A Tennis Player
Named Barbara
Lee Tyler
She won his respect the first day he saw her. A girl of 14, she had gotten special leave from school across town in San Francisco to play a first round match at the California Tennis Club. Burdened with bag of schoolbooks over one shoulder, tennis racket over the other, she burst into the club only to be told "Your match has been postponed until tomorrow."
Oh, shit," she exclaimed, slamming her books to the ground. Looking on amused was club member Tom Brown, only 18, but already a seasoned veteran of such tournament foul-ups.
So began Wimbledon champion Tom Brown's life longtime friendship with Barbara Scofield, a player who would go on to many accomplishments on the world tennis stage. The year was 1940.
Feisty teenager then, a soft-spoken genteel 87 now, Barbara Scofield Davidson was recently admitted into the USTA Norcal Tennis Hall of Fame. Among those present for the elegant ceremony at Stanford were Barbara's husband, Gordon, of Harley-Davidson fame; their three children, Gigi, Gabrielle, and Michael and three of their seven grandchildren.
Son Michael had some insights to offer about his mother.
"She never had any airs about her tennis," he said. "There's a picture on the wall at home of her in tennis clothes with Gregory Peck, and another of her chatting with Queen Elizabeth. But that's it.
"My sisters and I had no idea what she'd accomplished until we went on the internet. There's an awful lot about her on Wikipedia. (Click Here.)
"Five times she played Wimbledon. One of those years she had to default because she was pregnant with me.
"In 1975 she and I won the first national mother-son tournament. We were the only mother-son entered. The rest of the field were all fathers and sons."
Barbara had a passion for travel, which was easily fueled if you were good at tennis. She was one of the first women to go through college (the University of Miami) on a tennis scholarship. Gardnar Mulloy recruited her. (Click Here to read our profile of the legendary Mulloy.)
While at Miami, she won the Eastern Intercollegiate Championships in 1947. Returning to California after graduation, she won the 1948 Cal State singles, ladies doubles and mixed doubles.
That same year she got an invitation to play tennis in Argentina. She jumped at it. While there she was offered a job as the social hostess at the American Embassy in Buenos Aires. She took it, stayed for a year, and won the ladies singles, doubles, and mixed doubles of the 1949 South American Championships .
"I was a social animal," Barbara smiles. "When I went to tournaments, I always enjoyed the parties as much as the matches."
At the Italian Championships in 1950 she played the singles semis. At Roland Garros, with Enrique Morea as partner, she won the '50 French Championships mixed doubles.
It was a walkover. Opponents Bill Talbert and Pat Canning Todd were unable to play as Pat had severe blood blisters on both feet. However, Enrique and Barbara had beaten a top team to reach the finals -- Shirley Fry and Ken McGregor. They felt they earned the title.
In 1951, Barbara met Gordon Davidson on a ship to Europe. They traveled together all that summer, and married in Morocco. Before settling down to raise a family, she had two more tennis flings --winning the Eastern Grass Court Championships in '52 , and the Swiss Championships in '53.
Not until 1998 did she seriously compete again -- this time as a senior to win the National 70s Grass Court. Three years she played on ladies' veteran cup teams. In 2001 she was singles runner-up in the National Indoors , and in '02 semi-finalist in the ITF World Cup Singles.
Her active tennis days are over now, and travel is pretty much limited to memories of her favorite places --Paris, India, Africa, Egypt. Home is half the year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the other half in Palm Beach, Florida.
"I left California when I was 23,"she told me, "but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for San Francisco."
