Althea Gibson

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Althea Gibson
Gibson in 1956
Country (sports) United States
Born(1927-08-25)August 25, 1927[1]
Clarendon County, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedSeptember 28, 2003(2003-09-28) (aged 76)
East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Retired1958
PlaysRight-handed
Int. Tennis HoF1971 (member page)
Singles
Career record0–0
Career titles56[3]
Highest rankingNo. 1 (1957)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenF (1957)
French OpenW (1956)
WimbledonW (1957, 1958)
US OpenW (1957, 1958)
Doubles
Career record0–0
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (1957)
French OpenW (1956)
WimbledonW (1956, 1957, 1958)
US OpenF (1957, 1958)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1957)
French OpenQF (1956)
WimbledonF (1956, 1957, 1958)
US OpenW (1957)

Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American

Women's Professional Golf Tour
.

At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, Gibson was often compared to

New York City Mayor David Dinkins.[7] "I am honored to have followed in such great footsteps", wrote Venus Williams. "Her accomplishments set the stage for my success, and through players like myself and Serena and many others to come, her legacy will live on."[8]

Early life and education

The loser is always a part of the problem; the winner is always a part of the answer. The loser always has an excuse; the winner always has a program. The loser says it may be possible, but it's difficult; the winner says it may be difficult, but it's possible.

—Althea Gibson, 1991[9]

Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in the town of Silver, in

paddle tennis, and by 1939, at the age of 12, she was the New York City women's paddle tennis champion.[14][15][16] Gibson quit school at the age of 13 and, using the boxing skills taught to her by her father, engaged in a life of what she would later refer to as "street fighting", girls basketball, and watching movies. Fearful of her father's violent behavior, after dropping out of school, she spent some time living in a Catholic protective shelter for abused children.[17]

In 1940 a group of Gibson's neighbors took up a collection to finance a junior membership and lessons at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. At first, Gibson didn't like tennis, a sport she thought was for weak people. As she explained, "I kept wanting to fight the other player every time I started to lose a match."[17] In 1941 she entered—and won—her first tournament, the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship.[18] She won the ATA national championship in the girls' division in 1944 and 1945, and after losing in the women's final in 1946, won her first of ten straight national ATA women's titles in 1947.[19] "I knew that I was an unusual, talented girl, through the grace of God," she wrote. "I didn't need to prove that to myself. I only wanted to prove it to my opponents."[20]

Gibson's ATA success drew the attention of

Williston Industrial High School. In 1949 she became the first Black woman, and the second Black athlete (after Reginald Weir), to play in the USTA's National Indoor Championships, where she reached the quarter-finals.[24] Later that year she entered Florida A&M University (FAMU) on a full athletic scholarship[25] and was a member of the Beta Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[26]

Career

ticker tape parade upon returning to New York City (July 11, 1957).
Gibson successfully defended her title and became the 1958 Wimbledon women's singles champion
.

Despite her growing reputation as an elite-level player, Gibson was effectively barred from entering the premier American tournament, the United States National Championships (now the

Wimbledon champion and former US National winner, her participation received extensive national and international coverage.[30][31] "No Negro player, man or woman, has ever set foot on one of these courts", wrote journalist Lester Rodney at the time. "In many ways, it is even a tougher personal Jim Crow-busting assignment than was Jackie Robinson's when he first stepped out of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout."[32]

In 1951 Gibson won her first international title, the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica,

Ceylon, India, Pakistan, and Thailand—"felt an affinity to Althea as a woman of color and were delighted to see her as part of an official US delegation. With the United States grappling over the question of race, they turned to Althea for answers, or at least to get a firsthand perspective."[38] Gibson, for her part, strengthened her confidence immeasurably during the six-week tour.[39] When it was over, she remained abroad, winning 16 of 18 tournaments in Europe and Asia against many of the world's best players.[40]

On May 27, 1956,

French Championships singles event. She also won the doubles title, partnered with Briton Angela Buxton.[42] Later in the season she won the Wimbledon doubles championship (again with Buxton), the Italian Championships in Rome, the Indian Championships in New Delhi and the Asian championship in Ceylon.[43] She also reached the quarter-finals in singles at Wimbledon and the finals at the US Nationals, losing both to Shirley Fry.[44]

The 1957 season was, in her own words, "Althea Gibson's year".

