Bunny Vosters

Madge Harshaw "Bunny" Vosters (August 15, 1919 – October 24, 1999) was an American tennis and squash player. A top tennis player, and regarded as one of the all-time greatest doubles players in squash, she won several dozen national championships across both sports, many of them with her daughter, Gretchen Vosters Spruance. She was ranked among the top-10 singles players nationally in both sports during her career, and tied for the most doubles titles in American squash history, with her last national championship coming at the age of 58. Vosters was particularly dominant with her daughter in mother-daughter competitions, winning every match they played across a span of over 15 years, including many national titles. Early life Vosters was born Madge Harshaw on August 15, 1919. Her parents, James and Ella Harshaw, were both tennis players in Philadelphia. From a young age, she received the nickname "Bunny".

Later that year, Vosters finished as runner-up at the 1935 Philadelphia and District women's clay court tennis championship and reached the quarterfinals of the national junior championship. In January 1936, she placed first on the Middle States Lawn Tennis Association's girls rankings. That July, she won the girls' event at the Delaware state championships while finishing as runner-up in the women's event. The following month, Vosters finished as runner-up at the Philadelphia championship a second time. In 1937, she won her third straight Middle States junior title while reaching the semifinals in both singles and doubles at the national junior championships. She was runner-up at the Eastern States championship in singles in 1938, then came back to win the championship in 1939 while also finishing first at the Main Line tournament. Vosters retained both titles in 1940. In June 1940, she competed in the Philadelphia Tennis League, a men's tournament, becoming the first woman to ever participate. During the 1940 season, she was ranked third on the Middle States Top 10 list. Shortly before her marriage, she competed and won the Philadelphia and District title again in June 1941.

Vosters attended Ursinus College from 1936 to 1940. Vosters graduated from Ursinus in June 1940, at the age of 20. Afterwards, she became a teacher at the Friends School in Norristown, Pennsylvania, while continuing to play tennis. She had three children with him – two daughters and a son. She won the Philadelphia and District women's grass court championship in 1942, and that year was ranked by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) as the number one women's player in the middle states, while being ranked ninth nationally. Vosters won the Philadelphia title in 1946 upon her return. She was the top-ranked woman in the Middle States for the 1946 season. Vosters was out of competition in 1947 as she gave birth to her second child.

In 1948, Vosters reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. National Championships in the women's singles. She was also runner-up at the Middle States lawn tennis championship and the Philadelphia championship, while reaching the quarterfinals of the Seabright Invitational Tournament, then in 1949 reached the finals of the Middle States championship while winning the mixed doubles title at the Pennsylvania championships. Vosters was awarded the USTA Service Bowl award in 1949, given to the women's tennis player who contributed the most to "sportsmanship, fellowship and service of tennis" that year. She remained the top-ranked Middle States player for several years during the 1950s and won several more medals at the Middle States tournaments, including first in 1951 and 1952, second in 1953, first in 1954 and 1955, and second in 1956. She was also a Middle States doubles champion, paired with Margaret Osborne duPont. With duPont, she also won the doubles title of Pennsylvania, and Vosters also at times partnered with Vic Seixas, winning three Pennsylvania mixed doubles titles with him. Margaret Varner Bloss sometimes served as her doubles partner as well. Through the late 1950s, she was still ranked in the top-15 nationally by the USTA, and she frequently played matches against men. Her success in Middle States competitions led her to be selected as a Middle States representative in the Sears Cup, a regional tournament, for over 30 years. She sometimes served as captain of her Sears Cup team. Doug Gelbert in The Great(er) Delaware Sports Book noted that "No one ever won as many tennis trophies in Delaware as Bunny Vosters." In the 1960s, when she was over age 40, Vosters began playing squash for the first time as well, later becoming one of the greatest doubles players of all time. For a period of over 15 years, her and her daughter Gretchen had never lost in mother-daughter play, which Robert Robinson of The Pensacola News noted was "without a doubt ... the longest winning streak in modern-day history". Robinson stated, "Bunny Vosters and Gretchen Spruance experience a sudden speech impediment when it comes to pronouncing the word lose. They simply can't say the word. Rather than say lose, they prefer to use ." She was also highly successful at senior women's national tennis championships, winning 22 titles there. She said that she was most proud of her play with her children: "To win with the children has been the most exciting [highlight]." With her husband, she helped the Delaware Foundation for Physical Education build tennis courts in the inner city of Wilmington. An award named in her honor was awarded to Delaware high school tennis players who showed the best sportsmanship.