# 2964 - 1995 32c Recreational Sports: Tennis

U.S. #2964
1995 32¢ Tennis
Recreational Sports

• Recreational Sports stamps honor popular sports enjoyed by everyday Americans
• Stamps coincided with centennial anniversaries for three of the five sports featured

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Recreational Sports
Value:  32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue:  May 20, 1995
First Day City:  Jupiter, Florida
Quantity Issued:  30,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Lithographed
Format:  Panes of 20 in sheets of 120
Perforations:  11.2

Why the stamp was issued:  To pay tribute to the recreational sports enjoyed by everyday Americans. 

About the stamp design:  The USPS wanted the Recreational Sports stamps to stand out from previous sports issues.  They brought in illustrator Don Weller, who created vivid, poster-style images of the athletes.  He produced a number of quick sketches before settling on the five used on the stamps.  He and the art director also consulted several sources to ensure the athletes were all positioned correctly for each sport. 

For the tennis stamp, Weller referenced a photograph of a male tennis professional.  His stance was unusual, and the USPS requested that Weller change to one more likely to be used by a recreational player. 

First Day City:  The Recreational Sports stamps were issued at the Stamporee Stamp Expo at the Jupiter Beach Resort in Jupiter, Florida. 

Unusual facts about the Recreational Sports stamps:  A small number of freak panes were discovered in which the bottom left corners folded inward during the trimming stage.  As a result, the selvage was larger in those corners and they included the alignment and other marks that are normally discarded during the trimming stage.  These stamps have also been found imperforate as well as versions with the yellow omitted and the yellow, blue, and magenta omitted. 

About the Recreational Sports Set:  Several stamps had previously honored the Olympics and professional sports, but the USPS created these as a tribute to the most popular recreational sports in America.  

Additionally, three of the sports were celebrating centennial anniversaries in 1995.  The US Golf Association (USGA) had held its first championship at the Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island in 1895.  The American Bowling Congress was founded on September 9, 1895.  And volleyball was invented in 1895 by YMCA employee William G. Morgan.

History the stamp represents:  Every day, millions of Americans gather at diamonds, courts, lanes, and links to participate in their favorite recreational sport. The five Recreational Sports se-tenants honor these amateur athletes and the games they participate in.

A challenging sport, tennis is a game that players of any age can enjoy. In fact, millions of people throughout the world play tennis for exercise and recreation. 

Although the French played a similar game called jeu de paume, in which players batted a ball over a net with their hands, Major Walter Wingfield, an Englishman, is credited with developing the game of modern tennis. In 1874, he published the first set of rules for playing on grass courts and the game came to be known as lawn tennis. Soon, it had replaced croquet as England’s most popular sport.

The game spread to the US the following year when American sportswoman Mary Outerbridge saw it being played by British officers in Bermuda, and brought a set of rackets and balls home. With the help of her brother, who was director of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club, she established the first US tennis court. Tennis soon spread to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania.

With the exception of several alterations made in the 1880s, the original rules are still in use. Today, both television and the continuing success of the famous Wimbledon Championship continue to contribute to the international popularity of tennis.