Eleanora Sears (1881-1968)

Eleonora Randolph Sears refused to comply with the limitations placed on women’s behavior. She was arrested for smoking in public and condemned as “immodest” for wearing trousers. She made her most decisive mark as a groundbreaking athlete, participating in nineteen sports ranging from figure skating to boxing to football. Having garnered as many as 240 athletic trophies, she was especially adept at racket sports. Sears won the U.S. doubles tennis championship four times between 1911 and 1917 and became the first female national squash champion in 1928. In April of that year, she made one of her numerous long-distance walks between Newport, Rhode Island, and her home in Boston, covering the seventy-four miles in sixteen hours despite pouring rain.

Upon her death, the Boston Globe proclaimed Sears as “probably the most versatile performer that sports has ever produced—not just the most versatile female performer, but the most versatile, period.”

Private collection, Columbus, Georgia