ticker tape parade in New York City, and Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. presented her with the Bronze Medallion, the city's highest civilian award.[49] A month later she defeated Louise Brough in straight sets to win her first US National Championship.[50] "Winning Wimbledon was wonderful", she wrote, "and it meant a lot to me. But there is nothing quite like winning the championship of your own country."[51] In all she reached the finals of eight Grand Slam events in 1957, winning the Wimbledon and US National singles titles, the Wimbledon and Australian doubles championships, and the US mixed doubles crown, and finishing second in Australian singles, US doubles, and Wimbledon mixed doubles. At season's end she broke yet another barrier as the first Black player on the US Wightman Cup team, which defeated Great Britain 6–1.[52] With Gibson winning her last 55 matches of the season, plus her first 2 matches in 1958, she won 57 matches in a row.[53]

In 1958, Gibson successfully defended her Wimbledon and US National singles titles, and won her third straight Wimbledon doubles championship, with a third different partner. She was the number-one-ranked woman in the world[54] and in the United States[55] in both 1957 and 1958, and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years, garnering over 80% of the votes in 1958.[56] She also became the first Black woman to appear on the covers of Sports Illustrated[57] and Time.[58]

Professional career

In late 1958, having won 56 national and international singles and doubles titles, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. Prior to the

Harlem Globetrotter basketball games.[60][22] When the tour ended she won the singles and doubles titles at the Pepsi Cola World Pro Tennis Championships in Cleveland, but received only $500 in prize money.[61]

During this period, Gibson also pursued her long-held aspirations in the entertainment industry. A talented vocalist and saxophonist—and runner-up in the

Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1957.[63] An executive from Dot Records was impressed with her performance, and signed her to record an album of popular standards. Althea Gibson Sings was released in 1959, and Gibson performed two of its songs on The Ed Sullivan Show in May and July of that year, but sales were disappointing.[64] She appeared as a celebrity guest on the TV panel show What's My Line? and was cast as an enslaved woman in the John Ford motion picture The Horse Soldiers (1959), which was notable for her refusal to speak in the stereotypic "Negro" dialect mandated by the script.[65] She also worked as a sports commentator, appeared in print and television advertisements for various products, and increased her involvement in social issues and community activities.[66] In 1960 her first memoir, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody, written with sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald, was published.[67]

Her professional tennis career, however, was going nowhere. "When I looked around me, I saw that white tennis players, some of whom I had thrashed on the court, were picking up offers and invitations", she wrote. "Suddenly it dawned on me that my triumphs had not destroyed the racial barriers once and for all, as I had—perhaps naively—hoped. Or if I did destroy them, they had been erected behind me again."

Jewish, was also repeatedly denied membership.)[69]

In 1964, at the age of 37, Gibson became the first African-American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour.[70] Racial discrimination continued to be a problem: Many hotels still excluded people of color, and country club officials throughout the south—and some in the north—routinely refused to allow her to compete. When she did compete, she was often forced to dress for tournaments in her car because she was banned from the clubhouse.[71] Although she was one of the LPGA's top 50 money winners for five years, and won a car at a Dinah Shore tournament, her lifetime golf earnings never exceeded $25,000.[72]

While she broke course records during individual rounds in several tournaments, Gibson's highest ranking was 27th in 1966, and her best tournament finish was a tie for second after a three-way playoff at the 1970

Len Immke Buick Open.[73] She retired from professional golf at the end of the 1978 season.[74] "Althea might have been a real player of consequence had she started when she was young", said Judy Rankin. "She came along during a difficult time in golf, gained the support of a lot of people, and quietly made a difference."[75]

Post-retirement

In 1959, shortly after retiring, Gibson appeared in the John Ford film, The Horse Soldiers, playing the secondary, but pivotal, role of Lukey,[76] the housekeeper (and slave) to Miss Hannah Hunter, mistress of Greenbriar Plantation. Lukey's dialog was originally written in "Negro" dialect that Gibson found offensive. She informed Ford that she would not deliver her lines as written. Though Ford was notorious for his intolerance of actors' demands,[77] he agreed to modify the script.[78]

In 1968, with the advent of the Open Era, Gibson began entering major tennis tournaments again; but by then—in her forties—she was unable to compete effectively against younger players.[79]

