Historic tennis club recalls being first and only Black national champions
Historic Black tennis club reunites to recall fond memories
The predominantly-Black club is not active anymore, but it was a mecca for Black tennis players 70 years ago, when the sport was segregated.
BERKELEY, Calif. - Berkeley is home to the first Black tennis club to win a U.S. Tennis Association national championship title.
In its prime, the historic San Pablo Tennis Club had hundreds of members. During the civil rights era, the courts at San Pablo Park became a haven for the Black community.
The predominantly-Black club is not active anymore, but it was a mecca for Black tennis players 70 years ago, when the sport was segregated.
Club drawing hundreds to tennis
"We were a team that had three teams go to the nationals," said William Pulliam, a former club president during the club’s heyday.
The backstory:
The club is housed in the center of a neighborhood in Southwest Berkeley, where Black families coming from the south during the Great Migration could work and own homes.
Its members say it was a haven for kids growing up during the civil rights movement.
Tamara Bell Cosby, a former club member whose parents were some of its original players, said she picked up the racket at just 8 years old.
"If you could play here, you could play anywhere," she said.
Though many have moved on, all these years later, former member Roger Alston plays on the courts six days a week.
"It was a place, very important, where Black players could get good competition," he said. "You can’t learn to play without good competition."
A place for community to thrive
The club was started in 1954 when Laura Bennett, now the court’s namesake, began gathering members of the community to serve up a sense of belonging.
"She would teach kids, dozens of kids, every day," Pulliam said.
Cosby said her family came from Louisiana. "At that time, people of color could only play here and De Fremery Park."
Wayne Smith, the park’s treasurer, said the park is in great shape today thanks to city dollars, but it was maintained and operated entirely by the community back in the day.
"We used to have to buy nets," he said. "We used to raise money."
Despite economic and racial obstacles, the club persevered and thrived, eventually growing its membership to the hundreds.
San Pablo Park hosted the American Tennis Association championships, the oldest Black sports organization in the U.S.
By that time, the club was attracting nationally-recognized household names to engage in a little friendly competition.
"The late Joe Morgan, the baseball player, used to come and play here a lot," said Pulliam. "Arthur Ashe came once. There was one party we gave, Muhammad Ali was there," said Pulliam.
Pulliam joined in 1976. Back then, he said lines of people would pack into the park for a match.
National champions in 1987
He and former club member James McGee were on the team of ten black men that won the USTA men’s 3.0 championship in 1987. It was in South Carolina, where they endured racial tension playing white teams.
"At the end of the day, we walked out with the championship and it was just the most exciting thing that you could imagine," said McGee.
"Being an all-Black team, the first to ever do it, and the last to ever do it," Pulliam said. "39 years later we still have that record.
The club also brought a Women's 3.0 team and a men's 4.0 team to nationals in 1987 and 1988.
The San Pablo Tennis Club no longer competes the way it used to, but the members still gather for reunions from time to time. They hope the next generation of players pick up the mantle.
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