Sarah Palfrey Cooke

Sarah Hammond Palfrey Danzig (née Palfrey; September 18, 1912 – February 27, 1996) was an American tennis player whose career spanned two decades from the late 1920s until the late 1940s. She won two singles, nine women's doubles, and four mixed doubles titles at the U. S. National Championships.

Sarah Palfrey

Palfrey (then Fabyan) at Wimbledon in 1939
Full name	Sarah Hammond Palfrey Danzig
Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1912-09-18)September 18, 1912 Sharon, Massachusetts, United States
Died	February 27, 1996(1996-02-27) (aged 83) New York, New York, United States
Height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Turned pro	1947
Plays	Right-handed
Int. Tennis HoF	1963 (member page)
Singles
Career record	0–0
Highest ranking	World No. 4 (1934)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	QF (1939)
Wimbledon	SF (1939)
US Open	W (1941, 1945)
Doubles
Career record	0–0
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	F (1934)
Wimbledon	W (1938, 1939)
US Open	W (1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	W (1939)
Wimbledon	F (1936, 1938)
US Open	W (1932, 1935, 1937, 1941)

Career

She was 32 years old, married to Elwood Cooke, and a mother when she won her second singles title at the 1945 U. S. National Championships. Pauline Betz was her opponent in the final. Since she lost to Cooke in the 1941 final, Betz had won three consecutive titles and 19 consecutive matches at these championships. In 1945, Cooke lost the first set and squandered her 5–2 lead in the second set before recovering to win it 8–6. In the third set, Betz got close to winning yet another title when she served for a 5–3 lead. Cooke, however, broke her serve and then won the next two games to win the tournament. She became only the second mother to win this title, with Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman being the first.[1]

Cooke is one of the few women, if not the sole woman, to appear on a top-level male championship honor roll. Because of the manpower crisis during World War II, she and husband Elwood were permitted to enter the men's doubles at the 1945 Tri-State Championships in Cincinnati. They lost in the final to Hal Surface and Bill Talbert.[1]

Palfrey won 16 Grand Slam championships in women's doubles (11) and mixed doubles (5). She teamed with Betty Nuthall to win the 1930 U. S. National Championships and with Helen Jacobs to win the 1932, 1934, and 1935 championships. Palfrey and Alice Marble won the U. S. National Championships from 1937 through 1940. At the Wimbledon Championships, Palfrey and Marble won the 1938 and 1939 women's doubles titles. Palfrey's last U. S. women's doubles championship was in 1941 with Margaret Osborne. In mixed doubles, Palfrey teamed with four different partners to win the U. S. National Championships: Fred Perry (1932), Enrique Maier (1935), Don Budge (1937), and Jack Kramer (1941). Palfrey also won the mixed doubles title at the 1939 French International Championships, teaming with future husband Elwood Cooke.

Palfrey and Marble were undefeated in doubles from 1937 until Marble turned professional at the end of 1940.[2]

In 1947, Cooke and Betz went on a "barnstorming" tour of mostly one-night stands in the U. S. and Europe, with each earning about US$10,000. They had been stripped of their amateur status by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) in early 1947 because Elwood Cooke had written letters to several tournament organizers about creating a professional tour.[3]

According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Palfrey was one of the ten highest ranked women in the world from 1933 through 1936 and in 1938 and 1939. Her career high was fourth in 1934. (No world rankings were issued from 1940 through 1945.) [4]

Palfrey was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the USLTA 1929–31, 1933–41, and 1945. She was the top-ranked U. S. player in 1941 and 1945.[5]

Palfrey and Marble lobbied the USLTA to remove the color bar and allow Althea Gibson to play at heretofore whites-only tournaments beginning in 1950. "She [Palfrey] was calmly persuasive, had clout as an ex-champ, and got Althea into the U. S. [National] Championships in 1950," said Gladys Heldman, founder of the women's professional tennis tour in 1970.[6]

Palfrey once said, "Tennis is the best game there is. It combines mental and physical qualities and is the sport for a lifetime. And there are many living examples at the age of 80 to prove it. So it is enough for us to know that tennis will remain, under whatever conditions, whether amateur or pro, the finest game there is for us, for our children, and our children's children."[3]

Palfrey was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1963.

Personal life

She had two children and was married three times: to Marshal Fabyan, Elwood Cooke, and Jerome Alan Danzig.[7] She married Fabyan on October 6, 1934, but divorced him in Reno, Nevada on July 20, 1940.[8][9] She married Cooke on October 2, 1940, and their daughter was born in December 1942.[10][11] She divorced him on April 29, 1949, on grounds of cruelty.[12] She married Danzig on April 27, 1951,[13][14][15] and remained married to him until her death of lung cancer in 1996. Their son was born in December 1952.[16]

Her brother, John Palfrey, also an excellent tennis player and an expert on atomic energy, married Belle "Clochette" Roosevelt Palfrey, a granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt and a daughter of Kermit Roosevelt.

