Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon - Jul 06, 1957 - HISTORY.com This Day in History: 07/06/1957 - Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 6, 1942, thirteen year-old Anne Frank went into hiding in Amsterdam. It was World War II and across Europe Nazis were shipping Jews to concentration camps. Anne and her family took refuge in a hidden room in the building of Otto Frank's office. Anne took her diary with her and recorded her experience. But in 1944, the Franks were discovered; Anne and all her family, except her father, perished in concentration camps. But the Diary of Anne Frank gave voice to the six million Jews who were silenced in the Holocaust.

Lead Story Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon Share this: Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon Author Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1957, Althea Gibson claims the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon and becomes the first African American to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina, and raised in the Harlem section of New York City. She began playing tennis as a teenager and went on to win the national black women’s championship twice. At a time when tennis was largely segregated, four-time U.S. Nationals winner Alice Marble advocated on Gibson’s behalf and the 5’11” player was invited to make her U.S. Open debut in 1950. In 1956, Gibson’s tennis career took off and she won the singles title at the French Open–the first African American to do so–as well as the doubles’ title there.

In July 1957, Gibson won Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard, 6-3, 6-2. (In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American man to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, when he defeated Jimmy Connors.) In September 1957, she won the U.S. Open, and the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958. During the 1950s, Gibson won 56 singles and doubles titles, including 11 major titles. After winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Open again in 1958, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. In 1960, she toured with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, playing exhibition tennis matches before their games. In 1964, Gibson joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, the first black woman to do so. The trailblazing athlete played pro golf until 1971, the same year in which she was voted into the National Lawn Tennis Association Hall of Fame.

After serving as New Jersey’s commissioner of athletics from 1975 to 1985, Althea Gibson died at age 76 from respiratory failure on September 28, 2003, at a hospital in East Orange, New Jersey. Related Videos ESPN.com: Althea Gibson broke barriers Althea Gibson broke barriers By Larry Schwartz Special to ESPN.com Before Althea Gibson could play -- much less win -- major tennis tournaments, another opponent had to be defeated. But Gibson had less control against this foe, which went by the name segregation. Jackie Robinson played in the major leagues (1947) before a black was permitted to play tennis at the U.S. National Championships. But cracks soon developed in the lily-white sport. And finally, in 1950, when Gibson was 23 years old, she was permitted to play at the U.S. Nationals, becoming the first black to compete in the tournament. Besides making history like Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson felt the same sting of racism as the baseball pioneer did just a few years before her. She also later cracked the color barrier at Wimbledon.

In 1956, Gibson made history by becoming the first black person to win the French championships. The next year, she made more history by winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals, the first black to win either. She must have liked winning the world's two most prestigious tournaments, too, because she repeated the accomplishments in 1958. The 5-foot-11 right-hander had a strong serve and preferred to play an attacking game. An athletic woman, she had good foot speed, which allowed her to cover the court. As the years went on, she became more consistent from the baseline. Including six doubles titles, she won a total of 11 Grand Slam events on her way to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. Gibson was born Aug. 25, 1927, in the small town of Silver, S.C. The family moved to Harlem in New York City when she was 3. Growing up there, Gibson disliked going to school so much that she often played hooky.

"Daddy would whip me," she said, "and I'm not talking about spankings." But she didn't blame her father for the whippings, saying she deserved them. Aside from an occasional fight, she was never in any real trouble. What Gibson liked to do was play sports, At first, basketball was her favorite. Next she became quite proficient in paddle tennis. Then a friendly musician gave her a tennis racket, and she immediately took to the game. She quit high school -- not because of tennis but because she couldn't stand classes -- and began competing in girls tournaments under the auspices of the American Tennis Association, which was almost all black. In 1946, she attracted the attention of two tennis playing doctors, Hubert Eaton of North Carolina and Robert W. Johnson of Virginia, who were active in the black tennis community. Soon-to-be welterweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson and his wife, who had befriended Gibson, advised her to go South. She did. Each doctor took her into his family -- Eaton during the school year, Johnson in the summer. Not only did they provide tennis instruction, they also straightened her out academically.

She went back to high school for her last three years and graduated in 1949 in Wilmington, N.C. ZONE POLL Previous poll results As the two-time winner of the national black women's tennis championship, Gibson thought she had a good case for being admitted to the 1950 U.S. Nationals. But it appeared as if she were going to be shut out again until Alice Marble, a four-time winner of the event, advanced her caused in the July 1950 issue of "American Lawn Tennis" magazine. "If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of players, then it's only fair that they meet this challenge on the courts," Marble wrote. Finally, the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association relinquished and invited her. In her historic debut at the 1950 U.S. Nationals, Gibson defeated Barbara Knapp in straight sets. Her second-round match on the grass of Forest Hills was against Louise Brough, who had won the previous three Wimbledons. After being routed 6-1 in the first set, Gibson recovered to win the second set 6-3 and led 7-6 in the third when a thunderstorm struck, halting the match.

