The Omaha guide., 1957-08-30

MEMBER WHdI } any A1IIlt WI =
interfered with tennis, she quit
her job.
says Alfhea's father: Z didn't
know nothin' about tennis. ano
that's all she was interested IN.
| got her some boxing gloves
once he adds wistfully. 4 want
ed her to be a lady boxer. Althea
almost flattened her father in a
practice bout. then hung up her
gloves. But ever since, she has
been driving ahead with boxers
toughness and viii to win.
She could Be Something" Al
thea had been playing tennis for
only a year when she entered.
and won. her first tournament:
the girls championship of the
Negro American Tennis Assoeia-
tons New York State Open. That
same summer (1o42) she got 10
the semifinals of the A.T.A.'s na-
THAT GIBSON GIRL GAL 3
tional championship for girls.
She lost to a buxom teenager
named Mana Davis NOV Mana
Davis Vaughn), and Mrs. Vaughn
still remembers her appalling
manners: She was a very crude
creature. She had the idea she
was better than anyone. She
said. Who's this Mana Davis? Let
me at her When I beat her. she
headed right for the grandstand
Some kid had been laughing at
her and she was going to throw
him out"
Althea saw no need 10 be So
ciable. She had come TO play ten
mis-, and she had come to win.
Anything less rasped her raw
nerves. She avoided parties and
other players; she pent all he
time practicing and playing poker
with the ballboys.
one day when she recognized
Boxer Sugar Ray Robinson IN a
Harlem bowling alley. Althos
went up to him and said brashly:
You're Sugar Ray, aren't you?
Well. I can beat you" The blunt
greeting started a fast friendship.
"Althea used to come over TO our
apartment and sit on the floor,
says Sugar Rays wife, Edna Mae.
"She was unhappy; she had a
gaunt build and she felt that she
was the least good-looking girl
she knew. She had insecurity and
went into herself. She used 10
talk wild. l tried to make her feel
she could be something
Don't Kid Me-" The trouble
was that BY then Althea domina-
ted Negro girls tennis, and she
was getting nowhere fast. She
shot pool and billiards, soaked
up jazz and thought Of a career
as a nightclub singer or musician
Sugar Ray bought her a saxo-
phone) Then, in the summer Of
1916, Althea moved up to the
women's division OF the Negro
A.TA. national championships.
She was beaten IN the finals by
Roumania Peters. a Tnskegee n
stitute instructor, but her trc-
mendous potential as a tennis
player caught the attention Of two
A.T.A. officials: DR.. Robert John
son, q general practitioner from
Lynchburg, Va. and DR.. Hubert
Eaton. a surgeon from Whining
ton, n. c. DR.. Johnson took Althea
aside and asked bluntly: How Z
you like to play at Forest Hills
some day.
Said Althea. Don't kid me-
Johnson was not Kidding; he
had a plan. DR.. Eaten would take
Althea to Wilmington for the
winter and put her through high
school; in the summer she would
travel the Negro tournament cir
cult with the Johnsons. Her fam.
lily agreed, an3 Eaten still re.
calls Althea's arrival at the rail-
road station in Wilmington.
There she was with Sugar Rays
sax IN one hand and in the other
an old pastboard suitcase with
two belts tied around It. She wsf
wearing an old skirt; she'd never
owned dress In her life. Ny wife
bought her q few dresses and tried
to make her more feminine by
getting her straight hair curled
and showing her how 70 use lip
stick"
First Touch OF Fame. The KID
from Harlem gave the Eatons a
rough time. She hung out in a
poolroom. Her table manner
we're so bad that the Eatons made
her eat in the kitchen c'she was
underfed and It took almost q year
to fill her up property At first
i9-year-old Althea could not even
qualify for the freshman class i:
high school. But she worked stern
", and she finished among the
top ten in the graduating class.
-Four or five times a week. Or.
Eaton practieed tennis with her
I tried to show AIthea how 10 be
lady on the court" he saws