When the World Was Introduced to Renée Richards
A trans woman plays in the 1977 U.S. Open and becomes an icon
For the majority of my life, all I knew about Renée Richards was that she played tennis professionally and is also openly trans. Before doing research, I didn’t realize how extremely complex her legacy is and how truly revolutionary her visibility was. Like the origins of so many celebrities, when you're the "first” to accomplish or compete in the spotlight, it's a great burden and often controversial. In 1977, Richards rocketed to the center of the national conversation, and became a pioneer in the world of sports.
Renée Richards was born in 1934. She grew up in the neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens in New York City. Renée was a top student, a stellar athlete, and had a long list of accomplishments in high school, even being scouted by the New York Yankees. She went on to attend Yale for her undergraduate degree and was captain of Yale’s men’s tennis team.
Renée remained closeted throughout college and yearned to live as a woman openly. She embraced the name Renée as her authentic self, and it’s truly poetic that, Renée is actually the French word for “re-born.” For several years during this time she experienced depression and mental health issues in secret. After college, medical school, and a stint with the U.S. Navy, Richards practiced ophthalmology, and also moonlighted as a semi-pro tennis player. She was extremely talented and had a signature left-handed serve with a dramatic arc. The fact that Richards could be both at the peak of her game in medicine and tennis at the same time, is truly remarkable.
After her mother died, Renée’s mental health continued to deteriorate, and she grew extremely depressed and suicidal. After attempting to fully transition a few years earlier, and then taking a step back, she finally made the choice in 1975 to undergo sex reassignment surgery and legally change her name to Renée Richards. She embraced her identity and began living as a woman.
She wanted a fresh start and moved to Newport Beach, California. She practiced ophthalmology, made friends, and began to play tennis again recreationally. After realizing her talents, and feeling as though she had something to prove, Renée Richards, in her early forties, made the decision to get back into competitive tennis. She entered the biggest amateur tournament in the region to compete in women’s singles in 1976 under the alias Renée Clark. She won the tournament and her past as a semi-professional men’s player, as well as her dead name and history, were outed by local journalist, Dick Carlson (father of current Fox News anchor, Tucker). This would mark the beginning of a highly public, sensational life in the public eye.
The 1970s were the start of a major shift in the country as it relates to women's issues and the mainstreaming of feminism. In 1972, Title IX was passed, and discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance was prohibited. Women’s tennis became the focal point for a lot of the activism around equity in women’s sports. 1973 was the infamous Battle of the Sexes match between women’s tennis player Billie Jean King and retired tennis star Bobby Riggs. The event was covered extensively in the national media and televised on ABC with commentary from Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford. It created an icon out of Billie Jean King and showcased the dynamism and impact of the feminist movement.
The match and feud between King and Riggs was fodder for an increasingly tabloid-centric media. Spectacle were creeping into almost every news story of the day and this increasingly salacious coverage escalated as the decade continued. Between 1974 and 1976, Patricia Hearst became a household name due to her kidnapping and embrace of the guerilla terrorist group the SLA. It generated endless coverage and tabloid stories about the heiress: unique fodder for a world processing monumental social change. Viewers were hungry for spectacle, and when Renée Richards arrived on the scene in the late seventies, it was the perfect moment for the media to latch on. She was a visibly trans person, in a second-wave feminist world, with very few people in her corner. She was the ideal culture wars catalyst, and a wildcard.
After Richards won the 1976 Southern California amateur tournament, she was invited by a tennis promoter friend, Gene Scott, to enter the professional-level Tennis Week Open in South Orange, New Jersey. When she accepted, 25 players withdrew from the tournament, outraged by the decision to let her play. A large percentage of female players were not in favor of Richards competing due to her physical stature and athletic ability. An entire New York Times page was devoted to debating her gender identity and also some archaic arguments about the intellectual capabilities of men versus women. Did she have a psychological edge as well as a physical one? It’s all extremely reactionary and cringe, but after reading about this situation, it’s representative of how a lot of people felt.
