Dayton-born Pauline Betz became tennis champion in the 1940s

Childhood

Pauline Betz was born in Dayton on August 6, 1919 and was a third-grader at Jefferson School when she moved away to California. She didn’t begin playing in tennis tournaments until she was “13 or 14 years old,” she said. “I played everything, basketball, football ... I think my mother got tired of seeing me come home with grass on my knees. She wanted me to play something else.”

Eventually, that something else became tennis.

Betz graduated from Rollins College in Winter Haven, Fla., in 1943. She went to school there because California schools were not offering scholarships to females at the time.

Before 1968, no professionals were allowed in the world’s great tennis events, let alone the Grand Slams.

U.S. Open

Betz won the U.S. Open in 1942-44 and 1946. She was in the final six straight years.

In 1986 she was a guest at the National Tennis Center in New York to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the women’s division in what has become the U.S. Open.

Dayton Daily News reporter Marc Katz was there to interview her about the experience.

“The first time I came to Forest Hills, (former site of the U.S. Open), I slept in the car that night,” Betz said.

“My mother came with me. We wanted to save the cost of a hotel room.”

But she kept winning and their stay went longer than expected.

“Then my mother went around knocking on doors to see if we could rent a room for a week. She was a very resourceful person. I didn’t sleep much.”

“It seemed just as big then,” Betz said. “The stadium was full, and that was your world then. I was on the cover of Liberty and Time magazines after I won the Nationals three times.

“The big difference is if you’re national champion now you’re a millionaire,” Betz said. “When I was champion, I was in college waiting tables.”

Other tournaments

Betz won Wimbledon in 1946 (the only year she entered).

After her Wimbledon win, Queen Elizabeth presented Betz a huge silver platter trophy, congratulated her with a handshake and chatted for a moment before returning to her box.

She was a finalist at the French Open in 1946, but lost to Margaret Osborne, “The only time I ever had match point and lost,” she said.

She was the U.S.’s No. 1 female player in 1942, ’43, ’44 and ’46, and was in the top ten from 1939 to 1946, when she turned professional, which in those days meant no more major tournaments.

Suspension and Turning Pro

In 1947, Betz had her famed amateur career taken away in a controversial move by the governing body then known as the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA), now known as the United States Tennis Association.

Before the Open Era began in 1968, any tennis player who entered into a contract with a professional promoter was automatically barred from participating in the sport’s most prestigious tournaments.

Betz was suspended due her open consideration of turning professional, even without signing any contract.

Betz had been undefeated in her last 39 matches at the time of the suspension and had wanted to defend her Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles before seriously considering turning pro, but was denied that opportunity.

Betz, without much choice, turned professional in 1947, and won the Cleveland Women’s World Professional Championships in 1953, 1955, and 1956.

In those days, professionals often played the same opponent each match, traveling to different cities in the United States and abroad for exhibitions with other groups of players.

Betz had two main opponents, at first Sarah Cooke, and later Gussy Moran.

The Betz-Cooke rivalry was an old one. Cooke won the 1945 U.S. Open title by beating Betz in a hard-fought match.

Betz went on to have a 13-year career touring professionally.

Personal life

By 1949, Betz had had enough of tennis and looked forward to getting married and having children. She met and married Washington D.C. sports writer Bob Addie, who was promptly called into service for the Korean War.

Dismayed she couldn’t start a new life with her husband, she toured professionally with Gussie Moran and others.

Later, she and Addie had five children, and said she had no regrets about getting out of playing competitive tennis.

She later became a club pro and tennis instructor in Washington, D.C. Betz continued to play tennis into her 80s.

Betz was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965. In 1995, she was inducted in the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.