August 29, 1977: Renée Richards Competes In Women's Singles

August 29, 1977: The U.S. Open tennis tournament gets underway, at the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York City. It is the last time the venue will host the tournament, as the new National Tennis Center will open the next year, also in Queens, in Flushing-Meadow Corona Park.

Among the players competing in women's singles at this tournament is Renée Richards. A native of Forest Hills, she fought hard for the right to compete in women's singles.

Because she wasn't always Renée Richards. As we now understand things, she was always a she -- but, physically speaking, that was not always the case.

Richard Raskin was born on August 19, 1934 in New York City. At Horace Mann School, one of the country's leading prep schools, he was good enough as a baseball pitcher to be scouted by the New York Yankees. He was a wide receiver on the football team, and was also on the tennis and swim teams.

He went to Yale University, and was Captain of the men's tennis team. He was considered by some to be one of the best college tennis players in the country. He went to medical school, and became an eye doctor. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and won service championships in tennis.

But he was harboring a secret: Since college, he had been dressing as a woman. She had heard about what is now called gender-reassignment surgery, but was then called "a sex-change operation." She began receiving the hormone treatments that have become a precursor to such surgery, but chose not to go through with it at that time. In 1970, still Richard Raskind and officially male, he married model Barbara Mole, and fathered a son, Nicholas, in 1972.

But in 1975, they divorced. By that point, the transition process had begun. As Dr. Renée Richards, she set up an ophthalmology practice in the Los Angeles suburb of Newport Beach, California. She applied to play in women's singles at the 1976 U.S. Open, but refused to take the Barr body test for gender verification, and was denied admittance to the big Summer tournaments: Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Italian Open.

She sued the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) in New York State court, alleging gender discrimination under the New York Human Rights Law. As the case dragged on, she took the Barry body test, and the results were ambiguous. She was told she would have to take it again before being allowed to play, refused -- understandable, since she had given in to the demand to take it once -- and was denied admittance to the Open by the USTA.

On August 16, 1977 -- the day Elvis Presley died -- Judge Alfred M. Ascione found in Richards' favor. He ruled, "This person is now a female," and that requiring Richards to pass the Barr body test was "grossly unfair, discriminatory and inequitable, and a violation of her rights." He further ruled that the USTA practiced an intentional discrimination against Richards, and granted Richards an injunction against the USTA and the USOC, allowing her to play in the 1977 U.S. Open.

On August 29, she played in the 1st round, against British star Virginia Wade, and lost. However, she and her tennis partner, Betty Ann Stuart, reached the women's doubles Final, losing in straight sets to Martina Navratilova and Betty Stöve. She competed in the next 4 U.S. Opens, getting to the 3rd round in 1979. She never competed in any of the other majors. In 1979, competing in mixed doubles -- teams of one man and one woman, having already endured jokes about her having competed in "mixed singles" -- she reached the Semifinals.

After the 1981 U.S. Open, she moved her residence and her practice to New York. She wrote a memoir, Second Serve, which was made into a 1986 CBS TV-movie starring Vanessa Redgrave. In 2017, with "trans" people becoming more visible and vocal than ever, she sat for an interview with Katie Couric for the documentary Gender Revolution. As of August 29, 2022, Dr. Richards is retired from medical practice, and living in Carmel, in New York's Lower Hudson Valley.

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August 29, 1977 was a Monday. A pair of baseball All-Stars, pitcher Roy Oswalt and outfielder Aaron Rowand, were born.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Chris Chambliss hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th, providing the comeback win, and making Sparky Lyle a winning pitcher in relief of Catfish Hunter. Cliff Johnson also hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4. For the Royals, George Brett and Al Cowens hit home runs.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Tony Pérez hit a home run against his former team, and Gary Carter added one. For the Reds, Johnny Bench hit a home run, but Pete Rose went 0-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bill Campbell, the reliever the Sox signed through free agency to compete with the Yankees, collapsed against the cash-stripped A's, allowing the tying run in the 8th and a home run to Mitchell Page to lose it in the 9th, wasting a 3-homer performance by Jim Rice. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Davey Johnson, later to manage several teams, won the game in the bottom of the 14th inning by drawing a bases-loaded walk against Steve Hargan, forcing Greg Luzinski home. Luzinski had also homered. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4 with 2 walks.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 6-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Rudy May outpitched Nolan Ryan. Eddie Murray, about to be named American League Rookie of the Year, went 0-for-2, but drew a walk and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Indians 2nd baseman Duane Kuiper hit a home run, the only one he would hit in 3,754 major league plate appearances over 12 seasons.

* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6 and 6-5 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Bob Gorinski won the opener with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning, scoring Larry Hisle.

* The San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium). Mike Ivie hit a home run in the bottom of the 8th to help the Padres come from behind. Dave Winfield went 0-for-3. Lou Brock went 1-for 3 with a walk and a stolen base.

It was the 893rd steal of his career. At the time, this was thought to give him the all-time record, surpassing Ty Cobb. A later check of the records showed that stole 897, not 892; and that 1890s star Billy Hamilton had 914. Brock finished his career with 938, which was definitely a record, and remains so for the National League. However, Rickey Henderson went on to shatter all records, with 1,406.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the New York Mets, the Houston Astros, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Francisco Giants, the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled.