TheDOCTORdre
05-14-2006, 11:33 PM
Only a select few people of either gender know what it's like to compete as a high-ranking athlete. Fewer still are the great athletic champions who competed in sports while nurturing their children as a mom.
Photo gallery ...
Athletes and their moms
With Mother's Day upon us, we take a look at some of the greatest athletes who competed at their athletic peaks while also raising children. Included on this list are great athletes from golf, tennis, basketball, soccer, horse racing and bowling. They include single mothers, married mothers, divorced mothers, lesbian mothers and ordained ministers.
1. Nancy Lopez
When Nancy Lopez was 25 years old, she married major league baseball player Ray Knight. Lopez, who had one of the great years any golfer ever had (winning five straight tournaments in 1978), gave birth to her daughter, Ashley, in 1983. She won a golf tournament seven months earlier, late in her first trimester. By 1985, she won five tournaments, finished second in five others, won her second LPGA Championship, and returned to the top of the rankings. In May of 1986, Nancy had daughter Erinn Shea. Nancy wasn't through, as she won her third major, the LPGA Championship, in 1989. As late as 1997, she finished second at the U.S. Women's Open. She sacrificed a good portion of the peak of her great career, being a baseball wife and being a mother.
2. Julie Inkster
Julie Inkster won seven majors, including the 1999 U.S. Women's Open at Old Waverly Golf Course. (Luke Frazza/AFP / Getty Images)
Julie Inkster won the Crestar Classic on May 7, 1989 — just short of nine months before daughter Hayley was born on Feb. 4, 1990. By then, she already had a distinguished career. She had captured the U.S. Women's Amateur title from 1980-1982. She had 13 wins on Tour prior to becoming a mom. She played a limited schedule in 1990. When she returned full-time, she took up where she left off, losing in two major championship playoffs in 1992. After taking off most of 1994 for the birth of her second daughter, Cori, she won another 15 tournaments, including four majors (the 1999 and 2000 LPGA Championship, and the 1999 and 2002 U.S. Women's Open). She won seven majors, including four after having kids.
3. Glenna Collett Vare
Born in 1903, she was one of the greatest golfers of all time. You might not know of her, but you might have heard of the Vare Trophy, annually awarded to the LPGA golfer with the lowest scoring average. From 1919-1938, she competed annually in the U.S. Women's Amateur championship, winning six times, the last as a mother of two children (named Glenna and Edwin). In a later era, she would have been a professional, winning her share of major tournaments and millions of dollars.
4. Mary Bacon
Mary Bacon was a tough-as-nails athlete who won 286 races as a jockey. She might have won more, but women weren't even legally allowed to ride at tracks until 1969, when Mary was 21. Marrying a fellow jockey, she rode in three consecutive races one day before admitting herself to the hospital to deliver her daughter Suzy (in 1969). Her nickname was "Queen of the Turf." Bacon passed away at the age of 43 after a bout with cancer.
5. Margaret Smith Court
Born in 1942, she was one of the greatest women's tennis players of all-time. She won 62 Grand Slam titles in all, including 24 singles, 19 doubles, and 19 mixed doubles titles. She won all four major tournaments in 1970 to win the Grand Slam (when three of the tournaments were held on grass, her strength). In 1971, Court lost the singles final at Wimbledon to Evonne Goolagong while pregnant with her first child. Her son was born in early 1972. Court made a comeback the same year and played in the US Open. She is perhaps most known for a match held on Mother's Day in 1973 against self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs. She lost 6-2, 6-1 to Riggs, despite being the top ranked woman in the world. She won the 1973 women's singles title at the U.S. Open. In 1974, her second child, Marika, was born. Court started playing again, but retired permanently early in 1977 upon learning she was expecting the third of her four children. She devoted herself to her family and became ordained as a minister in 1991.
6. Evonne Goolagong
Evonne was born in 1951 in Australia, and grew up with Margaret Smith Court as her hero. She would win her share of major tournaments — seven — including Wimbledon victories in 1971 and 1980. At the time of her last Wimbledon, she had married Englishman Roger Cawley and had the first of their two children. Thus she was the first mother to win since Dorothea Douglass Chambers 66 years before.
