Gladys
Heldman was a prime mover in the stimulation and development
of American tennis through the
pages of World Tennis magazine, which
she founded and served as editor and
publisher. The magazine first appeared
in 1953, having been published originally for five years
under the name
Houston Tennis. (She sold the magazine to CBS
Publications in 1972.)
Heldman was a key organizer of the
Virginia Slims Tennis Tour, the first allwomen’s
tennis circuit. Rushing in
“where wise men feared to tread,” Heldman
underwrote the 1959 National (U.S.) Indoor Championships
when the
United States Lawn Tennis Association
decided that such an undertaking for
the Association was financially unsound.
The entire Heldman family—husband
Julius, and daughters Julie and
Carrie—has played a prominent role
in American tennis. Daughter Julie,
ranked number 2 in the United States
in 1968 and 1969, fifth in the world in
1969. She won the Maccabiah Games Singles, Doubles with Marilyn
Aschner,
and Mixed Doubles with Ed Rubinoff
in 1969.
Phi Beta Kappa and first in her class at Stanford University
(BA 1942), with a masters degree at the University of California
Berkeley (1943), Heldman was, herself, a promising tennis
star. She ranked No. 1 in the State of Texas and No. 2 in
the Southwest in 1954, and that same year played in the early
rounds at Wimbledon.
In 1979, Heldman was elected to
the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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