She also had four sisters, who were all fine tennis players.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1934	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	1–6, 4–6
Loss	1935	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	2–6, 4–6
Win	1941	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Pauline Betz	7–5, 6–2
Win	1945	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Pauline Betz	3–6, 8–6, 6–4

Doubles (11 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1930	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Betty Nuthall	Edith Cross Anna McCune Harper	3–6, 6–3, 7–5
Win	1932	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	Alice Marble Marjorie Morrill	8–6, 6–1
Loss	1934	French Championships	Clay	Helen Jacobs	Simonne Mathieu Elizabeth Ryan	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Win	1934	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	Carolin Babcock Dorothy Andrus	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win	1935	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	Carolin Babcock Dorothy Andrus	6–4, 6–2
Loss	1936	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	Kay Stammers Freda James	2–6, 1–6
Loss	1936	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Helen Jacobs	Marjorie Gladman Van Ryn Carolin Babcock	7–9, 6–2, 4–6
Win	1937	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	Marjorie Gladman Van Ryn Carolin Babcock	7–5, 6–4
Win	1938	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	Simonne Mathieu Billie Yorke	6–2, 6–3
Win	1938	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	Simonne Mathieu Jadwiga Jędrzejowska	6–8, 6–4, 6–3
Win	1939	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	Helen Jacobs Billie Yorke	6–1, 6–0
Win	1939	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	Kay Stammers Freda James Hammersley	7–5, 8–6
Win	1940	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Alice Marble	Dorothy Bundy Marjorie Gladman Van Ryn	6–4, 6–3
Win	1941	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Margaret Osborne	Dorothy Bundy Pauline Betz	3–6, 6–1, 6–4

Mixed doubles (5 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1932	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	Helen Jacobs Ellsworth Vines	6–3, 7–5
Loss	1933	U. S. National Championships	Grass	George Lott	Elizabeth Ryan Ellsworth Vines	9–11, 1–6
Win	1935	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Enrique Maier	Kay Stammers Roderich Menzel	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Loss	1936	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Don Budge	Dorothy Round Fred Perry	9–7, 5–7, 4–6
Loss	1936	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Don Budge	Alice Marble Gene Mako	3–6, 2–6
Win	1937	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Don Budge	Sylvie Jung Henrotin Yvon Petra	6–2, 8–10, 6–0
Loss	1938	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Henner Henkel	Alice Marble Don Budge	1–6, 4–6
Win	1939	French Championships	Clay	Elwood Cooke	Simonne Mathieu Franjo Kukuljević	4–6, 6–1, 7–5
Loss	1939	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Elwood Cooke	Alice Marble Harry Hopman	7–9, 1–6
Win	1941	U. S. National Championships	Grass	Jack Kramer	Pauline Betz Bobby Riggs	4–6, 6–4, 6–4

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

Tournament	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	Career SR	Win-Loss
Australian National Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	0 / 0	0–0
French Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	QF	NH	R	R	R	R	A	0 / 2	2–2
Wimbledon Championships	A	A	2R	A	4R	A	QF	A	2R	A	QF	SF	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	0 / 6	16–6
U. S. National Championships	1R	3R	3R	3R	2R	QF	F	F	1R	1R	SF	QF	3R	W	A	QF	A	W	2 / 16	40–14
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 1	1 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	1 / 1	2 / 24
Win-Loss	0–1	2–1	3–2	2–1	2–2	3–1	10–3	5–1	0–2	0–1	8–2	9–3	2–1	5–0	0–0	2–1	0–0	5–0		58–22

R = tournament restricted to French nationals and held under German occupation.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

References

1. "Hall of Famers – Sarah Palfrey Danzig". International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
2. "Alice Marble winner again at Manchester". Asbury Park Press. 18 August 1940. p. 8.
3. OBITUARY : Sarah Danzig
4. Bud Collins (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York City: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 702. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
5. United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. pp. 260–1.
6. Bruce Schoenfeld (2004). The Match: Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton: how two outsiders--one Black, the other Jewish--forged a friendship and made sports history (1st ed.). New York City: Amistad. p. 65. ISBN 978-0060526528.
7. New York Times obituary.
8. "Tennis Star in Suit". The Montreal Gazette. October 25, 1939. p. 16 – via Google News Archive.
9. "Decree to Sarah Fabyan; Tennis Player Obtains a Divorce in Reno". The New York Times. July 20, 1940.
10. "Court Romance". The Palm Beach Post. October 3, 1940 – via Google News Archive.
11. Daughter Is Born To Elwood Cookes
12. "Sarah Palfrey Cooke Granted Divorce". The Miami News. April 29, 1949 – via Google News Archive.
13. Tennis
14. "Mrs. Cooke Bride of Jerome Danzig; Former Sarah Palfrey, Tennis Star, Is Wed to Dartmouth Alumnus at the Carlyle Ralph--van Voorhees". The New York Times. April 1951.
15. Randolph, Nancy (April 16, 1951). "Sarah Palfrey Cooke to Marry Radio Man Jerome Danzig". New York Daily News.
16. Mrs. Jerome A. Danzig Has Son

External links

• Sarah Palfrey Cooke at the International Tennis Hall of Fame