Gussie Moran
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
|---|---|
| Born |
September 8, 1923 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Died | January 16, 2013 (aged 89) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Turned pro | 1950 |
| Retired | 1971 |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Singles | |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Wimbledon | QF (1950) |
| US Open | SF (1948) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | F (1949) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | QF (1950) |
| US Open | F (1947) |
Gertrude Augusta "Gussy" Moran (September 8, 1923 – January 16, 2013) was an American female tennis player who was active in the late 1940s and 1950s. Her highest US national tennis ranking was 4th. She was born in Santa Monica, California, and died in Los Angeles, California, age 89.
Moran's father (who died in 1960) was a sound technician and electrician at Universal Studios, and possibly because of his connections, Moran worked as an extra in a few movies of the 1940s; and her tennis groups occasionally enjoyed weekly Sunday soirees at Charlie Chaplin's mansion. Their friendship was so close that Chaplin hosted a party for Gussy when she got engaged. When Moran was 17, their family was informed that her older brother had been declared missing in action in World War II. She was devastated by the news, and soon went to work at the nearby Douglas Aircraft Company, helping to assemble airplanes for the war effort. She also joined USO tours to California hospitals and military bases.
Moran entered several amateur tennis tournaments in California in her early career. In March 1949 she defeated Nancy Chaffee in straight sets in the final of the US Indoor Championships singles event, played at the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York. She also won the doubles title, partnering Marjorie Gladman, and the mixed doubles event, together with Pancho Gonzales.
Her results made her eligible to play at Wimbledon in 1949. Preparing for that appearance, she asked the official Wimbledon host, Ted Tinling, to design her outfit. She asked for one sleeve to be one color, the other sleeve to be another color, and the skirt to be a third color. Because of the tournament rule that all outfits had to be white only, he declined, but later agreed to design an outfit that complied with the rule. Her outfit, a short tennis dress with ruffled, lace-trimmed knickers, was short enough for her knickers to be visible during the match, a first for any tournament. In a tennis documentary on ESPN about Wimbledon and the requirement to wear white, long-time tennis analyst Bud Collins remarked about the "naughty" Gussie Moran wearing frilly lace panties at Wimbledon.
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