Sarah Hammond Palfrey Danzig (née Palfrey; September 18, 1912 – February 27, 1996) 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 ...
player whose adult amateur career spanned 19 years, from June 1926 until September 1945. She won two singles, nine women's doubles, and four mixed doubles titles at the
U.S. National Championships.
Career
She was 32 years old, married to
Elwood Cooke
Elwood Thomas Cooke (July 5, 1913 – April 16, 2004) was an amateur American tennis player in the 1930s and 1940s.
Tennis career
Elwood Cooke started playing tennis before his junior year at Benson Polytechnic High School. He played for the sch ...
, and a mother in 1945 when she won her second singles title at the U.S. National Championships.
Pauline Betz Pauline may refer to:
Religion
*An adjective referring to St Paul the Apostle or a follower of his doctrines
*An adjective referring to St Paul of Thebes, also called St Paul the First Hermit
*An adjective referring to the Paulines, various relig ...
was her opponent in the final. Since she lost to Cooke in the 1941 final, Betz had won three consecutive titles and 19 consecutive matches at these championships. In 1945, Cooke lost the first set and squandered her 5–2 lead in the second set before recovering to win it 8–6. In the third set, Betz got close to winning yet another title when she served for a 5–3 lead. Cooke, however, broke her serve and then won the next two games to win the tournament. She became only the second mother to win this title, with
Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman
Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, CBE (née Hotchkiss; December 20, 1886 – December 5, 1974) was an American tennis player and founder of the Wightman Cup, an annual team competition for British and American women. She dominated American wome ...
being the first.
Cooke is one of the few women, if not the sole woman, to appear on a top-level male championship honor roll. Because of the manpower crisis during World War II, she and husband Elwood were permitted to enter the men's doubles at the 1945
Tri-State Championships in Cincinnati. They lost in the final to
Hal Surface and
Bill Talbert
William Franklin Talbert (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 1999) was an American tennis player and administrator.
Tennis career
He was ranked in the U.S. top 10 13 times between 1941 and 1954, and was ranked World No. 3 in 1949 by John Olliff ...
.
[
Palfrey won 16 Grand Slam championships in women's doubles (11) and mixed doubles (5). She teamed with ]Betty Nuthall
Betty May Nuthall Shoemaker (née Nuthall; 23 May 1911 – 8 November 1983) was an English tennis player. Known for her powerful forehand, according to Wallis Myers of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail'', Nuthall was ranked in the wor ...
to win the 1930 U. S. National Championships and with Helen Jacobs
Helen Hull Jacobs (August 6, 1908 – June 2, 1997) was an American tennis player who won nine Grand Slam titles. In 1936 she was ranked No. 1 in singles by A. Wallis Myers.
Early life
Jacobs was born in Globe, Arizona, and was Jewish. Her pare ...
to win the 1932, 1934, and 1935 championships. Palfrey and Alice Marble
Alice Marble (September 28, 1913 – December 13, 1990) was an American tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam championships between 1936 and 1940: five in singles, six in women's doubles, and seven in mixed doubles. She was ranked world No. 1 in 193 ...
won the U. S. National Championships from 1937 through 1940. At the Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, Palfrey and Marble won the 1938 and 1939 women's doubles titles. Palfrey's last U.S. women's doubles championship was in 1941 with Margaret Osborne. In mixed doubles, Palfrey teamed with four different partners to win the U.S. National Championships: Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well ...
(1932), Enrique Maier (1935), Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam ev ...
(1937), and Jack Kramer
John Albert Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. He won three Grand Slam tournaments (the U.S. Championships in 1946 and 1947, Wimbledon in 1947). He led the U.S. Davis Cup tennis ...
(1941). Palfrey also won the mixed doubles title at the 1939 French International Championships, teaming with future husband Elwood Cooke.
Palfrey and Marble were undefeated in doubles from 1937 until Marble turned professional at the end of 1940.
In 1947, Cooke and Betz went on a "barnstorming" tour of mostly one-night stands in the U.S. and Europe, with each earning about US$10,000. They had been stripped of their amateur status by the United States Lawn Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...
