27-500: Little Mo may refer to: Maureen Connolly , American tennis player nicknamed "Little Mo" Little Mo (film) , a made-for-television biopic about Connolly, starring Glynnis O'Connor Little Mo Mitchell , a character from the UK television series EastEnders Little Missouri River (Arkansas) , a river in Arkansas, U.S. Topics referred to by
54-505: A Golden Racket." In 1966, Connolly was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. On June 4, 1969, she underwent a third operation for a stomach tumour at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. She died nearly three weeks later on June 21, at the age of 34. According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail , Connolly was ranked in the world top 10 from 1951 through 1954, reaching
81-502: A baseline specialist with tremendous power and accuracy. When she was age 11, Connolly was dubbed "Little Mo" by San Diego sportswriter Nelson Fisher, who compared the power of her forehand and backhand to the firepower of the USS Missouri , known colloquially as "Big Mo". In 1948, Folsom was replaced as her coach by Eleanor Tennant , who previously coached Alice Marble and Bobby Riggs . At age 14, she won 56 consecutive matches, and
108-626: A career high of world number one in those rankings from 1952 through 1954. Connolly was included in the year-end top-10 rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1950 through 1953. She was the top-ranked U.S. player from 1951 through 1953. Connolly was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969 and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1956, she
135-544: A member of the 1952 Olympic equestrian team for the United States, who shared her love of horses. They had two daughters, Cindy and Brenda, and she remained partially involved in tennis, acting as a correspondent for some U.S. and British newspapers at major U.S. tennis tournaments. Connolly was a coach for the British Wightman Cup team during its visits to the U.S. In Texas, where the couple lived, she established
162-428: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Maureen Connolly Maureen Catherine Connolly-Brinker (née Connolly ; September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969), known as " Little Mo ", was an American tennis player, the winner of nine major singles titles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she became the first woman to win a Grand Slam (all four major tournaments during
189-443: Is one of only three players, all women, to have a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles — every possible title (singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles) from all four Grand Slam tournaments. The others are Margaret Smith Court and Martina Navratilova. Hart was the first person to accomplish this feat. As a child, Hart suffered from osteomyelitis , which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg. She started playing tennis when she
216-416: The 1951 French International Championships through the semifinals of the 1954 Wimbledon Championships , 43 matches in total, although she skipped 4 Grand Slam tournaments during this period. She also did not lose a mixed doubles match at the 13 Grand Slam tournaments she played from the 1951 French International Championships through the 1955 U.S. National Championships. She (and partner Stan Smith ) lost in
243-405: The draw . She also won singles titles at the 1950 and 1952 French International Championships , the 1951 Wimbledon Championships (routing doubles partner Shirley Fry in the final), and the 1954 and 1955 U.S. National Championships . The 1955 U.S. singles final was the last Grand Slam singles match of her career. Hart won the singles , women's doubles , and mixed doubles titles at
270-399: The third round of the 1968 Wimbledon Championships to Frew McMillan and Annette Van Zyl Du Plooy 6–3, 12–10. According to John Olliff and Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail , Hart was ranked in the world top 10 from 1946 through 1955 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of world No. 1 in those rankings in 1951. Hart was included in
297-420: The 1951 Wimbledon Championships, playing the finals of all three events on the same day (July 7, 1951). She also won the " triple crown " at the 1952 French International Championships and the 1954 U.S. National Championships. During her Wightman Cup career from 1946 through 1955, Hart was a perfect 14–0 in singles matches and 8–1 in doubles matches. Hart did not lose a Grand Slam women's doubles match from
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#1732898177227324-612: The 1954 U.S. National Championships. She officially retired from tennis in February 1955 when she announced her impending marriage to Norman Brinker. Connolly retained Melvin Belli as counsel and sued the concrete mixer company. On December 17, 1957, the Supreme Court of California unanimously affirmed a $ 95,000 jury verdict in her favor; the opinion was signed by Chief Justice Phil S. Gibson . In June 1955, Connolly married Norman Brinker ,
351-621: The Australian Championships, but successfully defended her French and Wimbledon championships. Two weeks after she won her third-straight Wimbledon title, she was horseback riding in San Diego on July 20, 1954. A passing concrete mixer truck frightened her horse Colonel Merryboy, which pinned Connolly between the horse and truck. She was thrown and suffered a compound fracture to her right fibula , which ultimately ended her tennis career at age 19. She had intended to turn professional after
