Jimmie McDaniel: The Forgotten Trailblazer of American Tennis

Top right photo: Portrait/Action of Jimmie McDaniel (Xavier University of Louisiana)  Hall of Fame profile noting his ATA titles and pre-war stature. (Source: Xavier University Athletics / Hall of Fame page)

Long before Arthur Ashe lifted Grand Slam trophies and Althea Gibson broke barriers at the U.S. Nationals, a left-handed phenom named Jimmie McDaniel electrified American tennis. Raised in Los Angeles and starring at Xavier University of Louisiana, McDaniel dominated the Black tennis circuit at the height of Jim Crow, winning four American Tennis Association (ATA) national singles titles in 1939, 1940, 1941, and 1946. The USTA has recognized him as the greatest Black player of the pre-World War II era, a measure of both his talent and his impact on a segregated sport.

McDaniel’s most famous moment came on July 29, 1940, when he faced Don Budge fresh off the first calendar-year Grand Slam in an exhibition at Harlem’s historic Cosmopolitan Tennis Club. Before a packed, mostly Black crowd, the match became a civic event as much as a sporting contest, a vivid demonstration that elite tennis talent thrived outside the white amateur establishment. Budge won, but McDaniel’s fearless shot-making, poise, and professionalism helped “crack” the sport’s color line years before formal integration. Contemporary accounts called it “a milestone” for American sport and Harlem culture.

Photo: McDaniel vs. Don Budge, Cosmopolitan Tennis Club (Harlem), July 29, 1940.  The exhibition was widely described as a milestone for interracial tennis. (Source: USTA feature on the match)

Between 1939 and 1941, McDaniel entered 43 tournaments and won 38, underscoring the scale of his dominance. Yet, like many ATA champions, his career was too often left out of mainstream histories, a gap modern institutions are working to correct. Xavier University inducted him into its Hall of Fame, and the USTA has spotlighted his legacy in features and exhibits honoring Black tennis pioneers. Remembering McDaniel is more than a footnote; it’s restoring a founding chapter to the American tennis story, one written by a towering, left-handed Angeleno whose brilliance helped make the sport more open for everyone.