Althea Gibson

**Althea Gibson** (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. Gibson was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

## Biography

Althea Gibson was born at 9:00 am EDT on August 25, 1927 in Silver, Clarendon County, South Carolina to Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson. Althea had two siblings, a brother, Daniel Jr. (known as "Bubba") and a sister, Mildred.

Gibson played tennis while going to school for an education. In 1946, she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, to work on her tennis game with Dr. Hubert A. Eaton and enrolled at Williston High School.

In 1958, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. Before the open era of tennis began, there was no prize money, other than an expense allowance, and no endorsement contracts. To begin earning prize money, tennis players had to give up their amateur status. As there was no professional tour for women, Gibson was limited to playing in a series of exhibition tours.

According to Lance Tingay of _The Daily Telegraph_ and the _Daily Mail_, Gibson was ranked in the world top ten from 1956 through 1958, reaching a career high of No. 1 in those rankings in 1957 and 1958. Gibson was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Tennis Association in 1952 and 1953 and from 1955 through 1958. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1957 and 1958. In 1957 Althea became the first African American woman to win Wimbledon. She won again in 1958. In 1958, she appeared as the celebrity challenger on the TV panel show "What's My Line?".

In retirement, Gibson wrote her autobiography and in 1959 recorded an album, _Althea Gibson Sings_, as well as appearing in the motion picture, _The Horse Soldiers._ In 1964, she became the first African American woman to play in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. However, she was too old to be successful and only played for a few years.

In 1971, Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in 1975, she was appointed the New Jersey state commissioner of athletics. After 10 years on the job, she went on to work in other public service positions, including serving on the governor's council on physical fitness. In later years, she suffered two cerebral aneurysms and, in 1992, a stroke. A few years later, Gibson called her former doubles partner Angela Buxton and told her she was considering suicide, as she was living on welfare and unable to pay for rent or medication. Buxton arranged for a letter to appear in a tennis magazine. Buxton told Gibson nothing about the letter, but the latter received nearly US $1 million from around the world.

Gibson was married twice. Her first marriage to William Darben took place on October 17, 1965, but the couple was divorced in 1976, eleven years later. Darben died in 1995. She was also married to Sydney Llewellyn on April 11, 1983 and was divorced from him in 1988.

On September 28, 2003, at the age of 76, Gibson died in East Orange, New Jersey due to infections. She was buried there in the Rosedale Cemetery, at Orange, New Jersey.

On the opening night of the 2007 US Open, the 50th anniversary of Gibson's victory at the US Championships in 1957 (now the US Open), Gibson was inducted into US Open Court of Champions. She was a 1994 inductee of the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey and 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In September 2009, the City of Wilmington, NC named its new community tennis complex the Althea Gibson Tennis Center.

## Golf

Gibson became the first African American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour, in 1964. Her best finish on the tour was a tie for second after a three-way playoff at the 1970 Len Immke Buick Open. Gibson retired from professional golf at the end of the 1978 season.

### Wins (5)

|width="50"|**Year**|style="width:175px;"|**Championship**|style="width:175px;"|**Opponent in Final**|style="width:150px;"|**Score in Final**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1956|French Championships|Angela Mortimer Barrett|6–0, 12–10|||||
|1957|Wimbledon|Darlene Hard|6–3, 6–2|||||
|1957|U.S. Championships|Louise Brough Clapp|6–3, 6–2|||||
|1958|Wimbledon <small>(2)</small>|Angela Mortimer Barrett|8–6, 6–2|||||
|1958|U.S. Championships <small>(2)</small>|Darlene Hard|3–6, 6–1, 6–2|||||

### Runner-up finishes (2)

|width="50"|**Year**|style="width:175px;"|**Championship**|style="width:175px;"|**Opponent in Final**|style="width:150px;"|**Score in Final**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1956|U.S. Championships|Shirley Fry Irvin|6–3, 6–4|||||
|1957|Australian Championships|Shirley Fry Irvin|6–3, 6–4|||||