When it resumed the next day, Gibson dropped three straight games to lose the match. It took Gibson a while to adjust to the stronger competition. She also remained unwelcome at some clubs where tournaments were held. She was ranked No. 9 among American women in 1952, but it wasn't until four years later that Gibson displayed the game of a player ready to move into the first echelon. She won her first major in 1956, the French championships, defeating defending champion Angela Mortimer 6-0, 12-10 on the clay courts in Paris. This was her only appearance at the French. She teamed with Englishwoman Angela Buxton to win the women's doubles title at the French, as well as at Wimbledon. That year she also won singles tournaments at the Italian, the Pacific Southwest, New South Wales, Pan American, South Australian and the Asian title in Ceylon. The No. 2 seed at the U.S. Nationals, Gibson reached the final. Her opponent was top seed Shirley Fry, who played a steadier match and gained the championship with a 6-3, 6-4 decision. In 1957, Gibson gained control of the women's game.

First, she beat Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2 to win Wimbledon. Then on Sept. 8, she made history in her own country, defeating Brough by the same score for the U.S. Championship. She also was part of the winning women's doubles team with Hard at Wimbledon and took the mixed doubles title with Kurt Nielsen at Forest Hills. Even while winning tournaments she was denied rooms at hotels. One refused to book reservations for a luncheon in her honor. She said she didn't care. "I tried to feel responsibilities to Negroes, but that was a burden on my shoulders," she said in 1957. "Now I'm playing tennis to please me, not them." She pleased herself -- and blacks -- in 1958 by defeating Mortimer 8-6, 6-2 in the Wimbledon final and rallying to beat Hard 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 for the U.S. title. Her third consecutive Wimbledon women's doubles title also was won, this time with Maria Bueno.

Her singles record at the Grand Slams events was an impressive 53-9 -- 16-1 at Wimbledon, 27-7 at the U.S., 6-0 at the French and 4-1 at the Australian. As a member of the 1957 and 1958 U.S. Wightman Cup teams, she went 5-1 -- 3-1 in singles and 2-0 in doubles -- against Britain. In 1957, she was the first black to be voted by the Associated Press as its Female Athlete of the Year. She won the honor again in 1958. After winning her second U.S. Championship, she turned professional. One year she earned a reported $100,000 in conjunction with playing a series of matches before Harlem Globetrotter basketball games. There was no professional tennis tour in those days. Gibson turned to the pro golf tour for a few years, but she didn't distinguish herself. She tried playing a few events after open tennis started in 1968, but by then she was in her 40s and too old to beat her younger opponents.

She worked as a tennis teaching pro after she stopped competing. Gibson has turned into a recluse in her well-kept garden apartment in East Orange, N.J., according to Time last September. The magazine said she is suffering in silence from a series of strokes and ailments brought on by a disease she is simply said to have described as "terminal." The title of her autobiography, written in 1958, is "I Always Wanted to Be Somebody." To tennis fans, she always will be. Though she didn't go looking for the role of pioneer, she was one. "If it hadn't been for her," says Billie Jean King, winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, "it wouldn't have been so easy for Arthur (Ashe) or the ones who followed." The Championships, Wimbledon: winners, fun facts, and record holders by Mike Morrison 2008 Wimbledon Women's Singles Champion Venus Williams (Source/AP) So you think you know Wimbledon ? Tennis's most prestigious grand slam event gets underway on June 27, 2015, and finishes up on July 10.

You probably already know that it is the only grand slam event played on grass, and that last year's singles champions were Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Czech Republic's Petra Kvitovà. Below is some history, as well as some little-known facts about the tourney. If you're feeling especially adventurous, try your luck at Infoplease's Wimbledon Quiz . The first Wimbledon took place in 1877 solely as an amateur competition. Men's singles was the only event that took place. There were 22 competitors and the championship was won by Spencer Gore. A few hundred spectators were in attendance. Women's singles and men's doubles events began seven years later, in 1884. May Sutton of the United States became the first non-European champion in 1905 when she captured the women's singles title. Charlotte (Lottie) Dod became the youngest player ever to win a Wimbledon singles event when, in 1887, she won at the age of 15 years, 285 days. In 1996 Martina Hingis became a Wimbledon doubles champion at 15 years, 282 days.

And by the way, Dod was also a silver medalist in archery at the 1908 Olympics, a member of the British national field hockey team in 1899, and the British Amateur golf champ in 1904. During World War II , a bomb ripped through Centre Court at the All England Club and 1,200 seats were lost. Fortunately, they weren't filled at the time. Play finally resumed in 1946 but it wasn't until 1949 that the area was back in top shape. American Althea Gibson became the first black player to win a Wimbledon singles championship when she captured the title in 1957. She successfully defended her title a year later. She was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in both years. In 1985, Boris Becker accomplished three feats: he became the youngest male singles champ (17 years, 227 days old), the first German champ, and the first unseeded champ. There are currently 20 grass courts available for play at the Wimbledon complex. The Number 1 Court now comes complete with large fans at either end to dry out the court in case of rain.

