Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes: Dorothy Vest

Dorothy Vest
Photo courtesy of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame

The name Dorothy Vest means tennis in Mississippi. For years, the Brownsville, Texas, native was a part of the tennis scene in the Magnolia state. She served as Director of Tennis for the City of Jackson, spearheading the building of facilities at Battlefield Park and Parham Bridges Tennis Center. Vest was a Southern Tennis Association Hall of Fame inductee in 1983.

She was the Southern Lawn Tennis Association Junior Wightman Cup Chairman from 1955-62 and on the United States Lawn Tennis Association Junior Wightman Cup Committee during those same years. Vest served as Chair of SLTA Girls Ranking Committee from 1957-62 and as secretary of the SLTA from 1963-66. She was Chair of SLTA Girls Intersectional Team from 1957-62. Prior to that, Vest was a tennis player of great note, winning many titles along the way during her playing years.

Vest won the Marlboro Award (1963), the Jacobs Bowl (1964), and the Touchstone Award (1979). She was the winner of 10 Southern Mixed-Doubles Championships with another Mississippi tennis legend, Slew Hester. Vest and Hester were undefeated in mixed-doubles from 1938-57.

Adding to her tennis and family legacy, the Vest Family of Jackson, was named the United States Tennis Association’s Family of the Year in 1979. Vest died in Texas in 2013 at the age of 93.

Courtesy of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum director Rick Cleveland, author of Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes. Cleveland can be reached at rcleveland@msfame.com.