BOISE, Idaho — The woman considered the first lady of tennis in Idaho has died at age 96 after a battle with cancer.
Barbara Chandler was among the top-ranked female tennis players in the country in the 1940s and '50s. She played multiple times at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
In 1952, she and her husband Bill moved from Northern California to Idaho, where she championed the sport for youth.
Chandler persuaded the Boise School District and City Hall to build more than 30 courts at schools and city parks that are still in place today.
The Barb Chandler Tennis Classic is hosted every year by the Boise State women's tennis team.
She was inducted, alongside Andre Agassi, into the United States Tennis Associations's Intermountain Region Hall of Fame in 2013.
