Ora Washington

• Dominated both tennis and basketball, considered one of the greatest athletes of her era in either sport
• Grew up in the Germantown section of Philadelphia and worked as a domestic worker throughout her playing career
• Took up organized sports for the first time at age 25, starting with tennis, and won her first national title within a year
• Went undefeated for 12 years of tennis play in the American Tennis Association (1924-1936), and won eight ATA national singles crowns (1929-1937), along with numerous doubles titles, for 23 ATA national championships overall
• Was nicknamed "Queen of Two Courts" by Black newspapers of the era
• Led the Germantown Hornets to the Women's Colored Basketball World Championship, then joined the Philadelphia Tribune as center, leading the team to 11 consecutive World Championships
• Played center for the Philadelphia Tribune for 18 years, losing only six games, all of which were to men's teams
• Was considered one of the team's most valuable players and was often its top scorer
• Her success helped prompt federal New Deal funding for public tennis courts in Black communities nationwide
• Was inducted into the Black Athletes Hall of Fame (1975) and Temple University's Sports Hall of Fame in the mid-1980s
• Was honored with a Philadelphia historical marker (2004) and a New York Times "Overlooked No More" obituary decades after her death