all four major tournaments—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open
1968	Inducted into Tennis Hall of Fame

SELECTED WRITINGS BY CONNOLLY:

Power Tennis. New York: Barnes, 1954.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Simmons, Cindy Brinker and Robert Darden. Little Mo's Legacy: A Mother's Lessons, a Daughter's Story. Irving, TX: Tapestry, 2001.

Periodicals

"Maureen Connolly, Tennis Star, Dies." New York Times, (January 7, 2003).

Other

Films and TV, http://www.filmsandtv.com, (January 9, 2003).

Handbook of Texas Online, Maureen Catherine Connolly Brinker profile, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbr54.html, (December 4, 2002).

Hickok Sports, http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/connolym.shtml, (January 8, 2003).

"Maureen Connolly, Class of 1968." International Tennis Hall of Fame, http://www.tennisfame.org/enshrinees/maureen_connolly.html, (January 7, 2003).

Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation Inc., http://www.mcbtennis.org, (January 9, 2003).

"Women's History Month: Maureen Connolly." Gale Group, http://www.gale.com, (January 9, 2003).

Sketch by Paul Burton