U.S. #5377
2019 55¢ Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly Brinker
Value: 55¢ 1-ounce First-class rate (Forever)
Issue Date: April 23, 2019
First Day City: Dallas, TX
Type of Stamp: Commemorative
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Pane of 20
Self-Adhesive
Quantity Printed: 20,000,000
For four years, Maureen Connolly (1934-1969) dominated women's tennis. Over that brief period, she won nine Grand Slam singles titles, over 50 consecutive matches, and was named Female Athlete of the year – three years in a row.
Maureen Connolly started playing tennis when she was ten years old. On reporter commented that her strength reminded him of the firepower of the USS Missouri (known as "Big Mo"). He called her "Little Mo," a nickname that stayed with her for life.
At only 18 years old, Connolly made history when she became the first woman to complete the Grand Slam in one calendar year. In 1954,her career was cut short by an accident that badly injured her leg. Although she could no longer play, she became a correspondent for various newspapers at tournaments and even coached for the British Wightman Cup team.
Besides writing two books, Little Mo co-founded the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation, which organizes junior tennis programs.
Little Mo was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1969 and in 2019 was memorialized on a United States postage stamp. Nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova said it best: "Had her accident not cut short her remarkable career, we all would have been chasing her records."