Although she was not born in San Antonio, Karen Hantze Susman put the Alamo City on the world stage on Saturday July 7th, 1962, sixty years ago today, when she won both the Ladies’ Singles crown and then the Doubles Title at Wimbledon.
Photo: A young Karen Hantze….Getty Image
Karen Hantze was born in San Diego, California in 1942. At the age of 9, her parents had her taking both swimming and tennis lessons. Excelling at both and torn between the two, tennis won over…and the rest is history.
Photo: Karen Hantze….Getty Images
However, there was a “distraction”…which it turned out to be a life-changing episode in her life. At the age of 17 in 1959, she met a young tennis player from St. Louis, Rod Susman, and they fell in love. There were some who reportedly tried to keep them from developing their romance, in order to keep Karen’s tennis career from faltering. The relationship didn’t affect her success though. She won the Girls’ Jr. Singles title at Wimbledon in 1960, and then on July 8th 1961, Karen teamed up with Billie Jean Moffitt ( later King ) to win the Ladies’ Doubles championship at Wimbledon. A formidable pair, they also teamed up to win the U.S title in 1964.
Professional tennis was a little different in those days ….wooden tennis racquets, no prize money, and players dressed in white with no corporate logos.
Photo: Karen Susman in action…..Memory Lane prints
Meanwhile, love won through for Karen and Rod, and despite some external pressures, and while juggling a fairly intense tennis schedule, Karen Hantze married Rod Susman in a small ceremony in San Antonio on September 29th, 1961.
At the time, Rod was in his senior year at Trinity University. Karen distanced herself from competitive tennis to become not only a housewife ( who became known for her famous meatloaf ) but also a part-time student at Trinity while she worked as a file clerk at an insurance company for $1.25 an hour.
There was no ladies’ tennis team at Trinity at that time, and she couldn’t work as a coach because it would jeopardize her amateur standing, so other choices were made. This was frustrating because after her previous titles, she was missing out on good tennis competition.
Her husband Rod became her coach, and that usually consisted of the two of them hitting balls to each other on Sundays. He could see her getting better with every hitout, and so he encouraged her to get into a competitive frame of mind in order to try at Wimbledon again.
Entering the Wimbledon singles tournament in 1962, Karen Susman was seeded 8th. Making her way through the preliminary rounds, she qualified to the center court final, and with the help of her deft volleys and poetic serve, she defeated Czechoslovakia’s Vera Puzejova Sukova 6-4, 6-4 on July 7th 1962 to win the coveted singles crown.
Photo: A victorious Karen Hantze Susman….Pinterest
Photo: Karen Susman and Vera Sukova ….Alamy
Photo: Karen Susman receiving trophy from the Duchess of Kent….IMS Vintage Photos
An hour after winning the individual title, Karen Susman again teamed up with Billie Jean Moffitt to defend their doubles crown from 12 months before. They came from behind to defeat the South African pair of Sandra Reynolds and Renee Schuurman 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.
Photo: Karen Susman and Billie Jean Moffitt after their victory….Getty Images
On October 2nd, 1962, upon returning to San Antonio after her Wimbledon victories, Karen Susman and her husband Rod, along with other Trinity University tennis successes like Chuck McKinley, Frank Froehling, Cliff Buchholz, Butch Newman, Bobby Joyner, and Marilyn Montgomery, were honored at a lavish banquet in the ballroom of the El Tropicano Hotel. Five hundred people attended the event.
These days, 79 year old Karen Susman still plays a bit of tennis a couple of times a week….however not for games or sets. She just enjoys the feel of the ball on the raquet. She has had some health battles over the years, and tennis is a form of fitness as well.
Today we remember the talented Karen Hantze Susman, her determination to overcome the odds, and how she brought Wimbledon glory to the Alamo City on this day sixty years ago.
Photo: Karen Susman….New York Times
Photo: Karen Susman….The San Diego Union-Tribune
Additional stories:
- Young Karen Hantz’s first tennis coach was the famed Eleanor Tennant, who had previously coached Maureen Connolly ( “Little Mo” ) In 1953, Maureen Connolly became the first woman to win a Grand Slam….all four major tennis tournaments in a calendar year. By the way, Eleanor Tennant also taught tennis to Clark Gable and Groucho Marx !
- So, where do you keep three Wimbledon trophies in your house ? If you are the unassuming Karen Susman, those treasures are virtually hidden in the butler’s pantry of her San Diego home, next to other grand slam trophies she won.
- According to her doubles partner Billie Jean Moffitt, “Karen was a goddess. She was just so good, so smooth, so much the queen of our world. You could tell it in the way she walked, in the way she talked — which wasn’t that much — and most of all, in the way she played. She was the big kahuna.”
- Tennis pundits noticed that Karen Susman had a habit of raking her right foot across the grass when she served, which would eventually create a divot. The groundskeepers at Wimbledon affectionately called her “the chopper” because of this habit.
Sources:
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Los Angeles Times
sandiegoreader.com
San Antonio Light
San Antonio Express News
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