Pearl Gilmore
"The Backboard"

Pearl recently celebrated her 90th birthday and retired from tennis just three years ago. Before the days of USTA, Pearl was a regular in the STC's tournaments and won many of them with her favorite partner, daughter Flo Stafford. Her consistent play was legendary and with Flo, mostly unbeatable!

Pearl started playing tennis as a freshman in high school at a time when there were no formal opportunities for girls in sports. The tennis coach permitted her to practice with the boys' team which included an especially "cute boy". As young newlyweds, Pearl and her husband, Bill, moved in 1934 from Santa Cruz to the Santa Clara Valley where she worked in the cannery on the production line and Bill as a fork lift driver. Sunnyvale Lumber was founded in 1945 by them and is still family operated today. Pearl was the First Lady of Sunnyvale from 1953 to 1954 while Bill was Mayor during his 8-year stint on the Sunnyvale City Council.

Before her days of serious tennis and in her 40's, Pearl was an avid swimmer and for 7 years was a water safety instructor and lifeguard at Washington Park in Sunnyvale. She also taught all of her grandchildren to swim.

After retiring from her day job, she took up tennis once again and began to play 3 or 4 times a week on a regular basis. This led to her participation on a USTA team that went to the Nationals in Tucson.

Pearl has many happy memories of playing annual Thanksgiving "tournaments" with her whole family. They report the results: "Grandma always wins!"