Nancy Chaffee Whitaker (March 6, 1929 – August 11, 2002) was an American female tennis player who was active in the 1950s. Chaffee won the national girls' 18-and-under title in 1947. She won the U.S. Indoor National Championships, played at the Seventh Regiment Armory in Manhattan, from 1950 through 1952, defeating Althea Gibson,

Beverly Baker Beverly Baker Fleitz (March 13, 1930 – April 29, 2014) was a women's tennis player from the United States who was active in the late 1940s and during the 1950s. According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Dail ...

, and

Patricia Canning Todd Patricia Canning Todd (born Mary Patricia Canning, July 22, 1922 – September 5, 2015) was an American tennis player who had her best results just after World War II. In 1947 and 1948, she won a total of four Grand Slam championships: one in sin ...

in the finals. Chaffee reached the singles semifinals of the 1950 U.S. National Championships as an unseeded player but was beaten in three sets by first-seeded and eventual champion Margaret Osborne. She was ranked a career-high World No. 4 at the end of 1951. Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the women's doubles final with Canning Todd at the

1951 U.S. National Championships The 1951 U.S. National Championships (now known as the US Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills in New York City, United States. The tournament ran from 25 August unti ...

, where they were defeated in straight sets by

Shirley Fry Shirley June Fry Irvin (née Fry; June 30, 1927 – July 13, 2021) was an American tennis player. During her career, which lasted from the early 1940s until the mid-1950s, she won the singles title at all four Grand Slam events, as well as 13 dou ...

and

Doris Hart Doris Hart (June 20, 1925 – May 29, 2015) was an American tennis player from who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She was ranked world No. 1 in 1951. She was the fourth player, and second woman, to win a Career Grand Slam in ...

. At the

1951 Wightman Cup The 1951 Wightman Cup was the 23rd edition of the annual women's team tennis competition between the United States and Great Britain. It was held at the Longwood Cricket Club, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Chestnut Hills, Massachusetts, United Sta ...

, she won her doubles match as the U.S. defeated Great Britain 6–1. On October 13, 1951, she married baseball star

Ralph Kiner Ralph McPherran Kiner (October 27, 1922 – February 6, 2014) was an American Major League Baseball player and broadcaster. An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955. Follow ...

with whom she had three children. She was later married to sportscaster

Jack Whitaker John Francis Whitaker (May 18, 1924 – August 18, 2019) was an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC. Whitaker was a decorated army veteran of World War II. He fought in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery stri ...

. Chaffee became a sports commentator for ABC, developed tennis programs at resorts, and in 1992, co-founded the Cartier tennis tournament in Long Island's East Hampton, an amateur mixed-doubles fund-raising event to benefit the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

. She died on August 11, 2002 from complications of cancer.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaffee, Nancy 1929 births 2002 deaths American female tennis players Tennis people from California People from Ventura, California Sportspeople from Ventura County, California 20th-century American women