Gloria Connors 1924--2007

IT IS UNLIKELY that any woman has ever played such a role in creating a male champion in any sport as did Gloria Connors , who died last week at 82. Her involvement began before the beginning. Even as she was carrying Jimmy in her womb, she labored by herself to carve out a tennis court behind the humble family home in East St. Louis, Ill.

There, the mother taught the son from the time he was old enough to hold a racket—giving him what was then the rare two-handed backhand. Perhaps more important it was Glo who infused Jimbo with an extraordinary competitive spirit, one backlit by antagonism. Even when he was a junior player, she cautioned Jimmy to hold himself aloof from his rivals, lest amity dull the ferocity she had bred in him. Nor did Jimmy's father, James, a toll-booth operator, or any male coach help guide him. His only other mentor was Gloria's own mother, her sidekick, whom the boy called Two Mom.

"You made him, Glo," Two Mom said, as Jimmy became champion of the world. "Don't ever hand him over to anybody." But he was grown now and no longer a mama's boy. The truth is, though, that while Connors , now 54, remained a star, he was never again so good as he was when he was young and still in the thrall of his mother.