Before Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe: Early female athletes paved way
Lottie Dod and Alice Marble blazed a trail not only in sport but also through gender stereotypes, as successful competitors.
Lottie Dod and Alice Marble blazed a trail not only in sport but also through gender stereotypes, as successful competitors.
Before Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe, there was Lottie Dod and Alice Marble. The latter were well known in the late 19th and early 20th century, and as media sensations they paved the way for female sports superstars today.聽 聽
Dod (1871-1960) was a British tennis prodigy, golf champion, and all-around athlete. At the tender age of 11, she began challenging adults and 鈥渓eaving their tennis in tatters.鈥� By age 21, she had racked up five Wimbledon wins; her first win at age 15 earned her the still-unbroken record for youngest ladies鈥� singles champion. Her story is chronicled in 鈥淟ittle Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, the World鈥檚 First Female Sports Superstar鈥� by Sasha Abramsky.聽
Yet, at the peak of her power, Dod left tennis. She craved a new challenge. Throughout her 20s and 30s, she bounced from sport to sport, achieving a string of successes not just in tennis and golf, but also in hockey, ice skating, tobogganing, and mountain climbing. She closed out her impressive career by winning a silver medal in archery at the 1908 Olympics.
Dod challenged the prevailing image of the 鈥渄elicate鈥� female athlete, who was considered inferior to her male counterparts. She was vocal in her belief that women could be just as successful in sports as men. After her death, The Guardian called Dod 鈥渙ne of the most remarkable sportswomen of the 19th century.鈥澛�
Abramsky presents a well-researched account of a woman whose rare losses were almost more newsworthy than her consistent victories.聽
The tennis world鈥檚 comeback kid
American tennis player Alice Marble (1913-1990) captured the world鈥檚 attention and multiple titles beginning in the mid-1930s. As detailed in Robert Weintraub鈥檚 鈥淭he Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery,鈥� Marble possessed a great deal of innate talent, but it wasn鈥檛 until coach Eleanor 鈥淭each鈥� Tennant agreed to instruct her that she morphed into a champion.
The road to the top wasn鈥檛 easy. Several health crises threatened to end her career, and she left the circuit for two years to recover. She made a triumphant return in 1936, when she won the U.S. National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open).
Her comeback story along with her televised matches made the public fall in love with Marble. Her friendships with movie stars such as Carole Lombard and Clark Gable gave her a reputation of rubbing elbows with Hollywood royalty. She became a glamorous figure in her own right and gained a platform for her other projects, including sportswear design.
Much of Marble鈥檚 life remains shrouded in mystery. Though she wrote not one but two memoirs, questions persist. Was she married to an officer who died in World War II? Did she serve as a spy? Weintraub uses Marble鈥檚 memoirs as the foundation of his research, and his discoveries turn this sports biography into a page-turning thriller.
These two biographies serve not only as opportunities to marvel at the accomplishments of these women, but also as reminders that some things haven鈥檛 changed. For example, Dod and Marble were criticized for how they dressed, accused of playing like men, and berated for their progressive political views. These books are celebrations of women鈥檚 progress, but they also show how much work is left to be done.