RIP Gloria Connors

This just came in, Tribe, and you need to know. Let's hold off comments until I can write a bit about Gloria tomorrow:

For Immediate Release -

January 9, 2007

International Tennis Hall of Fame Announces the Passing of Gloria Connors

NEWPORT, RI

Additionally, Gloria Connors was very active for many years in the Belleville, Illinois community, teaching tennis to the “kids of Belleville” in order to keep them off the streets, which often led to scholarships and jobs.

A wake will be held this Thursday, January 11, 4:00pm -8:00pm at Kurrus Funeral Home,

The Connors family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to The Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy,

Gloria Connors’ last public tennis appearance was at her son’s official Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held in Newport,Rhode Island in July, 1998.

Gloria Connors was an accomplished tennis player herself, who played in the 1942 and 1943 US Championships, then held at Forest Hills. Throughout most of her son Jimmy’s tennis career she was his coach -- his only coach -- and it was often pointed out that she was “a woman who developed a male champion in a men’s sport.” Gloria Connors was always ahead of her time and she laid the foundation for a 21-year career of eight Grand Slam singles crowns, 130 titles and a No. 1 world ranking held for 160 consecutive weeks. Gloria Connors has been called one of the most famous sports mothers, instilling in her son the art of being one of the toughest competitive tennis players ever to play the game.