player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameTalley Robert
LastnameHolmes
GenderMale
CountryUnited States of America
Date of birth1889-12-09
Place of birthWashington, D.C., United States of America
Date of death1969-03-01
Place of deathWashington, D.C., United States of America

About

From the internet:

Talley Robert Holmes, a graduate of Dartmouth College (A.B., 1910), and Howard University (LL.B., 1924), was among the founders of the American Tennis Association (ATA) in 1916 and he became the first men’s national singles champion in 1917. The ATA was formed because the National Tennis Association excluded all people of colour at the time. Holmes was clearly the class of the nation at the time, winning the singles championship four times and claiming the doubles crown eight more times.

Born in Washington, D.C., Holmes had an amazing career outside tennis. He served as an interpreter and intelligence officer in World War I. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., he taught German, French, Latin, and mathematics in the District school system. While teaching, he studied law at Howard University and received a degree in 1924.

Holmes also owned Whitelaw Hotel, which was the largest hotel available to African-Americans in Washington at the time. All the while, he was laying the groundwork in the ATA Championships, which would eventually crown both Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson as champions.

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