A few years ago, tennis champion Sally Moore Huss packed her trophies, medals and certificates into a box and donated them to charity.

“I felt lighter,” she said, glancing toward the television broadcasting Wimbledon’s round of 16 matches.

Teenage Sally Huss accepts her National Junior Champ trophy. 

At 85, Huss doesn’t need hardware on her shelves to remind her of her legacy—her victories live clearly in her razor-sharp memory.

As a youngster growing up in Bakersfield, California, Huss and her brother were initially coached courtside by their father, an oil refinery maintenance worker who recognized his daughter’s natural tennis ability.

 Her first official coach, local pro Lake Lovelace, decided early on that Huss needed a better coach. That meant driving every weekend to the exclusive Los Angeles Tennis Club, where the siblings took lessons with legendary pro George Toley. 

“How good do you want to be?” her father asked his 10-year-old prodigy after an intense court session. “How about being a champion?”

Young Huss agreed.

After winning numerous junior tournaments throughout California, Huss stepped beyond the state circuit and onto the international stage. 

In 1958, she won several national titles, as well as the prestigious Wimbledon junior championship. The following year, she was part of the 1959 Wightman Cup team. She also made it to the women’s singles semifinals of that year’s Wimbledon Championships. As a Wimbledon semifinalist, she became a lifelong member of the elite club known as The Last Eight, which entitles her to a lifetime of tournament privileges.

At the close of 1959, she ranked ninth in the world in singles.

Despite this remarkable accomplishment, competitive tennis for women was still an amateur sport at that time, with little to no prize money. The landmark Title IX legislation that prohibited sex discrimination in any education program and ensured that women could receive and benefit from federal financial assistance on equal terms with men was not signed into law until June 1972.

A CREATIVE COMEBACK

After injuries forced her early retirement at 21, Huss channeled her competitive drive into a new pursuit: art. Drawing from skills discovered in childhood oil painting classes, she found that creativity, like tennis, demanded focus and flow. She graduated with a degree in fine arts from the University of Southern California. 

“Those were my two channels, art and tennis,” she said. 

Creating art in her airy, light filled studio brings Sally Huss joy.

Even after stepping away from tournament play, Huss polished her skills by giving private tennis lessons, often to Hollywood heavyweights such as Larry Hagman, Kirk Douglas and Charlton Heston. Her teaching method emphasized movement and incorporated Zen meditations while not focusing on the scoreboard, making her a hit with Tinseltown’s creative types.

“Everything came from tennis,” said Huss, as she silenced the volume on the televised Wimbledon match. She even met her future husband, Marv Huss, during her brief comeback at a Virginia Slims tennis tournament. Huss called Marv “the love of my life,” her partner in marriage, business and parenthood for 50 years. 

In the mid-1980s, Huss displayed her bright, whimsical paintings at street fairs and galleries across California. With Marv managing the business side, the couple built a national brand of galleries—at one point selling $1 million in art annually.

Soon, her landscapes, seascapes, florals and abstracts appeared on clothing, purses, plates,

Sally Huss holds one of her popular children's titles. Photo by Pamela S. Thompson

  dishes, clocks, totes, travel bags and baby bibs. Walmart carried over 100 different patterns of her most popular designs printed on wallpaper and borders. Dozens of Southern California restaurants featured her distinctive 6-foot paintings on their dining room walls.

Their union not only created a lucrative art business, but also Michael, their son, who played high school tennis before joining the team at the University of Arizona. He is now a local pro at Life Time - Colorado Springs.

 BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

Beyond her art, Huss also managed Paul Simon’s music publishing company and turned her inspirational “Happy Musings” into a syndicated newspaper panel.

After 9/11 forced her galleries to close, Huss reinvented herself again—this time as an author. 

Through her own imprint, Huss Publishing, she’s written and illustrated more than 100 books for adults and children.

“I tried for a short time to find an agent and then a publisher, but for naught,” Huss said. “Everyone has abandoned those avenues and simply prepared their own books and self-published them—even very successful authors.”

“I’d never really thought of creating books until I went to that Jack Canfield seminar,” she said, of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series co-author. “But I seem to have something to say.” 

Her catalog includes popular titles such as “The Importance of Living Happy” (self-help), “A Lesson for Every Child” (about food allergies) and “The Monkeys Who Tried Kindness.” 

ZEN AND THE ART OF TENNIS

Although her Pleasant Valley home sits across the street from a park with tennis courts, her recent focus, along with her son, was caring for Marv, who died in May 2025.

When Huss is not at her computer writing and designing books, she has her eye on rising young tennis players, like Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz from the United States and 18-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva. 

She has also added pickleball to her list of hobbies. While she encourages everyone to try pickleball, she advises players to avoid running backwards and falling. 

“Yes, it’s a fun and social game, but seniors often think they can do more than they’re capable of doing,” she said. “They overstretch.”

 Today, Huss credits her continued good health and stamina to 60 years of a vegetarian diet, an influential acupuncturist/homeopathic doctor, and the good fortune of avoiding serious injury.

Perhaps part of the credit should be attributed to her relaxed grip on her racket—and her life. Huss’ philosophy remains simple.

“I let the racquet do all the work,” she said with a knowing smile. 

– Photos by James Harris Photography

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