There are also five red shale courts, four clay courts, and five indoor courts for club members. The last married woman to win the women's singles championship was Chris Evert Lloyd in 1981. A wooden racket was last used at Wimbledon in 1987. The 2014 prize purse for the men's and women's singles winners is £1,760,000, an increase of £160,000 (10%) over 2013. In 1968, the year of the first "open" championships, the prize money was £2,000 for the male champion and £750 for the female champion. Aside from cash, the women's champ also receives a silver gilt salver (a round, disk-like platter) that was made in 1864. The men's winner receives a silver gilt cup from 1887. Both are actually displayed at the Wimbledon museum for most of the year. Keep your eyes on the ball!

The records for fastest serve are Taylor Dent, clocked at 148 mph (2010) and Venus Williams with 129 mph (2008) Keeping track of all those fast-moving balls are approximately 250 ball boys and girls at The Championships each year. The top-selling item in the Wimbledon gift shop in 2010: 18,000 yellow mini tennis ball keyrings. in 2013, it was Championship towels (28,600). In 2013, the top-selling drink was tea/coffee, with 300,000 sold. Harlem's Althea Gibson First Black Women to Win a Championship At Wimbledon Harlem’s Althea Gibson First Black Women to Win a Championship At Wimbledon Posted on by Cass — 2 Comments ↓ Althea Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and the first black athlete of either gender to cross the color line of international tennis.

In 1956 she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. Open), then won both again in 1958, and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. “She is one of the greatest players who ever lived,” said Robert Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. “Martina couldn’t touch her. I think she’d beat the Williams sisters.” In the early 1960s she also became the first black player to compete on the women’s professional golf tour. At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, Gibson was often compared to Jackie Robinson.

“Her road to success was a challenging one,” said Billie Jean King, “but I never saw her back down.”[2] “To anyone, she was an inspiration, because of what she was able to do at a time when it was enormously difficult to play tennis at all if you were black,” said former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. “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.” Powered by Inline Related Posts Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in the town of Silver in Clarendon County, South Carolina, to Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson. The Great Depression hit rural southern farmers sooner than much of the rest of the country, so in 1930 the family moved to Harlem, where Althea’s three sisters and brother were born.

Their apartment was located on a stretch of 143rd Street that had been designated a Police Athletic League play area; during daylight hours it was barricaded so that neighborhood children could play organized sports.[7] Gibson quickly became proficient in paddle tennis, and by 1939, at the age of 12, she was the New York City women’s paddle tennis champion. 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. In 1941 she entered — and won — her first tournament, the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship.She won the ATA national championship in the girls’ division in 1944 and 1945, and after losing in the women’s final in 1946, she won her first of ten straight national ATA women’s titles in 1947. “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.” Gibson’s ATA success drew the attention of Walter Johnson, a Lynchburg, Virginia physician who was active in the African American tennis community. Under Johnson’s patronage — he would later mentor Arthur Ashe as well — Gibson gained access to more advanced instruction and more important competitions, and later, to the United States Tennis Association (USTA). In 1946 she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina under the sponsorship of another physician and tennis activist, Hubert A. Eaton and enrolled at Williston 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. Later that year she entered Florida A&M University on a full athletic scholarship. “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 In 1950, in response to intense lobbying from ATA officials and Alice Marble — who published a scathing open letter in the magazine American Lawn Tennis — Gibson received an invitation to compete in the United States National Championships (now the U.S. Open) at Forest Hills. She was the first black player of either gender ever selected, and made her debut on her 23rd birthday. Although she lost narrowly in the second round in a rain-delayed, three-set match to Louise Brough, the reigning Wimbledon champion and former U.S. National winner, her participation received extensive national and international coverage. “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 [was] even a tougher personal Jim Crow-busting assignment than was Jackie Robinson’s when he first stepped out of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout.” In 1951 Gibson won her first international title, the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica, and later that year became the first black competitor at Wimbledon, where she was defeated in the third round by Beverly Baker. In 1952 she was ranked seventh nationally by the USTA. In the spring of 1953 she graduated from Florida A&M and took a job teaching physical education at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri.[25] During her two years at Lincoln she became romantically involved with an Army officer whom she never named publicly, and considered enlisting in the Women’s Army Corps, but decided against it when the State Department sent her on a goodwill tour of Asia in 1955 to play exhibition matches with Ham Richardson, Bob Perry, and Karol Fageros.Many Asians in the countries they visited — Burma, 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 U.S. 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.” Gibson, for her part, strengthened her confidence immeasurably during the six-week tour. When it was over she remained abroad, winning sixteen of eighteen tournaments in Europe and Asia against many of the world’s best players. In 1956 Gibson became the first African-American athlete to win a Grand Slam event, the French Open singles championship. (She also won the doubles title, partnered with Briton Angela Buxton.) Later in the season she won the Wimbledon doubles championship (again with Buxton), the Italian national championship in Rome, and the Asian championship in Ceylon. She also reached the quarter-finals in singles at Wimbledon and the finals at the U.S. Nationals, losing both to Shirley Fry. 1957 was, in her own words, “Althea Gibson’s year”. In July she won Wimbledon — considered, at the time, the “world championship of tennis”. She was the first black champion in the tournament’s 80-year history, and the first champion to receive the trophy personally from Queen Elizabeth II.

