Feisty Female Friday: Althea Gibson

The FFF this week is Althea Gibson.

Althea, born in SC, was a tennis player who dominated women’s competitions in the late 1950s. She was the first Black player to win the French, Wimbledon, and the US Open Women’s singles championships. She grew up in NY City where she began playing tennis at an early age in the NYPAL. In 1942, she won her first ATA tournament and captured the ATA’s women’s singles championship 5 years later, a title she would hold for 10 consecutive years.

Althea attended college and continued to play in tournaments around the country. She was the first Black tennis player to enter the national grass-court championship tournament at Forest Hills in NY and the soon played in the Wimbledon tournament, the first Black player ever invited. The tall and lean Althea became noted for her dominating serves and powerful play. She won French and Italian singles titles, the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. women’s singles championship at Forest Hills, and the U.S. mixed doubles and the Australian women’s doubles.

After those victories, she was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the AP, becoming the first African American woman to receive the honor, winning the award two years in a row. Althea also played professional golf and was the first African American member of the LPGA. After retiring from sports competitions, she was active in sports administration in NJ. Her victories at Wimbledon, the US, Australian, and French Open, paved the way for her autobiography, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody. She was elected to the International Tennis and Sports Hall of Fame and the US Women’s History Museum. She appeared in a movie, was featured on the Wheaties cereal box, has a statue and a school named in her honor in NJ, and raised funds for tennis programs for underprivileged children.

The Althea Gibson Tennis Complex in NC is a memorial to her and serves also an inspiration to generations of tennis players everywhere. Remember Althea as you watch the US Open from August 26 through September 7 and remember how she paved the way for and inspired all women of color to play tennis, at any venue anywhere in the world.