7. Sheryl Swoopes
The WNBA is in getting set to commence its 10th season, and is in the process of voting for and naming their All-Decade team. There is little doubt that Swoopes will make the league's Top 10. She would make the team if it were limited to a starting five. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. She is a three-time WNBA MVP. She's one of the WNBA's original players, and has helped make the league last. Late in 2005, she came out of the closet and announced that she was a lesbian.
"Sexuality and gender don't change anyone's performance on the court," she said. Neither does motherhood.
8. Yolanda Griffith
Yolanda Griffith celebrated a WNBA title in 2005. (Rocky Widner/NBAE / Getty Images)
The WNBA Most Valuable Player in 1999, and four-time All Star, the 36-year old Griffith has a 16-year old daughter, Candace. Yolando supported herself and her daughter for a time early on by repossessing cars while a student at Palm Beach Junior College. As difficult as it must be to crash the boards against Lisa Leslie, it must have been harder to repossess cars. But when you're a mother, you do everything you can to put food in your child's mouth.
9. Flo McCutcheon
Born in the early 1900s, she is a most unlikely athletic champion. McCutcheon was a heavyset lady who used bowling to lose weight. As she got better, the gray-haired McCutheon used to challenge men to series of matches. She made her reputation as one of bowling's pioneers in a series of three-game blocks against Jimmy Smith, the then-reigning match-play champion. At the time, McCutcheon had a college-aged daughter. Smith was defeated 704-697, as Florence came from behind to win. From there, she embarked on a 50-city exhibition tour. She died in 1983, at the age of 79.
10. Joy Fawcett
She has been called "The Ultimate Soccer Mom" because, well, she plays soccer and she's a mom. Saying she played soccer was like saying Michael Jordan fooled around a little with a basketball, or Lawrence Taylor was an alright pass-rusher. She may have been the greatest defender of all-time. Joy played every minute of the 1995 Women's World Cup, the 1996 Olympics, and the 1999 Women's World Cup. She had daughter Katie in 1994, Carli in 1997, and Madi in 2001. Her story is not too dissimilar to a character in the movie The Incredibles. You know, where the mother excuses herself from a school meeting, in order to answer the call to play for the national team that needed
Photo gallery ...
Athletes and their moms
With Mother's Day upon us, we take a look at some of the greatest athletes who competed at their athletic peaks while also raising children. Included on this list are great athletes from golf, tennis, basketball, soccer, horse racing and bowling. They include single mothers, married mothers, divorced mothers, lesbian mothers and ordained ministers.
1. Nancy Lopez
When Nancy Lopez was 25 years old, she married major league baseball player Ray Knight. Lopez, who had one of the great years any golfer ever had (winning five straight tournaments in 1978), gave birth to her daughter, Ashley, in 1983. She won a golf tournament seven months earlier, late in her first trimester. By 1985, she won five tournaments, finished second in five others, won her second LPGA Championship, and returned to the top of the rankings. In May of 1986, Nancy had daughter Erinn Shea. Nancy wasn't through, as she won her third major, the LPGA Championship, in 1989. As late as 1997, she finished second at the U.S. Women's Open. She sacrificed a good portion of the peak of her great career, being a baseball wife and being a mother.
2. Julie Inkster
Julie Inkster won seven majors, including the 1999 U.S. Women's Open at Old Waverly Golf Course. (Luke Frazza/AFP / Getty Images)
Julie Inkster won the Crestar Classic on May 7, 1989 — just short of nine months before daughter Hayley was born on Feb. 4, 1990. By then, she already had a distinguished career. She had captured the U.S. Women's Amateur title from 1980-1982. She had 13 wins on Tour prior to becoming a mom. She played a limited schedule in 1990. When she returned full-time, she took up where she left off, losing in two major championship playoffs in 1992. After taking off most of 1994 for the birth of her second daughter, Cori, she won another 15 tournaments, including four majors (the 1999 and 2000 LPGA Championship, and the 1999 and 2002 U.S. Women's Open). She won seven majors, including four after having kids.
