Eleonora Randolph Sears was an American tennis champion of the 1910s.
12 Facts About Eleonora Sears
2.
Eleonora Sears was acquainted with Corinne Douglass Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt, all related to President Theodore Roosevelt.
3.
Eleonora Sears played tennis at a competition organized by Ava Lowle Willing, the wife of John Jacob Astor IV, and she attended the wedding of tennis champion Robert Wrenn.
4.
Eleonora Sears won the women's doubles at the US Women's National Championships four times, including three consecutively.
5.
Eleonora Sears teamed with Willis E Davis to take the national mixed doubles championship in 1916.
6.
Eleonora Sears purchased the Burrland Farm for horses in 1955, then "deliberately gutted and burned [its mansion] down" in 1961 to reduce property taxes.
7.
Eleonora Sears was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968, joining her cousin Richard.
8.
Eleonora Sears rode horses competitively and was elected to the US Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1992.
9.
Eleonora Sears was the first woman to play polo on a men's team.
10.
Eleonora Sears was the first female national squash champion, a founder of the Women's Squash Racquets Association, and coach of the US Women's International Squash Team.
11.
Eleonora Sears gained media attention for her long-distance walks and hikes.
12.
Eleonora Sears retained half of it, including Sears' house in Florida, jewelry and works of arts, and gave the rest to six Massachusetts hospitals.