Do you know who Alice Marble is?

If you attended the Our World presentation on Kiawah Island on November 3, which I did, you now know who Alice Marble is. Before, I had never heard of her, who she was, what she did and why someone would write a book about her. Robert Weintraub set the record straight in his lecture about his new book The Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery. Weintraub is a sports writer who has written for The New York Times and The Guardian and other sports media. He has also written four books, two about baseball, one about a WWII soldier and his dog and now a book about little known tennis great Alice Marble.

Weintraub enjoys finding stories that have never been told and then researching every detail of the story. He writes in a very engaging way and speaks even better. Those of us in the audience were captivated by his enthusiasm for Alice Marble. We were surprised to learn that she was best friends with Carole Lombard and Clark Gable and coached and advocated for Althea Gibson. The entire story is so interesting that I bought a book, and I have little to no interest in tennis!

No Better Friend, a NYT best seller, is the true story of Frank Williams who, as a British airman, was taken prisoner of war during WWII. It was in the POW camp that Williams met Judy, a purebred pointer, who remained with the captives until their release and lived with Williams for almost 15 years after the war. Weintraub spoke to Our World several years ago about that book. It’s a great gift idea for anyone whose best friend is a dog!