Top 50 Cal Pros: No. 16 -- Helen Jacobs, the "Other" Helen Tennis Star

We are counting down Cal’s top 50 athletes based on their careers as post-collegiate professionals. Their performance as Golden Bears is not factored into the rankings.

16. HELEN JACOBS

Years at Cal: 1926-27 to 1929-30

Sport: Tennis

Pro teams: None

Age: Died in 1997 at the age of 88

Hometown: Born in Globe, Arizona, lived in San Francico until the age of 6, and grew up in Berkeley, California

Why we ranked her here: Professional tennis did not exist during Helen Jacobs’ playing days, but she played at the highest level available, which was basically the same tournaments that pro players participate in today. She was one of the best female tennis players in the world for more than a decade. Jacobs, also known as Helen Hull Jacobs, won five Grand Slam singles titles -- four consecutive U.S. National championships (now the U.S. Open) from 1932 to 1935 as well as the 1936 Wimbledon title – and was a singles finalist in 11 other majors. Jacobs was ranked No. 1 in the world in 1936 and was the top-ranked U.S. player from 1932 through 1935. Jacobs was ranked in the top 10 in the world for 12 consecutive years from 1928 to 1939, and it would have been longer but the The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, the British newspapers that issued the “official” world rankings, did not publish top-10 lists during World War II. Jacobs appeared on the September 14, 1936 cover of Time magazine, and she was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1933. Jacobs was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1962. Jacobs had the misfortune of playing in the same era as Helen Wills, considered by some to be the greatest female tennis player of alltime. Helen Jacobs was often called the other Helen. Six of Jacobs’ losses in the finals of majors came against Wills, who was also a Cal graduate. However, Jacobs ended Willis’ 180-match win streak when Wills defaulted with a back injury in the finals of 1933 U.S. Nationals with Jacobs leading 8-6, 3-6, 3-0. In the 1935 Wimbledon final, Jacobs held a match point against Wills while leading 6–3, 3–6, 5–3, but Jacobs mishit an overhead, losing that point. She lost the next four games and Wills won 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the 1938 Wimbledon final against Wills, Jacobs suffered a sprained ankle with the match tied 4-4 in the first set, and Jacobs limped around the court while losing the final eight games in rapid succession. Jacobs had a 1-11 record in matches against Wills.

At Cal: Cal did not have women’s sports teams during Jacobs’ time at Cal, but she reached the finals of the 1928 U.S. Nationals during the summer before her junior year at Cal and got to the 1929 Wimbledon final in the summer prior to her senior year. She graduated from Cal in 1930.

Other: Jacobs became the first woman player to wear shorts at a Grand Slam event when she did so in 1933 at Wimbledon. . . . Jacobs was a commander in U.S. Navy intelligence during World War II . . . She authored 20 books, some of which were fiction and some of which were non-fiction.