Nancy Pearce Jeffett (July 16, 1928 – July 6, 2017) was an American

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

promoter, credited with advancing

women's tennis Women's tennis is one of the most popular sports for women. It is one of the few sports in which women command fame and popularity that equal those of their male counterparts. Women's Tennis Association is the main organisation which runs femal ...

as a major professional sport. Jeffett was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, on July 16, 1928. A tennis player during the 1940s, she became one of the country's first woman tennis promoters in 1969 when she created and held the first Maureen Connolly Brinker Memorial Tournament, named in honor of

Maureen Connolly Maureen Catherine Connolly-Brinker (née Connolly; September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969), known as "Little Mo", was an American tennis player, the winner of nine major singles titles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she became the first woman to win ...

. In 1972, she successfully arranged the

network television Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

broadcast (on an unknown television network) of the Connolly Brinker Memorial Tournament, marking the first time women's tennis was shown on national television. The tournament was also the first to award prize money. Jeffett was recognized for her longtime contributions to women's tennis. She was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983, the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999, and the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

in 2015. She remains the only American woman who was not a

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

champion to be named an honorary member of the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...

. Jeffett died on July 6, 2017, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffett, Nancy 1928 births 2017 deaths American sports executives and administrators Tennis executives Tennis players from Missouri Television pioneers People from St. Louis International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Women sports executives and administrators