Althea Gibson

Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927Template:SpndSeptember 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first Black player to win a Grand Slam event (the French Open).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US 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 titles: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title.<ref>A&E Television Networks (2014)</ref> "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived," said Bob Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina [Navratilova] couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters."Template:Sfn Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the early 1960s, she also became the first Black player to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

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."<ref name="nyt2003">Template:Cite news</ref> "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.Template:Sfn "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."<ref>Lewis, Jone Johnson. Women's History. About.com archive Template:Webarchive. Retrieved February 19, 2013.</ref>

Early life and education

Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in the town of Silver, in Clarendon County, South Carolina, to Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson, who worked as sharecroppers on a cotton farm.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Great Depression hit rural southern farmers sooner than much of the rest of the country,<ref>Poston, T (August 26, 1957). "The Story of Althea Gibson". New York Post, p. M2.</ref> so in 1930 the family moved to Harlem as part of the Great Migration, where Althea's three sisters and brother were born.<ref>"That Gibson Girl." Time, August 26, 1957, p. 45.</ref>

Their apartment was located on a stretch of 143rd Street (between Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue) that had been designated a Police Athletic League play area; during daylight hours it was barricaded so that neighborhood children could play organized sports.<ref name="nyt2003" /><ref>Osofsky, G: Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: Negro New York, 1890–1930. New York: Harper & Row, 1963, p. 129.</ref> 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.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Gibson quit school at the age of 13 and, using the boxing skills taught to her by her father, engaged in a life of what she would later refer to as "street fighting", girls basketball, and watching movies. Fearful of her father's violent behavior, after dropping out of school, she spent some time living in a Catholic protective shelter for abused children.<ref name="Jacobs">Template:Cite news</ref>

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. At first, Gibson didn't like tennis, a sport she thought was for weak people. As she explained, "I kept wanting to fight the other player every time I started to lose a match."<ref name=Jacobs/> In 1941, she entered—and won—her first tournament, the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship.Template:Sfn She won the ATA national championship in the girls' division in 1944 and 1945, and after losing in the women's final in 1946, won her first of ten straight national ATA women's titles in 1947.Template:Sfn "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."<ref>"That Gibson Girl". Time, August 26, 1957, p. 46.</ref>

Gibson had a very aggressive style of play, which would still be out of place even today. She had a powerful and versitile serve that she could use to manipulate her opponent's position on the court, leaving her with space to make an easy point. Gibson played close to the net, preferring to make points herself instead of waiting for her opponent to make an error.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Gibson's ATA success drew the attention of Walter Johnson, a Lynchburg, Virginia, physician who was active in the African American tennis community.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA, later known as the USTA).<ref name="altheagibson1">Biography of Althea Gibson. altheagibson.com. Retrieved March 18, 2013.</ref>

In 1946, she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, under the sponsorship of another physician and tennis activist, Hubert A. Eaton<ref>Hubert A. Eaton. nhcs.net archive Template:Webarchive Retrieved March 18, 2013.</ref> and enrolled at the racially segregated Williston Industrial 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.<ref>Ashe, A: A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete. New York: Amistad/Warner Books, 1988. Vol. 3, p. 167.</ref> Later that year she entered Florida A&M University (FAMU) on a full athletic scholarshipTemplate:Sfn and was a member of the Beta Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Amateur career

Despite her growing reputation as an elite-level player, Gibson was effectively barred from entering the premier American tournament, the United States National Championships (now the US Open) at Forest Hills. While USTA rules officially prohibited racial or ethnic discrimination, players qualified for the Nationals by accumulating points at sanctioned tournaments, most of which were held at white-only clubs.<ref name="triumph">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1950, in response to intense lobbying by ATA officials and retired champion Alice Marble—who published a scathing open letter in the magazine American Lawn Tennis<ref>"We can accept the evasions", Marble wrote, "or we can face the issue squarely and honestly ... It so happens that I tan very easily in the summer—but I doubt that anyone ever questioned my right to play in the Nationals because of it." Let Us Remember Alice Marble, the Catalyst for Althea Gibson to Break the Color Barrier. Huffington Post (August 30, 2007), retrieved May 9, 2013.</ref>—Gibson became the first Black player to receive an invitation to the Nationals, where she made her Forest Hills debut a few days after her 23rd birthday.<ref name="usta-black-history-month">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=si-vault/> Although she lost narrowly in the second round in a rain-delayed, three-set match to Louise Brough, the reigning Wimbledon champion and former US National winner, her participation received extensive national and international coverage.<ref name=si-vault>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="gibson-debut-undefeated"/> "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 is even a tougher personal Jim Crow-busting assignment than was Jackie Robinson's when he first stepped out of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout."<ref>Rodney, L: "On the Scoreboard: Miss Gibson Plays at Forest Hills". The Daily Worker, August 24, 1950.</ref>

