Judy Devlin Hashman, a champion badminton player who grew up in Baltimore, has died at the age of 88

Judy Devlin Hashman, who won the All-England Badminton Singles Championship 10 times - more than any other player, male or female - died May 6 in Oxford, England. She was 88 years old.

Her son Jeff Hashman confirmed the death, saying she was in hospice care for cancer patients.

Before badminton had a World Championship or Olympic Games, the pinnacle of the sport was the English Open Badminton Championships. Hashman first won the women's singles title at this event in 1954 at the age of 18. She then went on to win a record nine more titles, the last in 1967.

She also won seven women's doubles titles, six of them with her sister Susan Devlin, later known as Susan Peard.

Judy Devlin was born October 22, 1935, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of J. Frank Devlin, a badminton coach who excelled in several sports, and Grace (Steed) Devlin, a scientist who was a good enough tennis player to play doubles at Wimbledon. The family moved to Maryland when Judy was just a child. She went to Goucher College in Baltimore and graduated in 1958.

She has won a total of 17 All-England titles and ranks third behind Sir George Thomas and her father, who both played in the 1920s.

She also played field hockey, lacrosse and tennis, but badminton became her number one priority. "I started badminton at the age of 7, of my own volition", she told the Badminton World Federation in 2020. Her father suggested taking up tennis, but she "didn't want to do that", she said.

"One of the neighbors was playing badminton in the backyard", she recalls, "and I remember so well pointing at him and saying: 'That's the one I want to play. The one with the long name.' But I couldn't remember the name".

She recounted how her father stood at the bottom of the hill and "I had to throw the ball in his hand so that he wouldn't move his hand".

"It all depends on how I execute my strokes", she says. "That's basically what gave me accuracy in badminton".

After she married Englishman George Cecil Kenneth Hashman, known as Dick, who worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority, in 1960, she began competing in tournaments under the name Judy Hashman.

From 1954 through 1967, she reached the finals of every tournament except 1965, when she gave birth to Jeff two months earlier. (She still made it to the fourth round).

In addition to her son, Jeff, she is survived by another son, Joe, a sister, Ms. Peard, and a grandson. Her husband died in 2021.

"Despite her considerable athletic accomplishments, my mom always remained humble and avoided the public eye", Jeff Hashman said.

She also won 12 U.S. singles titles, the last one in 1967, after which she retired from the sport. "I accomplished what I set out to do", she told Sports Illustrated. "This game takes a lot of energy, both physically and mentally. I don't have anything else to gain from it. Plus, if you're successful in a sport, you don't like to play not to your full potential, and I don't want to waste my time doing that".

Due to her achievements, she was inducted into the International Badminton Hall of Fame.

Because badminton was an amateur sport, Hashman supported herself by teaching English and geography at Josca's Preparatory School (now Abingdon Prep) in Abingdon, England.

"You didn't play it for the money", she said of the All England Championships in a video interview. "If you played badminton, it was the one thing you wanted to do more than anything else. That was enough".

Including expenses, the sport was making a net financial loss. "It was a hobby", she said. "And you spend money on your hobbies - everybody does".

Retired, Hushman said, she rarely watches the modern game, which offers prize money, though not the same as tennis and other major sports. "It's all fitness; none of us could be in this kind of shape" as an amateur, she said in a video published at the 2020 All England Championships. "My fitness is 10 minutes a day".

In retirement, she wrote several books, including an autobiography, Badminton on the Way of the Champion.

In 1970, Hashman achieved celebrity status enough to appear on the BBC's flagship radio program, Desert Discs. When asked what she would like to take with her to a desert island, she chose songs by Mitch Miller, Perry Como and Mario Lanza, with Richard Burton's Camelot being her top choice. Her book of choice was The Anthology of English Verse, and her luxury item was a stamp album.

Although tennis champions have always garnered more attention, Hashman said she doesn't regret her choice.

"Tennis is very slow, you have a lot of time to get nervous", she told the Badminton World Federation. "In badminton everything is much faster, the brain has to work all the time, you can't rest".

She added: "By temperament, badminton suits me. I can't imagine beating around the bush, having tons of time to do things. You just take on a case and finish with it".