Robert Hayes Ryland (June 16, 1920 – August 2, 2020) was an American

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player and coach, known for having been the first African-American to play professional tennis. Ryland coached some of the world's top-ranked professionals, including

Harold Solomon Harold Solomon (born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player who played during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 5 in singles in 1980, and of No. 4 in doubles in 1976. Over the cours ...

Renee Blount Renee Blount (born May 12, 1957) is a retired American tennis player. Career Blount was a No. 1 singles and doubles All-American player for UCLA. She joined the WTA Tour in 1978 and went on to reach a career-high ranking of 63 in singles and wo ...

, Leslie Allen,

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected ...

, Bruce Foxworth,

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...

, and

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...

. Ryland also taught and coached at clubs in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, St. Alban's Tennis Club in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the Mid-Town Tennis Club in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Ryland was inducted into the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame (1991), Black Tennis Hall of Fame (2009), and the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002, where he also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Early life

Ryland was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1920. After his mother and twin brother died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

when he was a baby, his father Robert sent him to live with his grandmother in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

where he helped his great-grandfather pick cotton. When Ryland was 10 years old, he returned to Chicago to live with his father and started playing tennis. Ryland attended Tilden Tech High School in Chicago, and while a student there won both the Illinois State and junior ATA singles titles.

College years

After graduating from high school, Ryland received a scholarship to

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

where his college tennis career started. After leaving Xavier, Ryland served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1945 and after an honorable discharge, received another tennis scholarship to

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, playing there for two years. While at Wayne, Ryland broke the color barrier by becoming one of the first black players to compete in the NCAA championships making it to the semifinals. Ryland was eventually inducted into the university's Hall of Fame. In 1947 Ryland moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where he played tennis with

Pancho Gonzalez Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 Professi ...

. Ryland also broke another barrier at the

Los Angeles Tennis Club The Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC) is a private tennis club opened in 1920 that was the host of the Pacific Southwest Championships from 1927 until 1974 and 1980 until 1983. It is located at 5851 Clinton Street, between Wilcox and Rossmore, one ...

, when he played and lost to

Ham Richardson Hamilton Farrar Richardson (August 24, 1933 – November 5, 2006)"Former tennis sta ...

in the

Pacific Southwest Championships The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, 6–4 and 7–5. In 1954 Ryland was offered a scholarship to Tennessee A&I in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Ryland was a player and a coach at Tennessee and twice led his team to the small college national championships. Ryland left Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Later years

After leaving Tennessee, Ryland moved back east and became the physical education director of the YMCA in Montclair, New Jersey, but left there in 1957 to teach tennis in New York. In 1958, Ryland became the first African-American to play professional tennis when promoter Jack March brought him to the World Pro Championships in Cleveland. Ryland was paid $300 for his appearance. During the early 1960s Ryland was in Washington, D.C., where he taught tennis to the Kennedys and

Robert MacNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

at the St. Alban's Country Club. Ryland later moved back to New York City and started coaching at the Mid-Town Tennis Club, where he worked from 1963 to 1990. During his coaching career, Ryland taught and coached many professionals, including;

, Leslie Allen,

, Bruce Foxworth,

and

. In addition to coaching professionals, Ryland also taught several celebrities, including;

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

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Eartha Kitt Eartha Mae Kitt (née Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress. She was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby" ...

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David Dinkins David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marine Associa ...

and

Mary McFadden Mary McFadden Charlotte Curtis, "Mary McFadden Married to Philip Harari at St. Bartholomew's; Former Dior Aide is Wed to Director in De Beers Group", The New York Times, September 26, 1964 (October 1, 1938 – September 13, 2024) was an American ...

. Ryland lived with his partner, Nancy. He died of

aspiration pneumonia Aspiration pneumonia is a type of lung infection that is due to a relatively large amount of material from the stomach or mouth entering the lungs. Signs and symptoms often include fever and cough of relatively rapid onset. Complications may incl ...

at his stepson's home in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

on August 2, 2020, at the age of 100.

Legacy

Ryland was the first black tennis player to compete in the NCAA National Championships, the first black player/coach to lead a college team twice to the small college national championships, the first black tennis player to play at the Los Angeles Tennis Club and the first African-American to play tennis professionally. He was inducted into the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame (1991), the Black Tennis Hall of Fame (2009), and the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002, where he also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. In 2019, Ryland was inducted into the USTA-Midwest Hall of Fame. Ryland also gave lectures at the Harlem Armory, the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education and the

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York. It has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, played every year in August and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryland, Bob 1920 births 2020 deaths Tennis players from Illinois African-American tennis players African-American tennis coaches American male tennis players Wayne State University alumni Tennessee State University alumni Xavier University alumni Tennis players from New York City African-American centenarians American men centenarians 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen Tennis players from Chicago Professional tennis players before the Open Era Tennis coaches from Illinois Tennis coaches from New York (state)