October 6 – Happy Birthday, Helen Wills

nPosted October 6, 2017

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Before there was Serena Williams, there was Martina Navratilova.

nAnd before there was Martina Navratilova, there was Helen Wills.

nHelen Wills was THE dominant women’s tennis player of her time. She has even been called the greatest female player in history.

nShe played in shorter skirts than the women who came before her, and she practiced with men in order to get better. She even played and beat a ranked male player in an exhibition match.

n(That’s right, before there was the “Battle of the Sexes” with Billie Jean King, there was Wills playing against a man – and winning!)

nWills was born on this date in 1905, and she died in 1998, a 98-year-long life. (She played tennis into her 80s!) She was quite the 1900s gal – born at the turn of one century, died about the turn of the next.

nBut what I found most interesting about this excellent athlete, this star competitor who had eight Wimbledon titles, was her non-tennis exploits:

nWills wrote poetry as a hobby and wrote a coaching manual, an autobiography, a mystery, and articles for magazines.

She painted all her life, and she exhibited her paintings and etchings in NYC galleries.

nShe hung out with a senator and with artists, including famous Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

nAnd when she died, Wills gave $10 million to – guess what? A foundation that helps youth learn tennis? An arts museum or poetry scholarship?

nNo, she gave her many millions to the University of California, Berkeley, to establish a neuroscience institute. Neuroscience, as you probably know, is basically brain science – or, really, the study of the entire nervous system.