In 1972 Gibson began running Pepsi Cola's national mobile tennis project, which brought portable nets and other equipment to underprivileged areas in major cities.[80] She ran multiple other clinics and tennis outreach programs over the next three decades, and coached numerous rising competitors, including Leslie Allen and Zina Garrison. "She pushed me as if I were a pro, not a junior", wrote Garrison in her 2001 memoir. "I owe the opportunity I received to her."[81]

In the early 1970s, Gibson began directing women's sports and recreation for the Essex County Parks Commission in New Jersey. In 1976 she was appointed New Jersey's athletic commissioner, the first woman in the country to hold such a role, but resigned after one year due to lack of autonomy, budgetary oversight, and adequate funding. "I don't wish to be a figurehead", she said.[82]

In 1976 Gibson made it to the finals of the ABC television program Superstars, finishing first in basketball shooting and bowling, and runner-up in softball throwing.[83]

In 1977 Gibson challenged incumbent Essex County State Senator Frank J. Dodd in the Democratic primary for his seat.[84] She came in second behind Dodd, but ahead of Assemblyman Eldridge Hawkins. Gibson went on to manage the Department of Recreation in East Orange, New Jersey. She also served on the State Athletic Control Board and became supervisor of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.[85]

Gibson attempted a golf comeback, in 1987 at age 60, with the goal of becoming the oldest active tour player, but was unable to regain her tour card.[86] In a second memoir, So Much to Live For, she articulated her disappointments, including unfulfilled aspirations, the paucity of endorsements and other professional opportunities, and the many obstacles of all sorts that were thrown in her path over the years.[87]

Personal life and final years

Gibson married William Darben in 1965, and divorced him in 1976.[88] In 1983 she married Sydney Llewellyn, her coach during her peak tennis years. That marriage also ended in divorce. She had no children.[89]

In the late 1980s Gibson suffered two

cerebral hemorrhages, followed by a stroke in 1992. Ongoing medical expenses left her in dire financial circumstances. She reached out to multiple tennis organizations requesting help, but none responded.[27] Former doubles partner Angela Buxton made Gibson's plight known to the tennis community, and raised nearly $1 million in donations from around the world.[90][91]

Gibson survived a

Rosedale Cemetery, Orange, New Jersey, near her first husband Will Darben.[92][93]

Legacy

Bronze statue of Althea Gibson
statue of Gibson by Thomas Jay Warren in Newark, New Jersey, near the courts (in background) on which she ran clinics for young players in her later years.

It was 15 years until another non-White woman—

Evonne Goolagong, in 1971, won a Grand Slam championship; and 43 years until another African-American woman, Serena Williams, won the first of her six US Opens in 1999, not long after faxing a letter and list of questions to Gibson.[94] Serena's sister Venus
then won back-to-back titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000 and 2001, repeating Gibson's accomplishment of 1957 and 1958.

A decade after Gibson's last triumph at the US Nationals, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American man to win a Grand Slam singles title, at the 1968 US Open. Billie Jean King said, "If it hadn't been for [Althea], it wouldn't have been so easy for Arthur, or the ones who followed."[95]

In 1980 Gibson became one of the first six inductees into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, placing her on par with such pioneers as Amelia Earhart, Wilma Rudolph, Gertrude Ederle, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Patty Berg.[96] Other inductions included the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Black Athletes Hall of Fame, the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, and the National Women's Hall of Fame.[97] She received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1988.[98]

In 1991 Gibson became the first woman to receive the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor from the National Collegiate Athletic Association; she was cited for "symbolizing the best qualities of competitive excellence and good sportsmanship, and for her significant contributions to expanding opportunities for women and minorities through sports."[99] Sports Illustrated for Women named her to its list of the "100 Greatest Female Athletes".[100]

In a 1977 historical analysis of women in sports, The New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden wrote,

Althea Gibson and Wilma Rudolph are, without question, the most significant athletic forces among Black women in sports history. While Rudolph's accomplishments brought more visibility to women as athletes ... Althea's accomplishments were more revolutionary because of the psychosocial impact on Black America. Even to those Blacks who hadn't the slightest idea of where or what Wimbledon was, her victory, like Jackie Robinson's in baseball and Jack Johnson's in boxing, proved again that Blacks, when given an opportunity, could compete at any level in American society.[101]

