Eleonora Sears

Eleonora Randolph Sears was born in Boston on September 28, 1881 and died in Palm Beach on March 16, 1968. She enjoyed an extremely aristocratic upbringing since she comes from the family line of Thomas Jefferson. She would spend her annual vacation in at Newport and get to play golf and tennis, ride horses, take swimming and sail in her yacht. Despite her being part of the elite society, Sears was interestingly one of the special women in history who dared to break the barrier between sexes in the world of sport. Because of her utter determination to participate in a world of men dominated sport, her obituary read as “paved the way for women’s entrance in sports.”

Eleonora is also the daughter of Fred Sears, a tennis pioneer, and the niece of Richard Sears, an American U.S. Open champion. It was in 1911 that Sears was formally exposed to playing and competing in tennis. She, together with her good friend, Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, earned the United States doubles championship title. After several years, Sears earned four more doubles title in 1911 and 1915 with Hotchkiss and in 1916 and 1917 with Molla Mallory. However, Sears lost a final game in the singles category against Mary Browne in 1912.

The criticism she received never stopped her love for sports. She eventually became one of the first women squash player to take home the championship title. King Edward III, then Prince of Wales, claimed that Sears was his best partner in dance, tennis and squash.

When Sears was in her 70’s she concentrated full time to become the coach for the women squash team. She also was actively involved in organizing marathon walks from Boston to Newport and raised the best horses for the National Horse Show.

She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968.