Sears, Eleo

Sears, (Eleonora Randolph) Eleo (1881–1968) sportswoman; born in Boston, Mass. Born into a patrician family, she was a dynamic tennis player as a young woman and went on to win the national women's doubles championship four times (1911, 1915–17) and the national mixed doubles championship once (1916). She took up squash in 1918, at a time when few women played, and in 1928 won the first women's national championship. She also excelled in equestrian competition, long-distance walking, golf, and aquatic sports. Totally independent in all she did, she pioneered in the movement for women to wear appropriate clothing when participating in sports. She also used her personal fortune to support groups such as the U.S. equestrian team, ice skaters, and the Boston police department's mounted troop.