“Shaking hands with the queen of England,” she said, “was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus.” She won the doubles championship as well, for the second year. Upon her return home Gibson became only the second black American, after Jesse Owens, to be honored with a 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. A month later she defeated Brough in straight sets to win her first U.S. National championship. “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.” In all she reached the finals of eight Grand Slam events in 1957, winning the Wimbledon and U.S. National singles titles, the Wimbledon and Australian doubles championships, and the U.S. mixed doubles crown, and finishing second in Australian singles, U.S. doubles, and Wimbledon mixed doubles. At season’s end she broke yet another barrier as the first black player on the U.S. Wightman Cup team, which defeated Great Britain 6-1.

In 1958 Gibson successfully defended her Wimbledon and U.S. 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[42] and in the United States[43] in both 1957 and 1958, and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years,[44] garnering over 80% of the votes in 1958.[45] She also became the first black woman to appear on the covers of Sports Illustrated[46] and Time. In late 1958, having won 56 national and international singles and doubles titles, including 11 Grand Slam championships, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. Prior to the Open Era there was no prize money at major tournaments, and direct endorsement deals were prohibited. Players were limited to meager expense allowances, strictly regulated by the USTA. “The truth, to put it bluntly, is that my finances were in heartbreaking shape,” she wrote. “Being the Queen of Tennis is all well and good, but you can’t eat a crown.

Nor can you send the Internal Revenue Service a throne clipped to their tax forms. The landlord and grocer and tax collector are funny that way: they like cold cash … I reign over an empty bank account, and I’m not going to fill it by playing amateur tennis.”[ Professional tours for women were still 15 years away, so her opportunities were largely limited to promotional events. In 1959 she signed to play a series of exhibition matches against Karol Fageros before Harlem Globetrotter basketball games. 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. During this period, Gibson also pursued her long-held aspirations in the entertainment industry. A talented vocalist and saxophonist — and runner-up in the Apollo Theater’s amateur talent contest in 1943 — she made her professional singing debut at W. C. Handy’s 84th birthday tribute at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1957. 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.[53] She appeared as a celebrity guest on the TV panel show What’s My Line? and was cast as a slave 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.[54] 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. In 1960 her first memoir, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody, written with sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald, was published. 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 barrier once and for all, as I had — perhaps naively — hoped.

Or if I did destroy them, they had been erected behind me again.” In 1964, at the age of 37, Gibson became the first African-American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. 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. 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. She made financial ends meet with various sponsorship deals and the support of her husband, William Darben, brother of best friend and fellow tennis player Rosemary Darben, whom she married in 1965 (and divorced in 1976).

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. She retired from professional golf at the end of the 1978 season. “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.” 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.[65] With the advent of the Open Era she began entering major tennis tournaments again; but by then, in her forties, she was unable to compete effectively against younger players. She also attempted a golf comeback, in 1987, with the goal of becoming the oldest active tour player, but was unable to regain her tour card.

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. In 1972 she began running Pepsi Cola’s national mobile tennis project, which brought portable nets and other equipment to underprivileged areas in major cities. 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.” 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. In 1977 she challenged incumbent Essex County State Senator Frank J.

Dodd in the Democratic primary for his seat.[72] She came in second behind Dodd, but ahead of Assemblyman Eldridge Hawkins. Gibson went on to manage the Department of Recreation in East Orange, NJ. She also served on the State Athletic Control Board and became supervisor of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.[73] In 1983 she married Sydney Llewellyn, her coach during her peak tennis years. That marriage also ended in divorce, after five years; she had no children. In later years Gibson suffered two ruptured cerebral aneurysms, and in 1992, a stroke. A few years later she told her former doubles partner Angela Buxton that she was considering suicide, as she was living on welfare, and was unable to pay for rent or medication. (She had written to various tennis bodies for help; none replied.) Buxton arranged for a letter to appear in a tennis magazine, resulting in donations totaling nearly $1 million from around the world. In early 2003 Gibson survived a heart attack, but died on September 28, 2003, at the age of 76 from complications following respiratory and bladder infections.

She was interred in the Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, NJ near her first husband, Will Darben. It would be 43 years before another black woman won a Grand Slam championship: Serena Williams won her first of five U.S. Opens in 1999, not long after faxing a letter and list of questions to Gibson. Her sister Venus then won back-to-back titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001. 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.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 International Women’s Hall of Fame.

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.” Sports Illustrated for Women named her to its list of the “100 Greatest Female Athletes”. In August 2013 the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Gibson, the 36th in its Black Heritage series. In a 1977 historical analysis of women in sports, 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.” On opening night of the 2007 U.S. Open, the 50th anniversary of her first victory at its predecessor, the U.S. Championships, in 1957, Gibson was inducted into the US Open Court of Champions. “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.” Gibson’s five Wimbledon trophies are displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The Althea Gibson Cup seniors tournament is held annually in Croatia, under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The Althea Gibson Foundation identifies and supports gifted golf and tennis players who live in urban environments. In 2005 Gibson’s friend Bill Cosby endowed the Althea Gibson Scholarship at her alma mater, Florida A&M University. In September 2009 Wilmington, North Carolina named its new community tennis court facility the Althea Gibson Tennis Complex at Empie Park. Other tennis facilities bearing her name include Manning High School (near her birthplace in Silver, South Carolina), the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, SC,[95] Florida A&M University, and Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ.

