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Pancho arrived in the states by ship and went to his first tournament the same day.
On July 29, 1940, Pancho Segura arrived in New York City. He wore a card with his name on it round his neck, like an immigrant just off the boat. Elwood Cooke (Click Here for his discovery of Pancho) and his tennis playing wife, Sarah, met him at the pier with a representative of Wilson Sporting Goods, and without any more ado, they put him on a train for Southampton, Long Island.
He was told he was going to the Meadow Club to play tennis. Perhaps it was a blessing that Pancho spoke no English. He had no idea that he was about to cross the threshold of one of the most exclusive private clubs in the United States. He had no idea that there were rules of clothing and deportment that the club members required.
The Meadow Club had never seen anything like him. \ Clutching his shabby tennis racket and a small bag of unsuitable clothes, he arrived in Southampton in time to play in the men’s doubles (with his traveling companion, Juan Aguirre), in the Fifteenth Annual Tournament of the Meadow…