3. Glenna Collett Vare
Born in 1903, she was one of the greatest golfers of all time. You might not know of her, but you might have heard of the Vare Trophy, annually awarded to the LPGA golfer with the lowest scoring average. From 1919-1938, she competed annually in the U.S. Women's Amateur championship, winning six times, the last as a mother of two children (named Glenna and Edwin). In a later era, she would have been a professional, winning her share of major tournaments and millions of dollars.
4. Mary Bacon
Mary Bacon was a tough-as-nails athlete who won 286 races as a jockey. She might have won more, but women weren't even legally allowed to ride at tracks until 1969, when Mary was 21. Marrying a fellow jockey, she rode in three consecutive races one day before admitting herself to the hospital to deliver her daughter Suzy (in 1969). Her nickname was "Queen of the Turf." Bacon passed away at the age of 43 after a bout with cancer.
5. Margaret Smith Court
Born in 1942, she was one of the greatest women's tennis players of all-time. She won 62 Grand Slam titles in all, including 24 singles, 19 doubles, and 19 mixed doubles titles. She won all four major tournaments in 1970 to win the Grand Slam (when three of the tournaments were held on grass, her strength). In 1971, Court lost the singles final at Wimbledon to Evonne Goolagong while pregnant with her first child. Her son was born in early 1972. Court made a comeback the same year and played in the US Open. She is perhaps most known for a match held on Mother's Day in 1973 against self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs. She lost 6-2, 6-1 to Riggs, despite being the top ranked woman in the world. She won the 1973 women's singles title at the U.S. Open. In 1974, her second child, Marika, was born. Court started playing again, but retired permanently early in 1977 upon learning she was expecting the third of her four children. She devoted herself to her family and became ordained as a minister in 1991.
6. Evonne Goolagong
Evonne was born in 1951 in Australia, and grew up with Margaret Smith Court as her hero. She would win her share of major tournaments — seven — including Wimbledon victories in 1971 and 1980. At the time of her last Wimbledon, she had married Englishman Roger Cawley and had the first of their two children. Thus she was the first mother to win since Dorothea Douglass Chambers 66 years before.
7. Sheryl Swoopes
The WNBA is in getting set to commence its 10th season, and is in the process of voting for and naming their All-Decade team. There is little doubt that Swoopes will make the league's Top 10. She would make the team if it were limited to a starting five. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. She is a three-time WNBA MVP. She's one of the WNBA's original players, and has helped make the league last. Late in 2005, she came out of the closet and announced that she was a lesbian.
"Sexuality and gender don't change anyone's performance on the court," she said. Neither does motherhood.
8. Yolanda Griffith
Yolanda Griffith celebrated a WNBA title in 2005. (Rocky Widner/NBAE / Getty Images)
The WNBA Most Valuable Player in 1999, and four-time All Star, the 36-year old Griffith has a 16-year old daughter, Candace. Yolando supported herself and her daughter for a time early on by repossessing cars while a student at Palm Beach Junior College. As difficult as it must be to crash the boards against Lisa Leslie, it must have been harder to repossess cars. But when you're a mother, you do everything you can to put food in your child's mouth.
9. Flo McCutcheon
Born in the early 1900s, she is a most unlikely athletic champion. McCutcheon was a heavyset lady who used bowling to lose weight. As she got better, the gray-haired McCutheon used to challenge men to series of matches. She made her reputation as one of bowling's pioneers in a series of three-game blocks against Jimmy Smith, the then-reigning match-play champion. At the time, McCutcheon had a college-aged daughter. Smith was defeated 704-697, as Florence came from behind to win. From there, she embarked on a 50-city exhibition tour. She died in 1983, at the age of 79.
10. Joy Fawcett
She has been called "The Ultimate Soccer Mom" because, well, she plays soccer and she's a mom. Saying she played soccer was like saying Michael Jordan fooled around a little with a basketball, or Lawrence Taylor was an alright pass-rusher. She may have been the greatest defender of all-time. Joy played every minute of the 1995 Women's World Cup, the 1996 Olympics, and the 1999 Women's World Cup. She had daughter Katie in 1994, Carli in 1997, and Madi in 2001. Her story is not too dissimilar to a character in the movie The Incredibles. You know, where the mother excuses herself from a school meeting, in order to answer the call to play for the national team that needed