(USLTA) in early 1947 because Elwood Cooke had written letters to several tournament organizers about creating a professional tour.[OBITUARY : Sarah Danzig](_blank)
/ref>
According to A. Wallis Myers of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and John Olliff of the ''Daily Mail'', Palfrey was one of the 10 highest ranked women in the world from 1933 through 1936 and in 1938 and 1939. Her career high was fourth in 1934. (No world rankings were issued from 1940 through 1945.)
Palfrey was included in 13 year-end top 10 rankings issued by the USLTA: 1929–1931, 1933–1941, and 1945. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1941 and 1945.
Palfrey and Marble lobbied the USLTA to remove the color bar and allow Althea Gibson
Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African America ...
to play at heretofore whites-only tournaments beginning in 1950. "She alfreywas calmly persuasive, had clout as an ex-champ, and got Althea into the U. S. ationalChampionships in 1950," said Gladys Heldman
Gladys Medalie Heldman (May 13, 1922 – June 22, 2003) was an American tennis player, manager and magazine publisher. She was the founder of ''World Tennis'' magazine. As a manager, she supported and represented Billie Jean King and eight other f ...
, founder of the women's professional tennis tour in 1970.
Palfrey once said, "Tennis is the best game there is. It combines mental and physical qualities and is the sport for a lifetime. And there are many living examples at the age of 80 to prove it. So it is enough for us to know that tennis will remain, under whatever conditions, whether amateur or pro, the finest game there is for us, for our children, and our children's children."
Palfrey was inducted into 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 1963.
Palfrey and Marty Glickman
Martin Irving Glickman (August 14, 1917 – January 3, 2001) was an American radio announcer who was famous for his broadcasts of the New York Knicks basketball games and the football games of the New York Giants and the New York Jets.
Glickman w ...
covered the home games of the 1946-47 New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
on WHN radio. Glickman handled play-by-play duties while Palfrey provided the color commentary. ''The New York Times'' stated "in what is said to be the first time that an outstanding woman sports figure has been assigned to such a chore, Sarah Palfrey Cooke, tennis champion, will provide the 'color' accounts of the games."
Personal life
She had two children and was married three times: to Marshal Fabyan, Elwood Cooke, and Jerome Alan Danzig
Jerome Alan Danzig (February 7, 1913 – July 15, 2001) was an American reporter, news producer, and top adviser to New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.
Biography
Danzig was born on February 7, 1913 in Manhattan, the son of Helen (née Wolf) ...
. She married Fabyan on October 6, 1934, but divorced him in Reno, Nevada on July 20, 1940. She married Cooke on October 2, 1940, and their daughter was born in December 1942. She divorced him on April 29, 1949, on grounds of cruelty. She married Danzig on April 27, 1951, and remained married to him until her death of lung cancer in 1996. Their son was born in December 1952.Mrs. Jerome A. Danzig Has Son
/ref>
Her brother John Palfrey
John Gorham Palfrey VII (born 1972) is an American educator, scholar, and law professor. He is an authority on the legal aspects of emerging media and an advocate for Internet freedom, including increased online transparency and accountability ...
, also an excellent tennis player and an expert on atomic energy, married Belle "Clochette" Roosevelt Palfrey, a granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
and a daughter of Kermit Roosevelt
Kermit Roosevelt MC (October 10, 1889 – June 4, 1943) was an American businessman, soldier, explorer, and writer. A son of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Kermit graduated from Harvard College, served in both Wo ...
.
She also had four sisters, who were all fine tennis players.
Grand Slam finals
Singles (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Doubles (11 titles, 3 runner-ups)
Mixed doubles (5 titles, 5 runner-ups)
Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
.
See also
* Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palfrey Cooke, Sarah
American female tennis players
Deaths from lung cancer
French Championships (tennis) champions
People from Sharon, Massachusetts
International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
Tennis people from Massachusetts
United States National champions (tennis)
Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era)
1912 births
1996 deaths
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Professional tennis players before the Open Era
20th-century American women
Members of the Junior League