On opening night of the 2007 US Open, the 50th anniversary of her first victory at its predecessor, the US National Championships, Gibson was inducted into the US Open Court of Champions.[102][103] "It was the quiet dignity with which Althea carried herself during the turbulent days of the 1950s that was truly remarkable," said USTA president Alan Schwartz, at the ceremony:

[Her] legacy ... lives on, not only in the stadiums of professional tournaments, but also in schools and parks throughout the nation. Every time a Black child or a Hispanic child or an Islamic child picks up a tennis racket for the first time, Althea touches another life. When she began playing, less than five percent of tennis newcomers were minorities. Today, some 30 percent are minorities, two-thirds of whom are African American. This is her legacy.[104]

Gibson's 1956 Wimbledon doubles trophy, her first of three, and the first Wimbledon trophy won by an African American

Gibson's five Wimbledon trophies are displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.[105] The Althea Gibson Cup seniors tournament is held annually in Croatia, under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).[106] The Althea Gibson Foundation identifies and supports gifted golf and tennis players who live in urban environments.[107] In 2005 Gibson's friend Bill Cosby endowed the Althea Gibson Scholarship at her alma mater, Florida A&M University.[108]

In September 2009, Wilmington, North Carolina, named its new community tennis court facility the Althea Gibson Tennis Complex at Empie Park.[109] Other tennis facilities named in her honor include those at Manning High School (near her birthplace in Silver, South Carolina),[110] the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina.[111] and Florida A&M University.[112]

In 2012 a

bronze statue, created by sculptor Thomas Jay Warren, was dedicated at Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey near the courts named in her honor where she ran clinics for young players in her later years.[113][114][115]

In August 2013, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Gibson, the 36th in its Black Heritage series.[116][117] A documentary titled Althea, produced for the American Masters Series on PBS, premiered in September 2015.[118]

In November 2017, the Council of Paris inaugurated the Gymnase Althea Gibson, a public multisport gymnasium in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.[119]

In 2018, the USTA unanimously voted to erect a statue honoring Gibson at Flushing Meadows, site of the US Open.[120] The statue, created by sculptor Eric Goulder and unveiled in 2019,[121] is only the second Flushing Meadows monument erected in honor of a champion.[17] "Althea reoriented the world and changed our perceptions of what is possible," said Goulder. "We are still struggling. But she broke the ground."[17]

"I hope that I have accomplished just one thing", she said, in her 1958 retirement speech, "that I have been a credit to tennis, and to my country."[122] "By all measures," reads the inscription on her Newark statue, "Althea Gibson certainly attained that goal."[123]

Gibson will be honored on a U.S. quarter in 2025 as part of the final year of the American Women quarters program.[124]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score Ref.
Win 1956 French Championships Clay United Kingdom Angela Mortimer 6–0, 12–10 [125]
Loss 1956 US Championships Grass United States Shirley Fry 3–6, 4–6 [126]
Loss 1957 Australian Championships Grass United States Shirley Fry 3–6, 4–6 [127]
Win 1957
Wimbledon
 Grass United States Darlene Hard 6–3, 6–2 [128]
Win 1957 US Championships Grass United States Louise Brough 6–3, 6–2 [126]
Win 1958
Wimbledon
(2)		 Grass United Kingdom Angela Mortimer 8–6, 6–2 [129]
Win 1958 US Championships (2) Grass United States Darlene Hard 3–6, 6–1, 6–2 [126]

Key: (#) denotes her number of singles titles at the tournament at the time.

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score Ref.
Win 1956 French Championships Clay United Kingdom Angela Buxton United States Darlene Hard
United States Dorothy Head Knode		 6–8, 8–6, 6–1 [27]
Win 1956
Wimbledon
 Grass United Kingdom Angela Buxton Australia Fay Muller
Australia Daphne Seeney		 6–1, 8–6 [130]
Win 1957 Australian Championships Grass United States Shirley Fry
Mary Bevis Hawton
Australia Fay Muller
 6–2, 6–1 [131]
Win 1957
Wimbledon
(2)		 Grass United States Darlene Hard
Mary Bevis Hawton
Australia Thelma Coyne Long
 6–1, 6–2 [132]
Loss 1957 US Championships Grass United States Darlene Hard
Louise Brough Clapp
United States Margaret Osborne duPont
 2–6, 5–7 [133]
Win 1958
Wimbledon
(3)		 Grass Brazil Maria Bueno United States Margaret Osborne duPont
United States Margaret Varner Bloss		 6–3, 7–5 [134]
Loss 1958 US Championships Grass Brazil Maria Bueno United States Darlene Hard
United States Jeanne Arth		 6–2, 3–6, 4–6 [133]

Key: (#) denotes her number of doubles titles at the tournament at the time.

