Nancy Chaffee
Full name | Nancy Chaffee Whitaker |
---|---|
Country (sports) | United States |
Born | Ventura, California, United States | March 6, 1929
Died | August 11, 2002 Coronado, California, United States | (aged 73)
Retired | 1956 |
Plays | Right-handed |
Singles | |
Highest ranking | No. 4 (1951) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Wimbledon | 4R (1950) |
US Open | SF (1950) |
Doubles | |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
US Open | F (1951) |
Nancy Chaffee Whitaker (March 6, 1929 – August 11, 2002) was an American female tennis player who was active in the 1950s.
Chaffee won the national girls' 18-and-under title in 1947. She won the
Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the women's doubles final with Canning Todd at the 1951 U.S. National Championships, where they were defeated in straight sets by Shirley Fry and Doris Hart.[3] At the 1951 Wightman Cup, she won her doubles match as the U.S. defeated Great Britain 6–1.[1]
On October 13, 1951, she married baseball star Ralph Kiner with whom she had three children.[1] After her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1968, she only occasionally played competitive tennis.[4] She married to sportscaster Jack Whitaker in 1991.[1]
Chaffee became a sports commentator for ABC, developed tennis programs at resorts, and in 1992, co-founded the Cartier tennis tournament in Long Island's East Hampton, an amateur mixed-doubles fund-raising event to benefit the American Cancer Society.[1][5] She died on August 11, 2002, from complications of cancer.[6]
Grand Slam finals
Doubles
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1951 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Patricia Todd | Shirley Fry Doris Hart |
4–6, 2–6 |
References
- ^ a b c d e Richard Goldstein (August 16, 2002). "Nancy Chaffee Whitaker, 73, Tennis Player". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Nancy Chaffee, 73". Chicago Tribune. August 14, 2002.
- ISBN 978-0942257700.
- ^ Bruce Weber (February 6, 2014). "Ralph Kiner, Slugger Who Became a Voice of the Mets, Dies at 91". The New York Times.
- ^ "Taking Up a Tennis Racquet to Fight Cancer". The New York Times. September 15, 1996.
- ^ "Chaffee was highly ranked during 1950s". ESPN. August 12, 2002.