Tennis ace Gussie Moran, who passed away last week in Los Angeles, caused an international stir in 1949 and gained worldwide fame for competing at Wimbledon wearing a short skirt and lace-trimmed underwear.
She had recently been hospitalised with cancer, Jack Neworth, a tennis writer and friend, said.
Moran's daring tennis outfit worn in a bastion of English propriety won her more renown than her tennis playing, though she was ranked as high as No 4 in the United States, won the US women's indoor championship in 1949 and reached the quarterfinals that year at Wimbledon.
By the end of her life she had come to know hardship - bouncing from job to job, living in near squalor, telling of abortions and rape. At her death she lived in a small apartment. But for a time, more than half a century ago, she was a household name around the world. A racehorse, an airplane and a sauce were named after her.
Moran, who was 25 at the time, arrived in London for Wimbledon in June 1949 with a new outfit in mind, having already reached out to the British designer Teddy Tinling to create one. "I wrote him a letter prior to Wimbledon, asking him if he would design me something with one sleeve one color, the other sleeve another color and the shirt another color," Moran told The Orlando Sentinel in 1988. "He wrote back, 'HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"'
Tinling, a former tennis player and for many years the official Wimbledon host, said Moran had asked him to make her "look more feminine," he told The Associated Press during the tournament. She usually wore shorts on the court.
Sticking to Wimbledon's all-white dress code, Tinling came up with a white silk sun-top jersey with a tight waist and bodice and a short skirt that boldly bared her knees. Underneath were matching white silk jersey panties trimmed with 2 inches of open lace.
Moran displayed her outfit during a pre-tournament tea party at the Hurlingham Club, instantly inspiring a nickname. "Gorgeous Gussie's Lace-Fringed Panties No 1 Attraction on Wimbledon's Courts," a headline in The New York Times declared after the tea party preview.
By the time of her opening match, photographers were jostling for position, many lying flat in the back court, the better to catch the most risque angle as she served the ball. They were not disappointed.
"The fringed panties are very much in evidence when Gussie races across the court or leaps for a high shot," The AP reported.
Moran, who was noted for a powerful forehand, won her match, defeating Bea Walter of Britain, but it was her undies that became front-page news and a subject of debate in the British Parliament. The All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the governing body of British tennis, accused Moran of "bringing vulgarity and sin into tennis."
Although Moran didn't wear the lace panties for the rest of the tournament, the sensation they caused made her one of the biggest attractions in women's tennis. She soon made a cameo appearance in the 1952 sports movie "Pat and Mike" with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
The newspapers reported on her romantic life. And her underwear, soon christened "Gussie panties," started a trend. Women began taking to the court in lace panties, T-shirts and plunging necklines.
"Gussie was the Anna Kournikova of her time," former tennis champion Jack Kramer told The Los Angeles Times in 2002, referring to the Russian star. "Gussie was a beautiful woman with a beautiful body. If Gussie had played in the era of television, no telling what would have happened. Because, besides everything else, Gussie could play."
But there were negative repercussions, too. Wimbledon banned short dresses from the tournament. By 1950 there were grumblings among the tennis elite that the attention Moran had received was unmerited, in light of her being ranked seventh among American women at the time. In 1952 the US Tennis Lawn Association banned lace panties and low-neckline attire at the US Open at Forest Hills in Queens, NY.
And Tinling had to resign as official Wimbledon host, not to be welcomed back until 1983, seven years before his death. In the meantime he had gone on to design tennis wear for players like Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong, Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade. Tennis wear evolved as well, rendering Moran's outfit relatively tame by today's standards.
"Gussie wasn't a revolutionary," Tinling once told The Times. "She wore the dress for two reasons. She wanted to look good, and the shorter dresses allowed her to move more freely on the court."
Moran retired from amateur tennis in August 1950 and signed a one-year $75,000 contract to play on a professional tour run by Bobby Riggs.
Moran had three marriages, none lasting more than two years. She had no children. In her later years she went from job to job, often living in reduced circumstances after losing her home in the 1980s. At one point, largely supported by friends and fans, she was reported to be living with cats in a single room in a run-down building in Hollywood, the curtains made of bed sheets. In recent years she sold her tennis memorabilia and autographs online.