Mixed doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score Ref.
Loss 1956
Wimbledon
 Grass United States Gardnar Mulloy United States Shirley Fry
United States Vic Seixas		 6–2, 2–6, 5–7 [135]
Loss 1957
Wimbledon
 Grass Australia Neale Fraser United States Darlene Hard
Australia Mervyn Rose		 4–6, 5–7 [136]
Win 1957 US Championships Grass Denmark Kurt Nielsen United States Darlene Hard
Australia Robert Howe		 6–3, 9–7 [137]
Loss 1958
Wimbledon
 Grass Denmark Kurt Nielsen Australia Lorraine Coghlan
Australia Robert Howe		 3–6, 11–13 [138]

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 SR W–L Win %
Australian Championships A A A A A A A F A 0 / 1 4–1 80%
French Championships A A A A A A W A A 1 / 1 6–0 100%
Wimbledon Championships
 A 3R A A A A QF W W 2 / 4 17–2 89%
US Championships 2R 3R 3R QF 1R 3R F W W 2 / 9 27–7 79%
Win–loss 1–1 3–2 2–1 3–1 0–1 2–1 15–2 16–1 12–0 5 / 15 54–10 84%

Source:[31]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b "Althea Gibson". International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  3. ^ Networks, A&E Television (April 2, 2014). "Althea Gibson". Biography. Arena Group. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  4. ^ A&E Television Networks (2014)
  5. ^ Gray & Lamb 2004, p. 214.
  6. ^ a b Robert McG. Thomas Jr. (September 29, 2003). "An Unlikely Champion". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Gray & Lamb 2004, p. 188.
  8. ^ Lewis, Jone Johnson. Women's History. About.com archive Archived September 18, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 19, 2013.
  9. ^ Gray & Lamb 2004, p. 176.
  10. ^ "Black tennis pioneer Althea Gibson dies at 76". ESPN. September 28, 2003.
  11. ^ Poston, T (August 26, 1957). "The Story of Althea Gibson". New York Post, p. M2.
  12. ^ "That Gibson Girl." Time, August 26, 1957, p. 45.
  13. ^ Osofsky, G: Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: Negro New York, 1890–1930. New York: Harper & Row, 1963, p. 129.
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  17. ^ a b c d Jacobs, Sally (August 26, 2019). "Althea Gibson, Tennis Star Ahead of Her Time, Gets Her Due at Last". New York Times.
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  19. ^ Gibson 1958, pp. 33–39.
  20. ^ "That Gibson Girl". Time, August 26, 1957, p. 46.
  21. ^ "History of the American Tennis Association". American Tennis Association (ATA). Archived from the original on July 15, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  22. ^ a b Biography of Althea Gibson. altheagibson.com. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  23. ^ Hubert A. Eaton. nhcs.net archive Archived October 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  24. ^ Ashe, A: A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete. New York: Amistad/Warner Books, 1988. Vol. 3, p. 167.
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  26. ^ Becque, Fran (January 15, 2016). "Althea Gibson on Alpha Kappa Alpha's Founding Day". franbecque.com. Alpha Kappa Alpha. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  27. ^ a b c Henderson, Jon; O'Donnell, Matthew (July 8, 2001). "Triumphing over prejudice". The Guardian. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  28. ^ "We can accept the evasions", Marble wrote, "or we can face the issue squarely and honestly ... It so happens that I tan very easily in the summer—but I doubt that anyone ever questioned my right to play in the Nationals because of it." Let Us Remember Alice Marble, the Catalyst for Althea Gibson to Break the Color Barrier. Huffington Post (August 30, 2007), retrieved May 9, 2013.
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  42. ^ Tingay, L: "Miss Gibson Worthy Champion; Miss Buxton Shares Doubles Win". London Daily Express, May 25, 1956.
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Further reading

  • Lansbury, Jennifer. A spectacular leap: black women athletes in twentieth-century America. University of Arkansas Press, 2014, Fayetteville.
    ISBN 9781557286581
    .

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Althea Gibson.
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