In 2012 a bronze statue, created by sculptor Thomas Jay Warren,[98] was dedicated to her memory in Branch Brook Park.[99] “I hope that I have accomplished just one thing,” she once wrote, “that I have been a credit to tennis, and to my country.” “By all measures,” reads the inscription on her Newark statue, “Althea Gibson certainly attained that goal.” Share this: Althea Gibson wins Wimbledon - Jul 06, 1957 - HISTORY.com Althea Gibson wins Wimbledon Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1957, Althea Gibson defeats Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2 to become the first black player ever to win Wimbledon. Gibson was born in South Carolina on August 25, 1927, and raised in Harlem. She started playing tennis in 1942 at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club under the tutelage of Fred Johnson. In 1950, Gibson caused a sensation when she became the first black player to compete in the U.S. Open; she became the first black to play Wimbledon the following year.

After rising to the number seven ranking on the ladies’ tour in 1953, Gibson’s play became inconsistent. She lost in the first round of the U.S. Open in 1954 and in the third round in 1955. Her early promise seemed to be slipping away, and she contemplated retirement before agreeing to participate in a U.S. State Department-sponsored tennis-clinic tour of Southeast Asia. The trip rejuvenated her and, when she returned home, her game showed a newfound maturity. She won the French Open in 1956, and in 1957, set her sights on Wimbledon. Gibson cruised through the opening rounds of the 1957 Wimbledon without losing a set. The final was similarly uneventful, as Gibson’s vicious ground strokes flustered Hard in every game. The entire match took only 50 minutes. After Queen Elizabeth presented the new champion with the trophy, Gibson, overcome with emotion, could only say “At last! At last!” Later that day, Gibson and Hard teamed up to capture the ladies’ doubles championship, thrashing Mary Hawton and Thelma Long of Australia, 6-1, 6-1.

Althea Gibson won both the Wimbledon and the U.S. Open titles in 1957 and 1958, and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. She was the first black woman ever to win the award. In 1975, Gibson became the New Jersey State Commissioner of Athletics, a job she held for 10 years. She died in 2003 at the age of 76. Related Videos ESPN.com: CLASSIC - Black tennis pioneer Althea Gibson dies at 76 Gibson served as model for Williams sisters ESPN.com news services EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- Althea Gibson, a sports pioneer who broke the color barrier in tennis in the 1950s as the first black woman to win Wimbledon and U.S. national titles, died on September 28. She was 76. Two-time Wimbledon champ Gibson hit her stride in 1957. Gibson, seriously ill for several years, died of respiratory failure at a hospital in East Orange, N.J., after spending two days in the intensive care ward, said Fran Gray, a longtime friend who co-founded the Althea Gibson Foundation.

The charitable organization, based in Newark, was created to help urban youth develop their skills in tennis and golf. "Her contribution to the civil rights movement was done with her tennis racket," Gray said. Gibson was the first black to compete in the U.S. championships, in 1950, and at Wimbledon, in 1951. However, it wasn't until several years later that she began to win major tournaments, including the Wimbledon and U.S. championships in 1957 and 1958, the French Open, and three doubles titles at Wimbledon (1956-58). "Who could have imagined? Who could have thought?" Gibson said in 1988 as she presented her Wimbledon trophies to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. "Here stands before you a Negro woman, raised in Harlem, who went on to become a tennis player ... and finally wind up being a world champion, in fact, the first black woman champion of this world," she said.

"And believe it or not, I still am." Born to sharecroppers on a cotton farm in South Carolina August 25, 1927, and raised in Harlem, Gibson was a self-described "born athlete" who broke racial barriers not only in tennis but in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She even toured with the Harlem Globetrotters after retiring from tennis in the late 1950s. But it was in tennis that Gibson had her greatest successes. She picked up the game while growing up in New York, slapping rubber balls off a brick wall. Though troubled in school, and often truant, Gibson was discovered playing paddle tennis in public recreation programs, and won tournaments sponsored by the Police Athletics Leagues and the Parks Department. Musician Buddy Walker noticed her table tennis talents and brought her to the Harlem River Tennis Courts, where she began to excel. Through donations raised for her membership and lessons, the young Gibson became a member of the Harlem Cosmopolitan Tennis Club, a club for African American players, where she met Fred Johnson, the one-armed tennis coach who taught her to play.

Sun, September 28 All that Althea Gibson achieved, and the meaning behind her achievements, never received the recognition it should have. In every sport there are trailblazers we look to and say, "If it weren't for this person, I might not be where I am today." Everyone has said that about Arthur Ashe, but about a decade before Ashe was winning Grand Slam titles, Gibson had already won them -- the first African-American to ever do so. But when she was winning, tennis majors didn't receive the worldwide attention they get today. As a result, many young tennis players today don't know much about Gibson, who broke barriers when the sport was still mostly played in country clubs. I met Gibson only once, at the U.S. Open in the mid-1990s. I was introduced to her while we both watched the same tennis match. At the time, I don't think people around us really knew who she was. But I felt honored to meet a woman who had achieved what I dreamed of achieving, but ultimately never did.

