 | |||||||||||||||
| Full name | Richard Norris Williams II | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  United States | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1891-01-29)January 29, 1891 Geneva, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||
| Died | June 2, 1968(1968-06-02) (aged 77) Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) | ||||||||||||||
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1957(member page) | ||||||||||||||
| Singles | |||||||||||||||
| Career record | 205–75[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Career titles | 26[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1916 USLTA)[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam singles results | |||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | SF (1924) | ||||||||||||||
| US Open | W (1914,1916) | ||||||||||||||
| Other tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Olympic Games | QF (1924) | ||||||||||||||
| Doubles | |||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam doubles results | |||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (1920) | ||||||||||||||
| US Open | W (1925, 1926) | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | QF (1924) | ||||||||||||||
| US Open | W (1912) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Richard "Dick" Norris Williams II (January 29, 1891 – June 2, 1968), generally known asR. Norris Williams, was an Americantennis player and passenger aboardRMS Titanic. He survived thesinking of theTitanic.[3] He won theU.S. National Tennis Championships in men's singles in 1914 and 1916. He was ranked the U.S. No. 1 player for 1916 by the USLTA, and world No. 2 for 1914.
Williams was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Philadelphia parentsCharles Duane Williams, a direct descendant fromBenjamin Franklin, and Lydia Biddle White. He was tutored privately at a Swiss boarding school and spoke fluent French and German. He started playing tennis at age 12, mainly under the guidance of his father.[4]
On January 11, 1919, in Paris, France, Williams married Jean Haddock (1890–1929), daughter of Arthur Henry and Matilda (Stewart) Haddock. They had four children. Jean died aged 38 on April 20, 1929, in Philadelphia. Williams remarried to Frances West Gillmore (1908–2001), daughter of Major General Quincy Adams Gillmore II and Frances West (Hemsley) Gillmore, on October 2, 1930. She was a great-granddaughter ofQuincy Adams Gillmore.
In 1911, Williams won the Swiss Championship.[4] A year later, he entered Harvard University and became the intercollegiate tennis champion in singles (1913, 1915) and doubles (1914, 1915).[5]
In 1913, Williams lost toMaurice McLoughlin at both theWimbledon Championships and at theU.S. Championships.
Williams is best known for his two men's singles titles at theU.S. Championships. In 1914 he defeatedBill Johnston in the second round and McLoughlin in the final.[6] In 1916 he defeatedBill Johnston in the final.[7]
Williams also won theU.S. Clay Court Championships in 1912 and again in 1915.[8] He won thePennsylvania Lawn Tennis Championships at theMerion Cricket Club on grass in 1912 defeating eight-time championWallace F. Johnson in the final and again in 1914 defeatingBill Tilden in the final.[9] In 1925 he won theNewport Casino Championships defeating McLoughlin in the final.
In 1920, after returning from WWI, Williams won at Norwood on grass in Britain in 1920 defeating Johnston, the ranking world No. 1 at that time, in the semifinal andJames Cecil Parke, the world ranked No. 4 for that year, in the final.[10] In 1922 at Glen Cove, Long Island, N.Y. on grass Williams won the Nassau Bowl defeatingFrank Hunter in the final in three straight sets.[11][12]
At age 36, Williams won the Pennsylvania Lawn Tennis Championships at Merion Cricket Club again in 1927 defeatingManuel Alonso Areizaga, ranked world No. 5 for that year, in the final in four sets.[9]
He was also on the victorious AmericanDavis Cup team twice: in 1925 and 1926 and was considered a fine doubles player.[13]
During the1924 Olympics, at the age of 33 (and with a sprained ankle), Richard Norris Williams became a gold medalist in the mixed doubles, partneringHazel Hotchkiss Wightman.[14] He went on to captain several winning Davis Cup teams from 1921 through 1926 as well as the 1934 team. At age 44, he retired from Championship Tennis.
Williams was ranked among the world’s top ten from 1912 to 1914, reaching No. 2 in 1914,[15] and again from 1919 to 1923. In the U.S. he was ranked No. 2 by the USLTA for four straight years from 1912 to 1915 and reached U.S. No. 1 in 1916.[16] Williams was ranked U.S. No. 3 by the USLTA in 1920 and again in 1923.
Williams had a reputation in singles of always hitting as hard as possible and always trying to hit winners near the lines. This made him an extremely erratic player, but when his game was sporadically "on", he was considered unbeatable.New York Times tennis writer Allison Danzig claimed that Williams had “one of the most daring attacks tennis had seen. He never played safe. He stood in close, took the ball on the rise, often on the half volley, and played for the lines.”[17] “At his best he was unbeatable, and more dazzling than Tilden."[13]
He was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame (Newport, Rhode Island) in 1957.
