Joseph Sill Clark Sr. (November 30, 1861 – April 14, 1956) 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. Clark won the 1885 U.S. National Championship in doubles with partner Dick Sears. He was also the inaugural singles and doubles national collegiate champion, in 1883. When he died in 1956, he was Philadelphia's oldest practicing attorney.

Biography

Clark was born in

Germantown, Philadelphia Germantown () is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Palatines, Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough (Pennsylvania), borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, whi ...

, Pennsylvania, on November 30, 1861, to a family of bankers and financiers. His father, Edward White Clark, was a partner in the family firm, E. W. Clark & Co. Clark's brother, Clarence Munroe Clark, would also become a tennis player of note. As a student at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Joseph Clark won the U.S. intercollegiate singles and doubles titles in its inaugural staging, in the spring of 1883. In the singles, he defeated fellow Crimson player Dick Sears. Clark graduated Harvard in 1883 and later earned a law degree. He and his brother, Percy Hamilton Clark, opened a law practice at 321 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. The practice centered on the "

street railway A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

, electric light, and power businesses" operated by E. W. Clark & Co. In 1885, he took the U.S. National lawn tennis doubles title, and also became champion of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the first American to be so. Clark was also a semi-finalist at the U.S. National Championships lawn tennis singles in

1885 Events January * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 17 – Mahdist ...

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

, the same year he also won men's Mosseley Challenge Cup at the Bar Harbor Open, and

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

. In 1886 he won the Wentworth Invitation.In 1887 he the singles title at the Lenox Invitation in New York. He captured the unofficial 1887 and 1887 U.S. National mixed doubles championships with L. Stokes and Marian Wright ( fr), respectively He served as president of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association from 1889 until 1891. On November 26, 1896, Clark married Kate Richardson Avery (1868-1951), whose family owned

Avery Island Avery Island (historically ) is a salt dome best known as the source of Tabasco sauce. Located in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States, it is about inland from Vermilion Bay, which opens onto the Gulf of Mexico. A small human population li ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. She was the daughter of Dudley Avery (1810-1879), who was the brother-in-law of

Tabasco sauce Tabasco is an American brand of hot sauce made from vinegar, tabasco peppers and salt. It is produced by the McIlhenny Company of Avery Island in southern Louisiana, having been created over 150 years ago by Edmund McIlhenny. Originally the ...

inventor

Edmund McIlhenny Edmund McIlhenny (; 1815 – 25 November 1890) was an American businessman and manufacturer who founded the McIlhenny Company, which was the first to mass produce Tabasco sauce. While company legend attributes the invention of the sauce to McIlhe ...

(1815-1890). Their children included two sons: future Philadelphia mayor and U.S. Senator Joseph Sill Clark Jr. and Avery B. Clark. They had at least three grandchildren: Joseph Jr.'s children Joseph S. Clark III and Noel (née Clark) Miller, and Avery's daughter Kate Avery Clark. In 1955, Clark was inaugurated 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, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...

. Clark died April 14, 1956, in

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for the high incomes of its residents and high real estate values, as well as its private schools. Geography Boun ...

References

External links

*
Photo
of "Kate's Hall" at 8440 St. Martins Lane in Chestnut Hill, designed in 1902-1903 by

Clarence C. Zantzinger Clarence Clark Zantzinger (1872–1954) was an American architect and public servant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Life Clarence was born in Philadelphia, the son of Alfred Zantzinger (1839–1873) and Sarah Crawford Clark. Alfred was a medical ...

for Joseph Sill Clark Sr. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Joseph Sill, Sr. 1861 births 1956 deaths 19th-century American sportsmen 19th-century male tennis players American male tennis players Harvard Crimson men's tennis players Tennis players from Philadelphia Clark banking family International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees United States National champions (tennis) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Presidents of the United States Tennis Association