#### Wins (6)

|width="50"|**Year**|style="width:175px;"|**Championship**|style="width:150px;"|**Event**|style="width:175px;"|**Partner**|style="width:200px;"|**Opponents in Final**|style="width:100px;"|**Score in Final**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1956|French Championships|Women's doubles|Angela Buxton|Darlene Hard Dorothy Head Node || 6–8, 8–6, 6–1||||||||
|1956|Wimbledon|Women's doubles|Angela Buxton|Fay Muller Daphne Seeney|| 6–1, 8–6||||||||
|1957|Australian Championships|Women's doubles|Shirley Fry Irvin|Mary Bevis Hawton Fay Muller || 6–2, 6–1||||||||
|1957|Wimbledon <small>(2)</small>|Women's doubles|Darlene Hard|Mary Bevis Hawton Thelma Coyne Long || 6–1, 6–2||||||||
|1957|U.S. Championships|Mixed doubles|Kurt Nielsen|Darlene Hard Bob Howe || 6–3, 9–7||||||||
|1958|Wimbledon <small>(3)</small>|Women's doubles|Maria Bueno|Margaret Osborne duPont Margaret Varner Bloss || 6–3, 7–5||||||||

#### Runners-up (5)

|width="50"|**Year**|style="width:175px;"|**Championship**|style="width:150px;"|**Event**|style="width:175px;"|**Partner**|style="width:200px;"|**Opponents in Final**|style="width:100px;"|**Score in Final**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1956|Wimbledon|Mixed doubles|Gardnar Mulloy|Shirley Fry Irvin Vic Seixas || 2–6, 6–2, 7–5||||||||
|1957|Wimbledon|Mixed doubles|Neil Fraser|Darlene Hard Mervyn Rose || 6–4, 7–5||||||||
|1957|U.S. Championships|Women's doubles|Darlene Hard|Louise Brough Clapp Margaret Osborne duPont || 6–2, 7–5||||||||
|1958|Wimbledon|Mixed doubles|Kurt Nielsen|Lorraine Coghlan Green Bob Howe || 6–3, 13–11||||||||
|1958|U.S. Championships|Women's doubles|Maria Bueno|Darlene Hard Jeanne Arth || 2–6, 6–3, 6–4||||||||

## Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

|Tournament|1950|1951|1952|1953|1954|1955|1956|1957|1958|Career SR||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|Australia|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center; background:thistle;"|F|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|**0 / 1**|
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|France|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|**W**|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|**1 / 1**|
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|Wimbledon|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|3R|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center;"|A|style="text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF|style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|**W**|style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|**W**|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|**2 / 4**|
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|United States|style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|2R|style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|3R|style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|3R|style="text-align:center; background:#ffebcd;"|QF|style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|1R|style="text-align:center; background:#afeeee;"|3R|style="text-align:center; background:thistle;"|F|style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|**W**|style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|**W**|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|**2 / 9**|
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|SR|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|0 / 1|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|0 / 2|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|0 / 1|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|0 / 1|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|0 / 1|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|0 / 1|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|1 / 3|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|2 / 3|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|2 / 2|style="text-align:center; background:#efefef;"|**5 / 15**|

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

## Related pages

- Venus Williams
- Arthur Ashe

## Other websites

- Althea Gibson.com
- International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
- _Sports Illustrated_ obituary  (dead link)
- United States Tennis Association
- Hickoksports.com  (a short biography)
- Althea Gibson - Women's History.about.com
- Althea Gibson Biography
- Althea Gibson Biography (Short)
- WTA Tour
- U.S. Open mixed doubles page
- Wimbledon women's doubles page
- Althea Gibson Tennis Center (Wilmington, NC)

## Infobox (tennis biography)

- **image**: Althea Gibson in 1956 by Fred Palumbo (NYWTS).jpg
- **caption**: Gibson in 1956
- **birth place**: Silver, Clarendon County, South Carolina, US
- **death place**: East Orange, New Jersey, US
- **retired**: 1958
- **plays**: Right-handed
- **highestsinglesranking**: No. **1** (1957)
- **tennishofyear**: 1971
- **tennishofid**: althea-gibson
- **australianopenresult**: F (1957 Australian Championships – Women's Singles, 1957)
- **frenchopenresult**: **W** (1956 French Championships – Women's Singles, 1956)
- **wimbledonresult**: **W** (1957 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles, 1957, 1958 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles, 1958)
- **usopenresult**: **W** (1957 U.S. National Championships – Women's Singles, 1957, 1958 U.S. National Championships – Women's Singles, 1958)
- **australianopendoublesresult**: **W** (1957)
- **frenchopendoublesresult**: **W** (1956)
- **wimbledondoublesresult**: **W** (1956 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles, 1956, 1957 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles, 1957, 1958 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles, 1958)
- **usopendoublesresult**: F (1957, 1958)
- **australianopenmixedresult**: SF (1957)
- **frenchopenmixedresult**: QF (1956)
- **wimbledonmixedresult**: F (1956 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles, 1956, 1957 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles, 1957, 1958 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles, 1958)
- **usopenmixedresult**: **W** (1957)