SAMPSON, "JEANNIE" (Eugenie Sampson)
United States
Born 29 December 1912 in Chicago
Alive as of 2013
Married (1) Karl Frederick Kamrath (1911-1988) on 27 June 1934--divorced 18 December 1975---4 children
Married (2) Richard Gonzalez (1912-1998) circa 1976
[Active: 1930 to 1937, when she became a teaching pro]
Inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame in 2012-most notable for promoting the River Oaks Country Club and its' events.
From "The 2013 United States Tennis Association Texas Yearbook":
"Jeannie Sampson was born in 1912 in Chicago and learned to play tennis with the coaching of her father, Jack Sampson. She became the top ranked Mid-Western player in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s and met her future husband, Karl Kamrath.
"After extensive tennis travel she attended the University of Texas where she was invited to play on the men’s varsity courts by Penick because ‘of the force and severity of her ground strokes’—-the first woman player to be so invited. Jeannie played in the first Houston Tennis Invitational Tournament in 1931 at River Oaks. She reached the finals of that tournament in 1932, 1933 and 1934.
"In 1937, she became the first teaching tennis professional at the Houston and River Oaks Country Clubs. With her father she initiated the first, free city wide tennis clinics at park tennis courts in Houston. On December 29, 2012, she celebrated her 100th birthday."
[From her Texas Hall of Fame biography]
Jeannie Sampson was born in 1912 in Chicago, Illinois and learned to play tennis with the coaching of her father, Jack Sampson. She became the top ranked Mid-Western player in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s and met her future husband, Karl Kamrath, on the mid west tennis circuit. After extensive tennis travel to the East including the ladies’ nationals at Forest Hills, she traveled to Austin, Texas to attend the University of Texas where she was invited to play on the men’s varsity courts by Dr. Penick because ‘of the force and severity of her groundstrokes’---the first woman player to be so invited.
Jeannie played in the first, then, Houston Tennis Invitational Tournament in 1931 at River Oaks. She reached the finals of that tournament in 1932, 1933 and 1934 and with husband, Karl, help recruit America’s top amateurs to the fledgling tournament including Bitsy Grant, Ellsworth Vines, Frankie Parker, and George Lott.
Upon moving to Houston in 1937, Jeannie immediately became the first teaching tennis professional at both the Houston and River Oaks Country Clubs and began teaching both members and juniors at both clubs until she and her family moved to Fort Sam Houston during the war. While teaching the fundamentals of footwork and racket preparation, she was particularly interested in stressing the value of the game of tennis to build character, sportsmanship and fair play to help build good citizens for America.
After 1945, Jeannie resumed her interest in the River Oaks Invitational by helping to bring top amateurs to the tournament and helped to promote players being invited to stay the week in members’ homes—a great River Oaks tradition that continues to this day.
Jeannie was the behind-the-scenes mover and shaker in pushing for establishing The Houston Tennis Patrons in 1951 and persuading her father, Jack Sampson, to move to Houston from Chicago to establish an office and run this organization as a volunteer for the next 17 years. With Jack Sampson, she initiated the first, free city wide tennis clinics at park tennis courts throughout Houston playing tennis exhibitions with Gladys Heldman, Hugh Sweeney, Peggy Startzman and other Houston tennis enthusiasts.
Jeannie turned 100 in 2012.
Sources:
2013 USTA Yearbook
Her Texas Hall of Fame profile:
http://www.texastennishistory.org/hof/2012_jsampson.asp
A profile of her husband Karl:
http://www.texastennishistory.org/hof/1983_kamrath_sr.asp
A profile of second husband Richard:
http://www.americanheritage.org/our_team.html
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150387560077993&id=89234192992
[Thanks to Newmark for this information]
