Today in sports history -- Reginald Weir

Sixty years ago today, Reginald Weir broke the color line at the United States Lawn Tennis Association championship, the forerunner of the U.S. Open, less than a year after Jackie Robinson did the same in Major League Baseball. Robinson, of course, was a legitimate Hall of Famer in baseball; Weir may have been as good in tennis, but we'll never know; he was much older than Robinson when he got his first shot, and didn't get very far. Weir had been captain of his tennis team at City College of New York way back in the 1920s, but was barred from the Open in 1929, and it took him 19 years to get his shot. I haven't been able to find a birthdate for him, but he must have been around 40, if not older, when he was finally allowed into the Open.

The U.S. Open is now played at Arthur Ashe Stadium, named after the black tennis player who won the first men's championship in an event called the U.S. Open, in 1968 -- just 20 years after Weir paved the way.