Williams also gained fame as being a survivor of theRMSTitanic disaster in April 1912. He and his father,Charles Duane Williams, were traveling first class on the liner when it struck aniceberg andsank. Shortly after the collision, Williams freed a trapped passenger from a cabin by breaking down a door. He was reprimanded by a steward, who threatened to fine him for damagingWhite Star Line property, an event that inspired a scene inJames Cameron's filmTitanic (1997). Williams remained on the doomed liner almost until the very end. At one point Williams' father tried to get a steward to fill his flask. The flask was given to Williams and remains in the Williams family.
AsTitanic began her final plunge, father and son jumped into the water. While Dick was able to save himself, his father was killed by the firstfunnel falling from the ship.[18] Williams stated, "I saw one of the four great funnels come crashing down on top of him. Just for one instant I stood there transfixed – not because it had only missed me by a few feet … curiously enough not because it had killed my father for whom I had a far more than normal feeling of love and attachment; but there I was transfixed wondering at the enormous size of this funnel, still belching smoke. It seemed to me that two cars could have been driven through it side by side." He made his way to the partially submergedCollapsible A, holding onto its side for quite a while before getting in. When Williams entered the water, he was wearing a fur coat which he quickly discarded along with his shoes. Those in Collapsible A who survived were transferred to Collapsible Boat D, which reachedRMSCarpathia. Although abandoned byRMSCarpathia, Collapsible A was recovered a month later. On board the lifeboat was the discarded fur coat which was returned to Williams by White Star.[19]
After entering the lifeboat, he spent several hours knee-deep in the freezing water.Carpathia arrived on the scene to rescue survivors. The ordeal left his legs so severely frostbitten that theCarpathia's doctor wanted to amputate them. Williams, who did not want his tennis career to be cut short, opted instead to work through the injury by simply getting up and walking around every two hours, around the clock. The choice worked out well for him: later that year, he won his firstU.S. Tennis Championship, in mixed doubles, and went on to win many more championships including theDavis Cup with fellow survivorKarl Behr.
It was not until after the publication ofA Night to Remember (1955), a book about theTitanic disaster, that Williams became acquainted with its authorWalter Lord. In 1962, Williams met with Lord and gave a detailed account of the sinking.
Williams served in the United States Army during World War I and was awarded theCroix de Guerre and theLegion of Honor.[20] After the war, he continued playing championship tennis.
Williams, also a noted Philadelphia investment banker, was president of theHistorical Society of Pennsylvania.
Richard Norris Williams died ofemphysema on June 2, 1968, aged 77, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.[3][21] He was interred atSt. David's Episcopal Church inRadnor, Pennsylvania.[22]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1913 | U.S. National Championships | Grass |  Maurice McLoughlin | 4–6, 7–5, 3–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 1914 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Maurice McLoughlin | 6–3, 8–6, 10–8 |
| Win | 1916 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Bill Johnston | 4–6, 6–4, 0–6, 6–2, 6–4 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1920 | Wimbledon | Grass | Chuck Garland |  Algernon KingscoteJames Parke | 4–6, 6–4, 7–5, 6–2 |
| Loss | 1921 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Watson Washburn | Vincent RichardsBill Tilden | 11–13, 10–12, 1–6 |
| Loss | 1923 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Watson Washburn | Brian Norton Bill Tilden | 6–3, 2–6, 3–6, 7–5, 2–6 |
| Loss | 1924 | Wimbledon | Grass | Watson Washburn | Frank Hunter Vincent Richards | 3–6, 6–3, 10–8, 6–8, 3–6 |
| Win | 1925 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Vincent Richards | Gerald PattersonJohn Hawkes | 6–2, 8–10, 6–4, 11–9 |
| Win | 1926 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Vincent Richards | Bill TildenAlfred Chapin | 6–4, 6–8, 11–9, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1927 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Bill Johnston | Frank Hunter Bill Tilden | 8–10, 3–6, 3–6 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1912 | U.S. National Championships | Grass |  Mary Browne | Eleonora SearsBill Clothier | 6–4, 2–6, 11–9 |
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | P | NH |
Events with a challenge round: (WC) won; (CR) lost the challenge round; (FA) all comers' finalist
| 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | SR | W–L | Win % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| French | OF | OF | OF | Not held | Only for French club members | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | – | – | |||||||||
| Wimbledon | A | 4R | A | Not held | A | QF | A | A | A | SF | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 0 / 4 | 12–4 | 75.0 | ||||
| U.S. | QF | F | W | SF | W | SF | A | SF | 4R | 4R | QF | QF | 2R | SF | QF | A | 1R | QF | 4R | 2R | 3R | 2R | A | 2R | 2 / 21 | 65–19 | 77.4 | |
| Australian | A | A | A | A | Not held | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | – | – | |||
| Win–loss | 4–1 | 8–2 | 6–0 | 4–1 | 7–0 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 7–2 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 5–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2 / 25 | 77–23 | 77.0 | |||
| National representation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | A | A | Not held | A | Not held | QF | Not held | 0 / 1 | 3–1 | 75.0 | ||||||||||||||||||
R. Norris Williams 2d, former national tennis champion and a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, died. yesterday in Bryn Mawr ...
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
