Women in History: Althea Gibson

Born to sharecroppers in Silver, South Carolina, Althea Gibson was a natural-born athlete. Growing up in Harlem, New York, wasn't easy for the 5-foot-11 young black woman. Gibson was a troubled youth and prone to run away from home.

Gibson was active in sports, playing basketball, golf and participating in equestrian sports. But it was the sport of table tennis that changed her life.

To keep New York youths off the streets and out of trouble, the Police Athletic League and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation began holding table tennis matches. Gibson was one of those youths this program was implemented for. She excelled at the sport, winning a number of those tournaments.

Buddy Walker was a musician and a play leader on the street where Gibson lived in Harlem. When he saw this tall tomboy who would just as soon slug her opponent as beat them on the tennis table, he saw potential where others saw trouble. Walker gave Gibson her first stringed tennis racket.

Gibson was a natural at the sport from the get-go. With the help of a sponsor, Gibson was on her way to tennis training in North Carolina.

At that time, sports were segregated. The American Tennis Association held national championships for black tournaments. Gibson won 10 consecutive championships while playing for the ATA. Her ambitions were to play the U.S. Open, which would not allow her to play because of her race.

Tennis champion Alice Marble, who worked tirelessly on behalf of women, homosexuals and African-Americans, wrote a fairly scathing article in American Lawn Tennis Magazine, belittling the Tennis Association for excluding Althea Gibson from professional competition. In part, the article stated, "If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentlepeople and less like sanctimonious hypocrites.... If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts."

After publication of the article, Gibson was invited to participate in the U.S. Open.

In an ABC Sports Online forum, Gibson was grateful for Marble's intervention. "Alice Marble was a great, kind, and gracious lady," Gibson recently said in ABC Sports Online forum, "and the one person that stood up for me in the tennis world, really the world at large."

Gibson made headlines in England when she and her doubles partner, Angela Buxton, also a victim of discrimination due to being Jewish, won the Wimbledon doubles title. "Minorities Win" graced the front page of an English newspaper.

Ironically, after initially having been excluded from tennis competition, New York City gave Gibson a ticker-tape parade and an official welcome at New York City hall after winning Wimbledon the first time.

Gibson broke through many racial barriers both on the tennis court and off. She appeared on "What's My Line?" and published an autobiography "I Always Wanted to Be Somebody" (Harpercollins, June 1958). She even recorded an album "Althea Gibson Sings" and appeared in the movie "The Horse Soldiers" (1959).

After winning 11 major titles in tennis championships, Gibson played golf for fifteen years. She also served as New Jersey State Commissioner of Athletics for ten years and was the first woman appointed in that position. She served on the State's Athletics Control Board and the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness.

Despite overcoming so many obstacles and accomplishing so many achievements, by 1992, Gibson was on the verge of suicide. Although she was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the year in both 1957 and 1958, there was no prize money, residual money or other compensation for tennis players during that time period.

Gibson suffered a stroke in 1992, her health was in decline and she had no money.

She reached out to her friend and doubles partner Buxton and it was Buxton who sent out a call for help on Gibson's behalf in a letter to a tennis magazine. Gibson soon found herself the recipient of almost $1 million from complete strangers who answered the call.

The Althea Gibson Foundation was established in 1998 in honor of Gibson. The purpose of the foundation is "identifying, encouraging and providing financial support for urban youth who wish to develop their skills and talents in the sports of tennis or golf and have decided to pursue a career as a student athlete at the post-secondary level."

Althea Gibson died Sept. 28, 2003.