Reginald Weir
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Reginald Storum Weir also known as Reggie Weir (September 30, 1911 – August 22, 1987) was an American tennis player and physician. He was active from 1931 to 1973 and won 6 career titles, 5 of which came at the ATA National Championships (1931–33, 1937, 1942).


Tennis career

Weir was captain of the
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
men's tennis team. After graduating from CCNY in 1931, he was
American Tennis Association The American Tennis Association (ATA) is based in Largo, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., and is the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States. The core of the ATA's modern mission continues to be promoting tennis as a ...
(ATA) national champion in 1931, 1932, 1933, 1937, and 1942. With the support of the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
, Weir and a partner originally attempted to play at a
United States Lawn Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...
's (USLTA)-sponsored indoor tournament in 1929, but they were turned away when organizers realized he was African-American. Later, in 1948, he successfully gained entrance to the USLTA's National Indoor Tournament in New York, becoming the first African-American man to play at a USLTA event. He won his first-round game on March 11, 1948, but did not advance further. His entrance to the tournament was the result of several years of lobbying by the ATA, and paved the way for
Althea Gibson Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African America ...
to be accepted and advance to the quarterfinals the following year.


Outside of tennis

Weir was born on September 30, 1911, 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 ...
, to parents, Felix Weir, American violinist and educator, and Ethel Storum Weir. A resident of
Fair Lawn, New Jersey Fair Lawn is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a bedroom community, bedroom suburb located northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the boro ...
, he died there on August 22, 1987. Weir was a graduate of the medical school of
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
and practiced family medicine from 1935 to 1985.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Reginald 1911 births 1987 deaths African-American tennis players American male tennis players African-American history of New Jersey American primary care physicians City College of New York alumni Sportspeople from Fair Lawn, New Jersey New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni 20th-century African-American sportsmen