Helen Wills Moody Roark

Contributions and Distinctions

Helen Wills Roark is widely regarded as the dominant women’s tennis player of the 20th century. She won 31 Grand Slam titles, including eight Wimbledon championships, and earned two Olympic gold medals. She was the first woman to receive an athletic letter at UC Berkeley and was later inducted into the UC Women’s Athletic Hall of Fame (1978) and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (1981). Wills donated a $10 million dollar estate to UC Berkeley, supporting research and education through the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.

Biographical Sketch  

Helen Wills Roark (1905–1998) grew up in Berkeley and became one of the world’s greatest tennis players. She attended UC Berkeley on an academic scholarship, graduating in 1925 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ranked the world’s number one women’s tennis player for nine years, she dominated singles, doubles, and mixed doubles competitions. At the 1924 Paris Olympics, she won gold in both singles and doubles. Her doubles partner at the Paris Olympics was a fellow Cal alumna, Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman (1886-1974, Cal 1911). A double Olympic gold medalist, Wightman won the US Open singles, doubles, and mixed doubles three times in a row from 1909-1911. Wills is remembered not only for her athletic achievements but also for her dedicated support of UC Berkeley and her lasting impact on women’s sports.