I plunged at 11:30 into

the storm cloud and met

the roughest air I have ever
encountered while ying
completely blind. By blind I
mean I could not see out of
my cockpit at all. For about
an hour I could not keep my
course absolutely.

Probably more exciting
than actually sighting land
was seeing a small shing
vessel about 100 miles off
the coast... I circled and
received an answering
signal. It was the rst
human contact since
Newfoundland.
A Will to Win
The Many Faces of Alice Marble
Visit www.anb.org
1926 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950
At age thirteen, Marbles
Uncle took her to see the
San Francisco Seals.
Her favorite player was
the outelder Lefty
ODoul, who invited her
to play catch. The Seals
adopted her as a mascot
and nicknamed her the
Little Queen of Swat.
Marble attended
Polytechnic High School in
San Francisco, graduating
in 1931. In high school she
won seven varsity letters
in basketball, soccer,
softball, and track.
When she was fteen
years old, her brother Dan
gave her a tennis racket
and said she needed to play
a more ladylike sport.
Marble was chosen
to represent Northern
California at the Eastern
Grass Court Tournaments
and was invited to play
in the national junior
championships in
Philadelphia.
She won the womens
singles in the California
State Championships
in 1935.
Marble was voted
the Associated Press
Woman Athlete of the
Year.
In 1940, Marble turned
professional and
compiled a 723 record
against Englands
Mary Hardwick.
Left a widow when her
husbands plane was shot
down over Germany,
Marble accepted an
intelligence assignment in
1945 to collect information
about German nancial
records.
She was motivated to
avenge her husband
Joseph Crowleys death,
concealing her mission by
teaching tennis clinics
In 1950 Marble wrote an
open letter to the United
States Lawn Tennis
Association (USLTA),
advocating that Althea
Gibson be allowed to play
in the U.S. Nationals.
Gibson became the rst
black player to compete
in the national tennis
championships.
Discover more about Alice Marble and 19,000+ notable Americans in American National Biography