The feminist tides were swelling, and women were finally achieving a level of power and independence not seen since the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. While this newfound power and visibility were well-deserved, women of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and other minority groups were often left out of the conversation and felt alienated. Feminist activists often sacrificed any notion of intersectionality, and if a more complex identity threatened progress, those on the margins were generally excluded. When Richards hoped to show the world her skills on the court, and fight to be recognized, the reception was mixed and female players were apprehensive to include her.
In 1977, Richards qualified for the U.S. Open. In reaction, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) decided all athletes must test with the Barr Body Test, a test devised in 1968 for the Olympics to confirm chromosome sex identity. The test was created during the Cold War as a way to police doping in the USSR, as Western countries feared that Russia would attempt to “cheat” by using steroids and hormones or reassign their athletes’ sex. It’s a farfetched notion, but Richards’ presence sparked fear in people that somehow this would become a trend. People actually thought that athletes would purposely get sex reassignment surgery for the specific task of competing in women's sports. in Richards refused to take the Barr Body Test and sued the USTA and the WTA for the opportunity to play in the ‘77 Open. The judge ruled in Richards’ favor and she was allowed to compete.
Richards competed in women's singles and mixed doubles at the tournament, and made it to the finals in mixed doubles, losing to superstar Martina Navratilova and Betty Stove. Richards went on to rank as high as 20 in the world in women’s tennis and competed for the next five years, retiring in 1981 at the age of 47. She went back to practicing ophthalmology and retreated from the public eye to live a quiet life.
The notoriety that came from her visibility in the media was not something Richards enjoyed. She did not want to become an activist, and while she was quoted during the 1977 decision to allow her to play at The U.S. Open as “major significance in pointing out that persons oppressed, regardless of where they come from, have recourse in the law and in the courts,” she ultimately just wanted to compete.
The debate over her legacy remains to this day. She never rose to the heights of her peers in terms of skill or success, mainly due to her age, but she was embraced by several of her contemporaries including Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. She even coached Navratilova for a few years following her retirement. Both Richards and Navratilova have been criticized in recent years for their views on trans athletes, including the belief that trans athletes should not be allowed to compete unless they have undergone sex-reassignment surgery, and proven “biologically female.” Richards has even remarked that she doesn’t necessarily think it was a level-playing field when she competed.
Richards was interviewed in Sports Illustrated in 2019 (she’s alive today at age 87) and remarked on the spectrum of gender, and the societal shifts towards a much more open culture. Representation in media for trans individuals, may be greater than it was in the 1970s, but if we look at current tabloid stories and sports culture of the day, not much has changed.
In December 2021, Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete at UPenn shattered multiple school records on the women’s swim team. Thomas’s dominance has been celebrated by some of her teammates, but, the amount of media coverage and debate over the issue is akin to that of Richards in the 1970s. The New York Post reported on the topic and captured the negative comments from college coaches and sports fans with the hashtag #SexBasedSports.
In 2021 Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll found that 62% of Americans think transgendered athletes should only be allowed to compete in sports that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Even if we think we’ve come along way in terms of acceptance of trans athletes and trans individuals, we’re not far from the spectacle-driven news cycles of the 1970s. Renée Richards was the “first”, and the ridicule and animosity she faced was brutal. Hopefully there will be more grace given to Lia Thomas and others who come after, but the burden is still there and acceptance is still uncertain.
For Further Enjoyment-
Top Tracks:
Chris Evert vs. Renée Richards - 1979 US Clay Courts
Associated Press: VIRGINIA WADE v. RENEE RICHARDS at 1977 U.S. Open
B-Sides:
KABC reporter Dick Carlson 1970s Anti-Trans Campaigns Against Richards
16 UPenn swimmers ask school not to challenge transgender policy that could block teammate Lia Thomas from competing