Well, Pauline Betz Addie was from Dayton, and she became a great tennis champion in the 1940s. Not only was she the No. 1 female player in the world in 1946, but eventually she was enshrined in the Tennis Hall of Fame.
She won Wimbledon in 1946 (the only year she entered), the U.S. Open in 1942-44 and ’46 and was a finalist at the French Open in 1946.
Addie died Tuesday at age 91, and all the obits mention Dayton, but as she told me years ago when I met her at the U.S. Open, she didn’t really learn the game here. As a child, she moved to Los Angeles, where she first played tennis, and later lived in Washington, D.C., where she was married to sports columnist Bob Addie.
Still, there is some glory to having her associated with our soil, and she never tried to cover it up, as former pitcher Roger Clemens always tries to do, calling himself a Texan, even though he did learn baseball here.
With his current legal troubles, maybe it’s best we cut those ties.
Not so with Addie. Her brief career was cut short when she explored going pro in 1947, and the height of her amateur career came during the war.
But you won’t find any stains on her resume, and Dayton should be glad for the association. She was a Dayton native, and we’re glad to claim her.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author