She achieved greatness in an era in the United States when it was very difficult for a black person, much less a black woman, to excel in sports -- much less tennis -- and became one of the best of her time. Every athlete faces pressure to succeed. But not often does an athlete carry the weight of their race in a era when most tennis fans probably wanted to see her fail. I get inspiration today because of all she did. As a young man, I always was compared to Arthur Ashe. It wasn't until I got older and more mature that I realized what Althea Gibson meant to the sport and to me. Even though she lived the later years of her life out of the public eye, I hope she knew how she influenced the game of tennis and the people who knew her. It's a sad day for tennis fans and sports fans all over the world when a such a legend passes away. MaliVai Washington, a tennis analyst for ESPN, reached the 1996 Wimbledon final. Gibson won her first tournament at 15, becoming the New York State black girls' singles tennis champion. Boxer Sugar Ray Robinson helped pay for her travels.

She spent her high school years in Wilmington, N.C., where the well-off Dr. R.W. Johnson took her into his family's home and let her play on his grass court. Dr. E.A. Eaton coached her there, and the 5-foot-10 Gibson would later credit him with helping her cultivate the grace and dignity she needed on and off the court. "No one would say anything to me because of the way I carried myself," Gibson said. "Tennis was a game for ladies and gentleman, and I conducted myself in that manner." In 1953, she graduated from Florida A&M on a tennis and basketball scholarship, and took a job as an athletic instructor at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Miss. At the same time, she began her ascent in the American Tennis Association, founded in 1916 for black players. Gibson won the ATA women's singles tournament ten years in a row, 1947 through 1956. But tennis tournaments outside the ATA remained closed to her, until 1950.

In that year white tennis player Alice Marble wrote an article in American Lawn Tennis magazine, noting that Gibson was not able to participate in the better-known championships, for no reason other than "bigotry." As a result of both her talent and such publicity, in 1950 Gibson was the first African-American to play in the National Grass Court Tennis Championships, the precursor of today's U.S. Open, coming within a point of beating Wimbledon champion Louise Brough. She broke the racial barrier at Wimbledon the following year, but disappointment at losing nearly caused her to give up the game for the Army in 1955. A year later, she blossomed during a nine-month tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department, winning 14 tournaments, including the French and Italian championships, and reaching the finals in the three she did not win. The powerful right-hander also captured her first women's doubles championship at Wimbledon. Although beaten at Wimbledon in the singles and a final-round loser at the U.S. championship in New York, she was on top of her game and in 1957 began a two-year run as champion of the top two tournaments in tennis.

In Gibson's first appearance at Forest Hills, a violent storm interrupted her second round match, and a bolt of lightning toppled one of the concrete guardian eagles from the upper reaches of the stadium. Later Gibson remarked that "it may have been an omen that times were changing." She was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958. Following her 1957 Wimbledon victory over Darlene Hard, Gibson was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City and an official welcome at City Hall. No other black woman won the U.S. national tennis title until Serena Williams in 1999 or won Wimbledon until Venus Williams in 2000. "For players like myself and a lot of other African-American players on the tour, Althea Gibson paved the way for us," Venus Williams said after her U.S. Open debut in Arthur Ashe stadium in 1997 at age 17. "So it's important that we recognize this, that I recognize it, and for me to know my history. " In 2000, after winning the U.S. Open, Venus Williams recalled Gibson's accomplishments again.

"I knew she was watching when Serena won the U.S. Open and she's happy to see another black woman win in her lifetime." She retired from the game soon after her 1958 Wimbledon and U.S. titles, and wrote her autobiography, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody. There was no professional women's tennis circuit at the time, so Gibson won no prize money and few lucrative endorsements. "If she had been a half-step later (in her tennis career), she would have been a multimillionaire," said longtime friend and former New York Mayor David Dinkins. She briefly tried singing, then signed a $100,000 deal to play in exhibition tennis matches before Globetrotter games in 1959. Gibson took up golf in 1960 and became the first black woman on the LPGA tour in 1962, but won no tournaments and earned little money. Inducted into numerous halls of fame, Gibson became the state commissioner of athletics in New Jersey in 1975, a job she held for 10 years.

She then served on the state athletics control board until 1988, and the governor's council on physical fitness until 1992. Her layoff from the council marked a turn in Gibson's fortunes. In recent years, the former champion became ill and suffered two cerebral aneurysms and a stroke. Her finances also declined, and Gibson isolated herself as she struggled on Social Security, not wanting anyone to see her condition. When news of her situation spread in 1996, admirers around the country held fund-raisers and benefits to ease Gibson's financial burdens. Letters with cash and checks also began to pour in, including one with two $100 bills from Mariann de Swardt, a ranked South African tennis player. "I focused on your game when I learned how to play, and I wanted to thank you," the note read. "She was a great champion and great person. We had a good relationship -- she was always there for me even when I was a nobody," said Martina Navratilova in Leipzig, Germany, where she won her 172nd career doubles title.

