Story by Ron Cobb
Special to the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame
In anticipation of the 2024 opening of the new St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame at the Armory, 2016 inductee Ron Cobb has written a “What’s Up With” feature on every living Hall of Fame member. Ongoing, he is also writing regular features about the Hall of Fame and the Armory. And you can expect stories and other media about all our inductees, living and in memoriam.
Before Mary Ann Eisel ever stepped on the court, she was a sensation on the diamond.
The then ten-year-old Mary Ann played for the Berkeley Aces, becoming the first girl player in the Municipal Baseball Association’s 44-year history.
On one occasion, she pitched both games of a doubleheader, winning one of the games and losing the other 1-0. On that day she was thrown out trying to score from third on a passed ball, but she also successfully stole home.
For reasons that newspaper accounts don’t make clear, the league ultimately decided to limit participation to boys. Thus ended Mary Ann’s baseball career.
The good news is that baseball’s loss was tennis’ gain. Her parents put her in a tennis clinic, and seven years later, at age 17, Mary Ann was ranked No. 1 in the nation in girls 18s. The morning after her graduation from Ladue High School in 1964, she was off to play Wimbledon.
“Being picked up at the hotel by a private car,” she said, “usually a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce – all the players who played Wimbledon had that transportation – driving to the All-England Club, the ivy-covered stadium, driving through the gates, it’s just a special moment.
“And now you see it on TV and you think, ‘wow, I did that.’”
Mary Ann would go on to play nine times at Wimbledon, including a trip to the quarterfinals.
There were more than a few highlights over a 10-year career, including eight years in the U.S. top 10, a runner-up finish at Forest Hills in doubles, a victory over Billie Jean King at the New England Indoor, a singles title at the Surrey Grass Court, an Irish National doubles title with Justina Bricka, and appearances on the Wightman and Fed Cup teams.
Her lone Grand Slam title came with British Davis Cup player Peter Curtis in mixed doubles at the 1968 U.S. Open. She and Peter were dating at the time and got married the following year. The marriage didn’t last, but within a year or so Mary Ann met and married St. Louisan Don Beattie, who was a mechanical engineer and businessman who founded Bull Moose Tube and Maverick Tube Corporation.
Mary Ann and Don remained married until he passed away in 2001. Their two children, Winnie and Annie, are doing well, Mary Ann says. Annie lives in St. Louis and has three children, while Winnie lives on Long Island in Amagansett, N.Y., and has three sons, all of whom are avid surfers. Among Mary Ann’s other grandchildren are ice hockey, football and lacrosse players.
It was Don who introduced Mary Ann to golf, and she took it and ran with it. When her tennis days ended in the mid-‘70s and her kids entered grade school, May Ann took a deep dive into golf and embarked on a successful amateur career.
She has played out of the Legends and St. Albans and a club in Naples, Fla., named Grey Oaks. She has numerous club championships to her credit, along with several top-10 finishes in state tournaments. In senior golf, she won the District five times in seven years.
Mary Ann still competes, mostly around Naples, where she lives half the year. The competitive fires still burn.
“Oh sure, I’m still competitive. You can ask the kids when we’re out shooting baskets in the backyard.”
At this point in her life, Mary Ann clearly can put defeats behind her. There is one in particular that she says has long been in the rear-view mirror. It was a 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 loss to 16-year-old Chris Evert at Forest Hills in 1971. Mary Ann was 24 and ranked No. 4 in the U.S.
With a crowd of some 10,000 pulling for Evert, the teenager survived six match points when Mary Ann was serving at 6-5 in the second set. To say it was a crushing defeat at the time would be an understatement.
But now it’s a distant memory.
“It’s all in the past,” Mary Ann said. “It’s all life experiences. I never dwell on any of that. You win some you’re not supposed to win, and you lose some you shouldn’t lose. Obviously, when you have six match points, I should have won it.”
The Eisel-Evert match is still on YouTube all these years later. Mary Ann said she wasn’t aware of that.
“Now I’ll have to go watch it,” she said.
Tennis is out of the picture now for Mary Ann. She considers herself fortunate that at age 76 she has a sport like golf that she loves and can play.
“I did play pickleball a couple of times,” she said. “I can walk forever – I’ll walk three or four miles a day, but when you quit that side-to-side lateral movement, that’s when you’ve got to be careful you don’t get hurt. So I decided not to do that.
“Down at the Naples hospital, when you walk in, there’s a sign that says ‘pickleball injuries’ with an arrow pointing to the left. That was an eye opener.”
Mary Ann Eisel Beattie was inducted into the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame in 1990.