Belmar Gunderson

Written by Ginny Graybiel 

Belmar Gunderson, an irrepressible pioneer for women’s sports whose passion for horses was surpassed only by her passion for tennis, died May 15 at the age of 88.

She spent her summers at her 300-acre horse ranch in River Falls, Wis., until declining health several years ago forced her to move full time into her winter home in Oviedo, Fla., an Orlando suburb.

Belmar, born in Fort Sill, Okla., to an Army colonel and his wife, was 13 when she started playing tennis on a military base in post-war Germany where the family lived. For the next six decades, she pursued tennis with a vengeance that belied her physical stature -- not quite 5 feet tall – and a talent that befuddled her opponents. Bud Collins, the tennis sportscaster, dubbed her “Tiny Tiger.”

In singles, she reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. National Championships in 1955 and the third round of Wimbledon in 1959. In women’s doubles, she reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 1960 and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1964. In mixed doubles, she made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Open in 1961. She was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in doubles and No. 11 nationally in singles during that period. Then, as a senior player, starting in the early 1990s, she won the USTA National Doubles titles in the 55s, 60s, 65s and 70s. “She had all the slicing and dicing and cunning shots,” said Retsy Wilson of Pensacola, her partner in numerous senior doubles matches. 

Besides playing tennis on the base in Germany, Belmar also snuck away from school to ride military horses. Years later, she had about 100 horses on her Wisconsin ranch. In recent years, the number has dwindled to about 30. “You’d drive to her ranch, and you’d have four horses looking in your window right away,” Retsy recalled. “She knew the name of every horse and who its mother was.” Belmar ensured that after her death the horses and an untold number of barn cats would be well taken care of on the ranch. Meanwhile, four elderly cats and a dog have been rehomed from the Florida residence.

Besides tennis and horseback riding, Belmar also excelled in field hockey, softball, hockey, football, golf and badminton, sports she mastered in junior and senior high school in Falls Church, Va., where her family moved from Germany.

She also found success in academia. A graduate of the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro in 1956, she was a standout tennis player there. She also earned a master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University in State College and a doctorate from Texas Women’s University in Denton. In 1962, Belmar began teaching physical education and coaching several sports at the University of Minnesota. But she quickly found herself up against a wall. “The men didn’t want to share anything – not their lists for funding, their money or their facilities,” she told friends. “I think the budget for women’s sports was $5.72.”

From 1975-’76, she was the Gophers’ first director of the women’s athletic department, determined to help bring sports equality to women. A video replays Belmar recounting the time her secretary stumbled on a bill of more than $5,000 for the football coaches’ shoes. The women’s entire budget was the same amount that year. “So that’s basically how we blackmailed them,” she chuckled. Eventually known as the University of Minnesota’s “mother of women’s intercollegiate athletics,” Belmar instituted 10 varsity sports for women by the time she left in 1979. Today, about 260 women participate in 13 athletic programs there. 

Her tenure as women’s athletic director left “big, strong men around the country literally running scared,” the Minneapolis Star reported at the time. She responded that women weren’t “out to ruin” the men’s program but only to strengthen the overall athletic program. “We made a few enemies but made a lot of progress,” she said. “By the time I left, the women’s budget was around $330,000.” 

Her efforts brought numerous plaudits. She was inducted into the UNC-G Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000 and Minnesota’s M Club Hall of Fame in 2003. She was awarded the USTA’s annual Service Bowl Award in 2011, joining luminaries such as Billie Jean King and Chris Evert for the most notable contribution to sportsmanship, fellowship and service of tennis.

In 1990, Belmar married Daniel Lay, an airline pilot she’d known since eighth grade in Falls Church. He died in 2015. She is survived by a niece and nephew. “She leaves behind countless friends, who will miss her but will try to live up to the standards she set for fairness and sportsmanship,” said West Palm Beach resident Pat Greer, a longtime friend and fellow tennis player. “Her push for equality in sports remains her legacy and one she was very proud of.”

Donations in Belmar’s memory may be sent to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, where her elderly dog, Sunshine, has been placed. The address is 14444 Okeechobee Blvd., Loxahatchee, FL 33470. 

Many thanks to Pat Greer of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Retsy Wilson of Pensacola, Fla., for their heartfelt remembrances of Belmar Gunderson. The StarTribune of Minneapolis also contributed.