Dr. Reginald Weir (definitely keep his title in mind - this becomes crucial in regards to his tennis career later on) was born on September 30th, 1911, in Washington, D.C. I couldn't find a ton of biographical info about his formative years, but it appears that he must've grown up in New York City, as he attended DeWitt Clinton High School in NYC, where he was the captain of the tennis team there. His father, Felix Weir, was a notable classically-trained violinist. After high school, Dr. Weir went on to attend the City Colleges of New York (CCNY), where he was the captain of the school's tennis team. He graduated in 1931, and went on to earn his doctorate from New York University's medical school in 1935. He practiced family medicine for nearly the rest of his life, never turning his back on his day job even as he kept trying to advance his professional tennis career.
As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, Dr. Weir attempted to enter a USLTA event as early as 1929; he and a fellow player from NYC, Gerald Norman, both applied to play at the USLTA's national junior indoor tournament at the Seventh Regiment Armory, also in NYC. They showed up to play, but were denied entry because they were both black. Norman's father lobbied the NAACP to step in, and they did so, filing a formal complaint on behalf of the two players. According to an article I found online, Arthur Ashe wrote about this incident in his 1988 book, A Hard Road to Glory (a three-volume set about the history of black athletes in America...sounds like another thing I need to read at some point), and quotes the USLTA's response to the complaint as saying that "the policy of the USLTA has been to decline the entry of colored players in our championships...In pursuing this policy we make no reflection upon race but we believe that as a practical matter, the present method of separate associations (USLTA and American Tennis Association)...should be continued." Yeah. Okay. Racist fucks. Anyway, this didn't dampen Dr. Weir's enthusiasm for tennis at all - he simply joined the ATA's ranks and began a long stretch of dominance there, winning three consecutive national championships from 1931-33, and again in 1937 and 1942, all the while continuing his medical studies and practice. In fact, so good was Dr. Weir at tennis that he became known as the "Black Bill Tilden," for his versatile game and his resemblance to the great champion of the 1920s.
Dr. Weir never gave up on his dream of playing on the main USLTA tour, however, and in February 1948 (roughly five months before Oscar Johnson's breakthrough victory), at the age of 36, he submitted an entry form to the National Men's Indoor Championships, which were coincidentally also being held at the very same Seventh Regiment Armory he was denied entry to in 1929. This time, he was successful. According to a couple of sources I found online, part of why he was granted entry this time around is because he used his full name and title - Dr. Reginald Weir - on his entry form; apparently, the event organizers didn't consider the possibility that a black man would have the title of doctor, so they unknowingly let him in. Boy, did they surely have egg on their faces when he showed up to play! Serves them right, too. (This is why I have invariably referred to him as "Dr. Weir" throughout this post.) Anyhow, rather than create a fuss this time around, the event organizers let him play. The event was played on a hardwood floor, which is interesting to me - that's not a surface that's used for any pro events nowadays, and I'm guessing that the courts probably played super duper fast. Anyway, Dr. Weir won his first match but lost to the eventual champion, Bill Talbert. The score was 6-1, 6-1, but Talbert came away with very positive things to say about Dr. Weir; he was quoted after the match as saying that Dr. Weir was a class act, and that it was a shame he never got to play on the main tour in his prime, noting that he was also "very quick and a very good volleyer." With this result, Dr. Weir thus became the first black person of any gender to play in a USLTA-sanctioned event, the first tentative step towards black acceptance in the sport, and a full two years before Althea Gibson broke down the doors once and for all.
Dr. Weir continued his professional career through the 1950s, even when he was well into his fourth decade, and in fact, in 1952, he and another black player, George Stewart, became the first two black men to be allowed to enter into the U.S. National Championships (the modern-day U.S. Open). Though he fell in the second round, Dr. Weir earned a lot of praise for both his playing and his perseverance in waiting as long as he did to finally get his shot. I can't find any info on whether or not he won any titles on the main USLTA circuit, but as a player on the senior circuit later in the decade, he had a lot of success, winning three national seniors' titles in singles (1956-57, 1959) and two in doubles (1961 and 1962). And let me stress this yet again - what I find to be perhaps the most remarkable thing about all of this is the fact that he never stopped his medical practice at any point. He worked as a doctor regularly from his graduation in 1935 until, according to his daughter, a bad heart attack near the end of his life finally forced him to give up both of his lifelong pursuits.
(Look at the puppy! D'awww!)
Dr. Weir died on August 22nd, 1987, about a month before his 76th birthday. He seemed like a remarkably dedicated man on many, many levels, both on the tennis court and off of it. We salute you, Dr. Weir!
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