"Her life was very difficult, but she broke down a lot of barriers and doors and made it easier for a lot of us." "Althea Gibson improved my life and the lives of countless others," said tennis legend Billie Jean King in a statement released Sunday. "She was the first to break so many barriers and from the first time I saw her play, when I was 13 years old, she became, and remained, one of my true heroines. It was truly an inspiration for me to watch her overcome adversity." Gibson was married twice; husbands William Darben and Sidney Llewellyn are deceased. Gibson didn't have children. Information from The Associated Press, Reuters, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Bud Collins Tennis Encyclopedia and The Official Althea Gibson Web site was used in this report. More from ESPN... Timeline of Women in Sports Tennis Before 1800 Medieval Times- During this time, tennis was called the game of the palm of the hand or Jeu de paume. It was quite different from todays tennis, in which it was played against the walls and roof.

1793- The year that England was thought to have invented or played tennis for the first time. 1800's 1873- Walter C. Wingfield adapted the techniques and rules of tennis to devise a game to be played on the grass. 1874- Mary Ewing Outerbridge of Staten Island introduced tennis to the United States. She purchased equipment in Bermuda and used it to set up the first tennis court on the island. 1881- Indoor tennis was played inside the 7th Regiment Armory in New York City on November 26th with twelve courts for the use of women. 1884- Womens singles tennis competitions were added to the Wimbledon. 1887- Ellen Hansell was crowned the first Womens singles tennis champion at the U.S. Open. 1887- Lottie Dod won the womens Wimbledon championship five times between 1887 and 1893. 1887- First womens French Tennis Championship was held. 1888- Women joined the Chicago tennis club in New York City. 1897- The first womens French Tennis Championship was held.

1899- Ping-pong was invented. 1900's 1990- The first nineteen women to compete in the modern Olympic Games in Paris, played in three sports and one of the most popular was tennis. 1990- May Sutton was Americas first women tennis player to be known internationally. At the age of thirteen she won the Pacific Southwest Championship. 1910- For the second consecutive year, Hazel Hotchkiss won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles at the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association's championships. 1917- Lucy Diggs Slowe won the singles title at the first American Tennis Association national tournament. She then was the first female African-American national champion in sports. 1920- During the Summer Olympics, France's Suzanne Lenglen abandoned the customary tennis garb for a short, pleated skirt, sleeveless silk blouse, and matching sweater. She was then the first female celebrity athlete. 1923- Helen Mills, at the age of seventeen defeated the defending Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, 6-2, 6-1, at the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association's championship.

1924- American Helen Wills brought home gold in singles and doubles tennis at the Paris Olympic Games. 1926- The International Table Tennis Federation was formed, holding the first world championship with nine nations competing. 1929- Ora Washington, an African-American woman, won her first American Tennis Association's singles title, a title she held for seven years. She held onto that record until Althea Gibson broke it with nine titles. 1931- Lili de Alvarez shocked social propriety by playing at Wimbledon in shorts instead of the long, hampering dress that was the accepted tennis attire on June 24th. 1933- Helen Jacobs was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis. 1935- Helen Wills Moody was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis. 1936- Ruth Hughes Aarons was the first american that won the world singles table tennis championship. 1936- Women's tennis champion Helen Wills Moody and Howard Kinsey, volleyed a tennis ball 2,001 times without a miss, in one hour, eighteen minutes. Mr. Kinsey broke off the volley to teach a lesson.

1936- Alice Marble, won the first of twelve U.S. Open championships. Her aggressive serve-and-volley style, which is unusual for a woman was the style that set new standards for tennis. 1937- The U.S. was the first country to win the women's Marcel Corbillon Cup team table tennis championships. 1947- Althea Gibson won the first of ten consecutive American Tennis Association national championships. 1950- Althea Gibson became the first African-American to play in a major United States Lawn Tennis Association event. 1951- Althea Gibson was the first black player ever to compete at Wimbledon. 1953- At the age of sixteen, Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly became the first woman to score a Grand Slam - winning all four major world (US Open, Wimbledon, French & Australian Opens) tennis matches in a single season. 1956- Althea Gibson was the first African American to win a Grand Slam singles title when she won the French championships. The next year, she made more history by winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals, the first African American to win ever.

1957- With her first Wimbledon title and first U.S. Championship, Althea Gibson was the top-ranked female tennis player in the world. 1966- Billie Jean King won her first Wimbledon single title, repeating again in 1967 and 1968. 1970- Australian Margaret Smith Court was the second grand slam tennis winner. In her career she had a record of 62 total Grand Slam titles. 1971- Billie Jean King became the first woman athlete ever to receive more than $100,000 in a single season at any sport. 1971- Althea Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 1973- U.S. Tennis Association announced that men and women would now receive equal prize money and pay at the U.S. Open for the first time in history. 1973- Billie Jean King won the "battle-of-the-sexes" tennis match against Bobby Riggs in Houston while in front of more than 30,000 people and also a TV audience of more than 50 million.

