Marjorie Dodd Letts (January 14, 1889– August 1968) was an important amateur tennis player and golfer in the early part of the 20th century.

Career

Tennis

Playing at a time when there were no women's rankings, she was nonetheless one of the best ever to come out of the Midwest Section of the United States Tennis Association (known then as the Western Section). At the

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, Dodd appeared in eight finals, winning singles titles in 1911 & 1912, and reaching the singles finals in 1908 & 1913. She won doubles titles in 1908 (with Martha Kinsey) and 1906 (with

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) and was a doubles finalist in 1913. She also was a mixed doubles finalist (with

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) in 1907.

Golf

After her notable tennis career, she switched to golf, winning the Women's Western Golf Championships three times (1916, 1917, and 1920) and reaching the finals in 1910 and 1919. One of her most notable victories came in the 1921 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship when she defeated Cecil Leitch, called by ''The New York Times'' "the greatest golfing woman the world has ever seen." She also won two Chicago team championships with Mrs. Melvin Jones of

Olympia Fields, Illinois Olympia Fields is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,718 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a southern suburb of Chicago. The municipality grew up around the prestigious Olympia Fields Coun ...

. Dodd Letts also served in 1915 as a director of the Women's Western Golf Association playing out of the Cincinnati Golf Club.

Personal life

Dodd married Frederick Clayton Letts, Jr., on February 5, 1916, and the couple divorced on November 12, 1930. She died in 1968, in

DuPage County, Illinois DuPage County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it List of ...

References

Sources

*''From Club Court to Center Court'' by Phillip S. Smith (2008 Edition; )
New York Times, October 6, 1921
*Massillon, Ohio, Evening Independent Newspaper, Thursday, November 13, 1930 (page five)
Golf Illustrated, August, 1924
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Marjorie American female tennis players 1894 births 1968 deaths Tennis players from Ohio Tennis players from Cincinnati 20th-century American sportswomen