{{short description|American athlete}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Use American English|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Bertha Crouch Chase | image = BerthaCrouch1892.png | alt = Bertha Crouch, a young white woman with hair in a curly updo, wearing a drawn-on shirtwaist and necktie | caption = Bertha Crouch, from an 1892 publication | birth_name = Bertha Crouch | birth_date = August 16, 1874 | birth_place = California, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1957|07|08|1874|08|16}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = Bertha Wrightsman | occupation = Athlete, socialite | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = }}
'''Bertha Crouch Chase Wrightsman''' (August 16, 1874 – July 8, 1957) was an American tennis player and golfer, active in California in the 1890s.
==Early life== Crouch was raised in [[Oakland, California]], the daughter of farmer and rancher Elisha Crouch and Emily Rose Corbin Crouch.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 20, 1918 |title=Elisha Crouch, Pioneer of Butte, Dies in South |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CR19181020.2.41&srpos=18&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Bertha+Chase%22------- |access-date= |work=Chico Record |pages=5 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1895-06-17 |title=Personals |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oakland-times-personals/151593981/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=The Oakland Times |via=Newspapers.com|pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1932-11-10 |title=Rites Conducted for Mrs. Crouch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-rites-conducted-fo/151628965/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=32 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Sports career == Crouch played in golf tournaments in the 1890s, as a member of the [[Los Angeles Country Club]] and the Southern California Golf Association.<ref>Stephenson, D. [https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/curiv/batch_curiv_albion_ver01/data/sn85066387/190002181/0250.pdf "On the Golf Links with California's Fairest Athletes"] ''The Sunday Call'' (February 18, 1900): 8.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 4, 1899 |title=Gathering of Golfers |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18991104.2.136&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |work=Los Angeles Herald |pages=5 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref> She won the Ladies' Championship at a tournament in Santa Monica in 1899.<ref>Inkersley, Arthur. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vlk-AAAAYAAJ&q=Bertha+Crouch&pg=PA201 "Golf in California"] ''Outing'' 35(2)(November 1899): 201.</ref> She also competed in tennis tournaments in California.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 21, 1891 |title=The Tennis Tournament |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT18910821.1.1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |work=Oakland Tribune |pages=1 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1891-10-04 |title=Madison Opening; A Social Event in Tennis Circles in Oakland |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-call-and-post-madison/151594109/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=The San Francisco Call and Post |via=Newspapers.com|pages=12}}</ref> As a member of the Washington Tennis Club of East Oakland, she won a mixed doubles tournament in 1891, with partner Sam Lovett.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1891-07-29 |title=Tennis Topics |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-enquirer-tennis-topics/151593433/|via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=Oakland Enquirer |pages=3}}</ref> She won the Pacific States women's singles championship in 1891, in [[San Rafael, California|San Rafael]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1891-09-13 |title=Tennis Champions; Height and Hubbard Win the Prizes; Miss Bertha Crouch Also a Victor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-francisco-chronicle-tennis-champions/151595016/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She was also an avid cyclist<ref>{{Cite news |date=1893-06-14 |title=Tennis Topics |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-tennis-topics/151594568/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=Oakland Tribune |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and [[Rowing (sport)|rower]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=September 7, 1901 |title=She Still Goes in for Sports |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxBIAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bertha+Crouch+Chase&pg=RA5-PA9 |journal=Town Talk |volume=10 |pages=9}}</ref>
In 1922, Wrightsman returned to competition, as captain of the Virginia Country Club's team at a golf tournament in [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 3, 1922 |title=Women's Golf at Long Beach |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=RDP19221003.2.114&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Bertha+Chase%22------- |work=Riverside Daily Press |pages=10 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lick |first=Nib |date=1922-10-03 |title=Two Women Tie for Honors in Qualifying Play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-long-beach-telegram-and-the-long-bea/151627233/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |work=The Long Beach Telegram and The Long Beach Daily News |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Personal life == Crouch was expected to marry wealthy Sam Van Camp, a member of the [[Van Camp's|Van Camp]] canned beans family, in 1898;<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1898-06-11 |title=Miss Bertha Crouch is to Wed Mr. Van Camp |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-miss-bertha-crouch-is-to/151594725/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=Oakland Tribune |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> instead, she married citrus grower Martin Aquila Chase in 1899, in Van Nuys.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 16, 1899 |title=Chase-Crouch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uykzAAAAIBAJ&dq=Bertha%20Crouch&pg=PA17 |work=The Press and Horticulturist |pages=17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Guinn |first=James Miller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KyFPAAAAYAAJ&dq=Bertha+Crouch+California+golf&pg=PA918 |title=Historical and Biographical Record of Southern California: Containing a History of Southern California from Its Earliest Settlement to the Opening Year of the Twentieth Century |date=1902 |publisher=Chapman Publishing Company |page=918 |language=en}}</ref> Martin Chase died in 1913.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 19, 1913 |title=Martin Chase Dies |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CR19130919.2.70&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Bertha+Crouch%22------- |work=Chico Record |pages=8 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref> Her second husband was John Earl Wrightsman; they married in 1920.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1920-12-09 |title=To Wed in San Francisco |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-long-beach-telegram-and-the-long-bea/151595589/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=The Long Beach Telegram and The Long Beach Daily News |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> John E. Wrightsman died in 1951, and she died in 1957, at the age of 82, in Los Angeles.<ref>Date and place of death from the California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997, via Ancestry.</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Bertha Crouch}} [[Category:1874 births]] [[Category:1957 deaths]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Oakland, California]] [[Category:American tennis players]] [[Category:American female golfers]]