THE SIDELINES : Helen Wills’ $1.5-Million UC Grant

Helen Wills Moody Roark, one of the finest women tennis players of all time, has given the University of California a trust valued at more than $1.5 million to promote biological research, the school announced today.

As Helen Wills, she won eight Wimbledon singles championships, seven U.S. singles championships, four French titles, 16 Wightman Cups in the 1920s and 1930s and was an Olympic gold medalist in 1924.

Her eight Wimbledon titles, equaled only by Martina Navratilova, earned her the title “Queen Helen.”

Roark, a 1926 Berkeley graduate who retired from tennis in 1938, said she decided to make the grant to her alma mater because of her belief that biological research can solve many of today’s problems.

The trust is in the form of 19 acres of land in Lafayette, about 20 miles east of San Francisco, which the university plans to sell.