Memorable Father Moments in Sports

For some, it was a moment of a proud father not afraid to let everyone in the world know what was accomplished. For others, it was as one Orlando sports writer wrote; time for the Williamses to “grow up.” However you want to look at it, at the 1999 Lipton tennis championship match between Williams’ daughters Venus and Serena — the first time two sisters had met in a final in 115 years of tennis — held up two signs, one that read “WELCOME TO THE WILLIAMS SHOW” and the other read “I TOLD YOU SO!” Richard Williams had said years earlier that his daughters, two black girls from Compton, California, would one day dominate the sports of tennis. Richard was right, and thensome, as the Williams Sisters would go on to win 33 Grand Slam singles titles, and counting. — E.B.