York Times News Service
She had recently been hospitalised with cancer, Jack Neworth, a tennis writer and friend, said.
Moran's daring tennis outfit worn in a bastion of English propriety won her more renown than her tennis playing, though she was ranked as high as No 4 in the United States, won the US women's indoor championship in 1949 and reached the quarterfinals that year at Wimbledon.
By the end of her life she had come to know hardship - bouncing from job to job, living in near squalor, telling of abortions and rape. At her death she lived in a small apartment. But for a time, more than half a century ago, she was a household name around the world. A racehorse, an airplane and a sauce were named after her.
Moran, who was 25 at the time, arrived in London for Wimbledon in June 1949 with a new outfit in mind, having already reached out to the British designer Teddy Tinling to create one. "I wrote him a letter prior to Wimbledon, asking him if he would design me something with one sleeve one color, the other sleeve another color and the shirt another color," Moran told The Orlando Sentinel in 1988. "He wrote back, 'HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"'
Tinling, a former tennis player and for many years the official Wimbledon host, said Moran had asked him to make her "look more feminine," he told The Associated Press during the tournament. She usually wore shorts on the court.
Sticking to Wimbledon's all-white dress code, Tinling came up with a white silk sun-top jersey with a tight waist and bodice and a short skirt that boldly bared her knees. Underneath were matching white silk jersey panties trimmed with 2 inches of open lace.
Moran displayed her outfit during a pre-tournament tea party at the Hurlingham Club, instantly inspiring a nickname. "Gorgeous Gussie's Lace-Fringed Panties No 1 Attraction on Wimbledon's Courts," a headline in The New York Times declared after the tea party preview.
By the time of her opening match, photographers were jostling for position, many lying flat in the back court, the better to catch the most risque angle as she served the ball. They were not disappointed.
"The fringed panties are very much in evidence when Gussie races across the court or leaps for a high shot," The AP reported.
Moran, who was noted for a powerful forehand, won her match, defeating Bea Walter of Britain, but it was her undies that became front-page news and a subject of debate in the British Parliament. The All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the governing body of British tennis, accused Moran of "bringing vulgarity and sin into tennis."
Although Moran didn't wear the lace panties for the rest of the tournament, the sensation they caused made her one of the biggest attractions in women's tennis. She soon made a cameo appearance in the 1952 sports movie "Pat and Mike" with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
The newspapers reported on her romantic life. And her underwear, soon christened "Gussie panties," started a trend. Women began taking to the court in lace panties, T-shirts and plunging necklines.
"Gussie was the Anna Kournikova of her time," former tennis champion Jack Kramer told The Los Angeles Times in 2002, referring to the Russian star. "Gussie was a beautiful woman with a beautiful body. If Gussie had played in the era of television, no telling what would have happened. Because, besides everything else, Gussie could play."
But there were negative repercussions, too. Wimbledon banned short dresses from the tournament. By 1950 there were grumblings among the tennis elite that the attention Moran had received was unmerited, in light of her being ranked seventh among American women at the time. In 1952 the US Tennis Lawn Association banned lace panties and low-neckline attire at the US Open at Forest Hills in Queens, NY.
And Tinling had to resign as official Wimbledon host, not to be welcomed back until 1983, seven years before his death. In the meantime he had gone on to design tennis wear for players like Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong, Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade. Tennis wear evolved as well, rendering Moran's outfit relatively tame by today's standards.
"Gussie wasn't a revolutionary," Tinling once told The Times. "She wore the dress for two reasons. She wanted to look good, and the shorter dresses allowed her to move more freely on the court."
Moran retired from amateur tennis in August 1950 and signed a one-year $75,000 contract to play on a professional tour run by Bobby Riggs.
Moran had three marriages, none lasting more than two years. She had no children. In her later years she went from job to job, often living in reduced circumstances after losing her home in the 1980s. At one point, largely supported by friends and fans, she was reported to be living with cats in a single room in a run-down building in Hollywood, the curtains made of bed sheets. In recent years she sold her tennis memorabilia and autographs online.
York Times News Service