Gussie Moran dies; skirt scandalized ’49 Wimbledon

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gussie Moran, who shocked a Wimbledon crowd in 1949 when she took the court in a scandalously short skirt and ruffled underwear, has died.

Tennis writer and friend Jack Neworth says Moran died of cancer Wednesday at her apartment in Los Angeles. She was 89.

When she was 25, Moran made jaws drop at the All-England Tennis Club when she did away with the knee-length skirt most women wore at the time.

She lost the match, but made magazine covers around the world and became known as “Gorgeous Gussie.”

Friends say Moran was a naive young girl who had no idea what she was getting into.

She reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open and the doubles finals at Wimbledon, but her name would always be synonymous with the skirt