Mary Ewing Outerbridge
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Mary Ewing Outerbridge (February 16, 1852 – May 3, 1886) was an American woman who imported the lawn game
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 ...
to the United States from
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.


Biography

Mary was born on February 16, 1852, in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
to Bermudians Alexander Ewing Outerbridge (1816–1900) and Laura Catherine Harvey (1818–1867). Her parents had married in Paget Parish, Bermuda in 1840, moving their growing family to the United States before her birth. Four of her siblings had been born in Bermuda: Albert Albouy Outerbridge (1841-1917), Joseph Outerbridge (1843-1933), August Emelius Outerbridge (1846–1921), and Catherine Tucker Outerbridge (1846-1928). Her other siblings were Harriett Harvey Outerbridge (1848-1920), Alexander Ewing Outerbridge II (1850-1928), Laura Catharine Outerbridge (1855-1953), Adolph John Harvey Outerbridge (1858–1928), and Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge (1860-1932), who was the first president of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
. The modern game of lawn tennis was first commercialized in 1874 in
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by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield of the
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. While posted to the British Bermuda Garrison in 1874, one of Wingfield's subordinates shared tennis equipment and rules with Outerbridge at Clermont, her family's home in Paget Parish that offered a large, flat lawn. In 1874, Mary returned from Bermuda aboard the ship S.S. ''Canima''. The sporting equipment was initially confiscated by customs officials, but her brother August used his connections in the shipping industry to have the supplies released. She introduced lawn tennis to the United States by setting up the country's first tennis court at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club, near the present-day location of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The club was founded on or around March 22, 1872. She played the first tennis game in the US against her sister Laura in
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
, New York, on an hourglass-shaped court. In September 1880, the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club held the Tennis Championship of America. The finals were won by O. E. Woodhouse of England, defeating Canadian I. F. Hellmuth. Disputes over tennis court dimensions, net size, racket weight, and ball size among tournament participants prompted Outerbridge's brother Eugenius to support the 1881 formation of the US Tennis Association (USTA) to create uniform regulations. Outerbridge died on May 3, 1886, at age 34, from kidney inflammation. She had been living with her father, who worked as a clerk, in the New Brighton neighborhood of
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
and was buried in Staten Island's Silver Mount Cemetery next to her mother.


Legacy

Mary Outerbridge was inducted 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 ...
in 1981 and the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Tennis journalist and sportscaster Bud Collins' book ''History of Tennis'' identifies competing claims to the introduction of tennis to the United States. First, memoirist Martha Summerhayes described playing tennis at
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with Ella Wilkins Bailey, the wife of an army officer, on October 8, 1874. Second, James Dwight played tennis with his cousin, Fred Sears, in
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in 1875, raising the sport's popularity in
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. Following the October 1880 Beacon Park Open in
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, the US Open was launched in
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, annually played there until moving to New York in 1915. Dwight is typically credited with introducing tennis to the United States because he served as the President of the U.S. Tennis Association from 1882 to 1884 and again from 1894 to 1911. While tennis player Malcolm Whitman identified records from the New York Custom House documenting Outerbridge's 1874 importation of tennis equipment from Bermuda, this evidence does not prove whether Outerbridge played tennis at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club before Dwight's claim of playing tennis in Massachusetts during 1875. Noting that Outerbridge's impact was not recognized in '' The New York Times''' obituary section at the time of her death, editor Amisha Padnani included her in the newspaper's Overlooked project through a 2018 belated obituary coinciding with that year's
International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...
. Padnani argued that regardless of whether Outerbridge was the truly the first to introduce tennis to the United States, her role in popularizing the sport among women led to the inclusion of a Women's National Singles Championship since the 1887 US Open.


See also

* James Dwight *
History of tennis The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
*


Footnotes


External links


Findagrave: Mary OuterbridgeInternational Tennis Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Outerbridge, Mary International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees American people of Bermudian descent Tennis players from Philadelphia Sportspeople from Staten Island Tennis players from New York City 1852 births 1886 deaths History of tennis