The American Tennis Association was the first black sports organization in America and launched the careers of the best black tennis players in history. Members of the Association Tennis Club in Washington, DC and the Monumental Tennis Club of Baltimore conceived the idea of a national tennis organization of African Americans at a meeting on Thanksgiving Day, 1916 at the YMCA in Washington, DC. Members from the major black tennis clubs founded the American Tennis Association, the oldest continually active African American sports organization. Founder, H. Stanton McCard was elected the first president.