378-502: The Maureen Connolly Brinker Foundation to promote junior tennis. In 1957, she published an autobiography titled Forehand Drive . Connolly recognized the downside of her tennis career, writing "I have always believed greatness on a tennis court was my destiny, a dark destiny, at times, where the court became my secret jungle and I a lonely, fear-stricken hunter. I was a strange little girl armed with hate, fear, and
405-606: The final. She had arrived at the tournament with a shoulder injury but refused to withdraw when Tennant instructed her to do so. The ensuing argument resulted in the end of their partnership. Connolly was seeded first at the 1952 U.S. Championships, and she successfully defended her title with a victory in the final against Doris Hart . For the 1953 season, she hired a new coach, the Australian Davis Cup captain Harry Hopman , and she entered all four Grand Slam tournaments for
432-545: The first time. She defeated Julie Sampson in the Australian Championships final and Doris Hart in the finals of the French Championships , Wimbledon, and the U.S. Championships to become the first woman, and only the second tennis player after Don Budge , to win the world's four major titles in the same year, commonly known as a Grand Slam. She lost only one set in those four tournaments. Connolly won
459-462: The following year, she became the youngest girl to win the U.S. national championship for girls 18 and under. At the 1951 U.S. Championships , Connolly at age 16 defeated Shirley Fry to become, at that time, the youngest ever to win America's most prestigious tennis tournament. Her coach at the time was Eleanor Tennant. Connolly won her first Wimbledon title in 1952, defeating Louise Brough in
486-580: The last nine Grand Slam singles tournaments she played, including 50 consecutive singles matches. During her Wightman Cup career from 1951 through 1954, she won all seven of her singles matches. Connolly's achievements made her the darling of the media and one of the more popular personalities in the U.S.; she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press for three straight years, from 1951 through 1953. In 1954, Connolly did not defend her title at
513-520: The same calendar year). She is also the only player in history to win a title without losing a set at all four major championships. The following year, in July 1954, a horseback riding accident seriously injured her right leg and ended her competitive tennis career at age 19. She died of ovarian cancer at the age of 34. Connolly was born in San Diego, California on September 17, 1934, the first child of Martin and Jessamine Connolly. Her parents divorced when she
540-414: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Little Mo . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_Mo&oldid=902594502 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
567-654: The sport. Hart played collegiate tennis for the Miami Hurricanes at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida . Hart reached 67 Grand Slam finals and won 35 titles, tying with Louise Brough for sixth on the all-time list (behind Margaret Smith Court (64), Martina Navratilova (59), Billie Jean King (39), Serena Williams (39), and Margaret Osborne duPont (37)). Six of her titles were in women's singles, 14 in women's doubles, and 15 in mixed doubles. Hart
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#1732898177227594-487: The year-end top 10 rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1942 through 1955. She was the top ranked U.S. player in 1954 and 1955. Hart retired from the tour in late 1955 to become a tennis teaching professional. Her autobiography Tennis with Hart was published that year. She was inducted into the inaugural Class of 1967 inductees to the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame and inducted into
621-426: Was 10 years old, greatly encouraged by her brother Bud. After losing seven Grand Slam finals from 1942 through 1946, Hart won her first Grand Slam title at the 1947 Wimbledon Championships in women's doubles . At that point, she was still a student at the University of Miami . Her first Grand Slam singles title came at the 1949 Australian National Championships , where she was the only non-Australian player in
648-404: Was age 3, and she was raised by her mother and an aunt. She loved horseback riding as a child, but her mother was unable to pay the cost of riding lessons. So, she took up the game of tennis. Connolly's tennis career began at the age of 10 on the municipal courts of San Diego. Her first coach, Wilbur Folsom, encouraged her to switch from a left-handed grip to a right-handed one, and she soon became
675-533: Was dedicated on November 20, 1988. Connolly was portrayed by Glynnis O'Connor in Little Mo , a television movie that aired on September 5, 1978. In 2019, the United States Postal Service released a commemorative Forever stamp in her honor. Doris Hart Doris Hart (June 20, 1925 – May 29, 2015) was an American tennis player who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She
702-659: Was inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface. Since 1973, the Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy is played, a yearly competition between the best female tennis players age 18 and younger from the United States and Great Britain. Brinker Elementary School in Plano, Texas is named in honor of her. The school
729-404: Was ranked world No. 1 in 1951. She was the fourth player, and second woman, to win a Career Grand Slam in singles. She was the first of only three players (all women) to complete the career " Boxed Set " of Grand Slam titles, which is winning at least one title in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at all four Grand Slam events. Only she and Margaret Court achieved this during the amateur era of
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