US Open F (1951) Handed Right-handed US Open SF (1950) Retired 1956 | Wimbledon QF (1950) Role Tennis player Plays Right-handed Name Nancy Chaffee Highest ranking 4 | |
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Full name Nancy Chaffee Whittaker Born March 6, 1929Ventura, CA, USA ( 1929-03-06 ) People also search for Ralph Kiner, Jack Whitaker, Barbara Kiner, Diann Shugart | ||
Ralph Kiner and Nancy Chaffee cut wedding cake at their reception attended by spo...HD Stock Footage
Nancy Chaffee Whittaker (March 6, 1929 – August 11, 2002) was an American female tennis player who was active in the 1950s.
Chaffee won the national girls' 18-and-under title in 1947. She won the U.S. National Indoor Championship, played at the Seventh Regiment Armory in Manhattan, from 1950 to 1952, defeating Althea Gibson, Beverly Baker and Patricia Todd in the finals. Chaffee reached the semifinals of the 1950 U.S. Championships as an unseeded player but was beaten in three sets by Margaret Osborne duPont. She reached No. 4 world ranking in 1951.
Her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament came in 1951 when, partnered with Patricia Todd, she reached the final of the doubles competition at the U.S. Championships. They were defeated in the final in two straight sets by Shirley Fry and Doris Hart. In 1951 she was selected for the U.S. Wightman Cup team and won her doubles match, contributing to a 6–1 victory against Great Britain.
In 1951 she married baseball star Ralph Kiner with whom she had three children. She was later married to sportscaster Jack Whittaker.
Chaffee later became sports commentator for ABC, developed tennis programs at resorts and in 1992 co-founded the Cartier tennis tournament in Long Island's East Hampton, an amateur mixed-doubles fund-raising event to benefit the American Cancer Society. Nancy Chaffee died on 11 August 2002 of complications from cancer.