It confirmed women's rights to sports and inspired hundred of thousands of women to demand equal rights, equal pay, and equal treatment. She was then named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis. 1974- Chris Evert was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis she also earned the honor in 1975, 1977, and 1980. Chris Evert was ranked the number one American for the first of five consecutive years. Over her professional career she was the first woman ever to earn one million in her career. 1975- During an endurance match, Rita Santarpia and Sandy Gross played continuous tennis for thirty hours and thirty minutes. 1979- Tracy Austin, at the age of sixteen won the U.S. Open singles tennis championship, the youngest player to have won the title. She was then named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis. 1979- Billie Jean King won her 20th Wimbledon title. 1983- Martina Navratilova was the third grand slam winner in tennis, under the new regulations. 1984- Billie Jean King made history again.

She was the first woman to be head of a professional athletic league. 1988- Tennis reappeared at the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1928 Games, Steffi Graf wins the gold medal at Seoul. 1989- Arantxa Sanchez at the age of seventeen, became the youngest French Open Champion and the first Spanish woman to win a Grand Slam. 1989- Steffi Graf was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis. 1989- Chris Evert was the first tennis player ever to reach 1,000 wins. 1989- By the end of the decade, the number of women who play tennis had risen from four to eleven million. 1990- Jennifer Capriati at the age of fourteen she was the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist during the French Open. 1990- Jennifer Capriati, was the youngest winner of a match in Wimbledon history. 1990- Martina Navratilova was the first woman in history to win Wimbledon 9 times. 1994- Martina Navratilova retired.

She set records for most singles titles-167, most matches won-1438 and most Wimbledon titles-nine. 1995- Chris Evret was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 1996- Martina Hingis was the youngest champion in Wimbledon history at fifteen years old. She was also named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for tennis. 1998- Lindsay Davenport was the first American-born woman to win the U.S. Open since Chris Evert won the last of her six singles titles in 1982. 1998- Tennis star Venus Williams recorded a 127 mph serve, the fastest ever in women's tennis. 1999- Serena and Venus Williams was the first sisters to win singles titles on the same day. 1999- In a historic tennis match-up, the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena met in the women's final of the Lipton Championship. Venus won the match, after beating Serena two games to one, and winning $265,000. She had won all three meetings between each other.

This all-sisters women's final was the first since the Open era began in 1968. 1999- In April, about sixty professional women tennis players signed a petition asking the WTA for equal prize money with the men at all four Grand Slam tournaments. 2000's 2000- Martina Navratilova was the newest tennis member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 2000- Wimbledon announced the increases in total womens prize money of 7.9%, compared with 4.8% for the men. 2000- Venus and Serena Williams made tennis history when, for the first time in history, sisters won the Wimbledon doubles title. 2000- The Australian Open offered equal prize money for men and women tennis players. 2000- Venus and Serena Williams received the Sportswomen of the Year award, a team honor, by the Womens Sports Foundation. 2001- Serena and Venus Williams made it a historic U.S. Open in the first women's final televised prime time from Arthur Ashe Stadium in NY.

Venus won her second consecutive US Open title, beating Serena 6-2, 6-4 in the first Grand Slam between sisters in 117 years. 2003- Kim Clijsters won the WTA Championship and the largest purse in women's tennis at $1,000,030. 2004- Venus Williams earned her 30th career win. 2004- Maria Sharapova at the age of seventeen, upset defending champion Serena Williams, and was the first Russian and the third-youngest woman to win a singles title at Wimbledon. 2005- Lindsay Davenport was the first player to earn more than $1 million in 2005. 2005- Maria Sharapova was the first player from Russia to be ranked number one and the fifteenth in the history of World Team Tennis since it began its rankings in 1975. BBC ON THIS DAY | 5 | 1975: Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history 1975: Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history American tennis player Arthur Ashe has become the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles' championship.

New Yorker Althea Gibson was the first black woman to take the Wimbledon title in 1958. Ashe beat defending champion Jimmy Connors three sets to one on Centre Court. Speaking after the game Ashe said: "I always thought I would win because I was playing so well and was so confident." Everything he did was good Jimmy Connors Although Ashe won the US Open in 1968 his 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 victory today - at the age of 31- surprised many at the All England Club. The son of a policeman from Richmond, Virginia, Ashe was reluctant to discuss his tactics, as he expects to meet Connors again. Connors, 22, admitted: "I couldn't find an opening. Whether I served wide balls, or kicks he was there. Everything he did was good: fine returns, short and long, and hard serves and volleys." The older man won his first service game to love and quickly broke his opponent's serve in the first set.

The pressure on Connors began to show - causing derision in the crowd - as he angrily threw his towel under the umpire's chair and released a chain of expletives. Ashe took the first set in just 19 minutes and secured a second 6-1 rout almost as quickly. Tension mounted in the third set as Connors found his rhythm to recover a 6-5 lead - after trailing 3-1 - before winning the set. His friend and Wimbledon semi-finalist Ile Nastase watched anxiously from the players' stand, along with his mother Gloria and manager Bill Riordan. Ashe kept his cool and broke Connors' serve in the ninth game of what was to be the final set. The match ended swiftly as Ashe reached 40-15 with his service game and punched home a winning volley after a weak two-handed return by Connors.

Question: Tennis - Who was the first black person to win a Wimbledon championship, in 1957 ?
Answer: ALTHEA GIBSON