In 1951, Gibson won her first international title, the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica,<ref name="gibson-hof">Template:Cite web</ref> and later that year became one of the first Black competitors at Wimbledon, where she was defeated in the third round by Beverly Baker.<ref>Phlegar, B: "Althea Gibson Says Net Play Tough in England", Associated Press, undated, Althea Gibson Collection, per Gray & Lamb 2004, pp. 74–75.</ref> In 1952 she was ranked seventh nationally by the USTA.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn During her two years at Lincoln she became romantically involved with an Army officer whom she never named publicly,Template:Sfn and considered enlisting in the Women's Army Corps. She 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.Template:Sfn 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 US delegation. With the United States grappling over the question of race, they turned to Althea for answers, or at least to get a first-hand perspective."Template:Sfn Gibson, for her part, strengthened her confidence immeasurably during the six-week tour.Template:Sfn When it was over, she remained abroad, winning 16 of 18 tournaments in Europe and Asia against many of the world's best players.Template:Sfn

On May 27, 1956,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Gibson became the first African-American athlete to win a Grand Slam tournament when she won the French Championships singles event, defeating Briton Angela Mortimer in the final. She also won the doubles title, partnered with Briton Angela Buxton.<ref>Tingay, L: "Miss Gibson Worthy Champion; Miss Buxton Shares Doubles Win". London Daily Express, May 25, 1956.</ref> Later in the season she won the Wimbledon doubles championship (again with Buxton), five tournaments in Italy<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> including the Italian Championships in Rome, the Indian Championships in New Delhi and the Asian championship in Ceylon.<ref>"Althea Gibson's Net Stock Zooms Higher", Pittsburgh Courier, June 16, 1956.</ref> She also reached the quarter-finals in singles at Wimbledon and the finals at the US Nationals, losing both to Shirley Fry.Template:Sfn

The 1957 season was, in her own words, "Althea Gibson's year".Template:Sfn In July, Gibson was seeded first at Wimbledon—considered at the time the "world championship of tennis"—and defeated Darlene Hard in the finals for the singles title.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>"Miss Gibson Wins Wimbledon Title". The New York Times, July 7, 1957.</ref> "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."Template:Sfn She won the doubles championship as well, for the second year running.

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.<ref>"Her Finest Hour". Newsweek, July 22, 1957.</ref> A month later she defeated Louise Brough in straight sets to win her first US National Championship.<ref>"Althea's Dream is Complete: 3rd Crown Won". The Daily Worker, September 9, 1957.</ref> "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."Template:Sfn In all, she reached the finals of eight Grand Slam events in 1957, winning the Wimbledon and US National singles titles, the Wimbledon and Australian doubles championships, and the US mixed doubles crown, and finishing second in Australian singles, US doubles, and Wimbledon mixed doubles. At season's end she broke yet another barrier as the first Black player on the US Wightman Cup team, which defeated Great Britain 6–1.<ref>Harrison, E: "Althea, Pride of One West Side, Becomes the Queen of Another". The New York Times, September 9, 1957.</ref> With Gibson winning her last 55 matches of the season, plus her first two matches in 1958, she won 57 matches in a row.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>File:Althea Gibson - Tennis Champion (USIA Film).webm

In 1958, Gibson successfully defended her Wimbledon and US 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 United States and the world<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in both 1957 and 1958, and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years, garnering over 80% of the votes in 1958.<ref>"Althea Gibson Voted Top Woman Athlete". Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 1958.</ref> She also became the first Black woman to appear on the covers of Sports Illustrated<ref>Sports Illustrated, September 2, 1957. Volume 7, Issue 10. SI archive. Retrieved September 3, 2018.</ref> and Time.<ref>Time, August 26, 1957. Time.com archive. Retrieved May 17, 2013.</ref>

Professional career

In late 1958, having won 56 national and international singles and doubles titles, 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 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."Template:Sfn 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 Fageros before Harlem Globetrotter basketball games.Template:Sfn<ref name="altheagibson1"/> 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.Template:Sfn

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 1943Template:Sfn—she made her professional singing debut at W. C. Handy's 84th-birthday tribute at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1957.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn She appeared as a celebrity guest on the TV panel show What's My Line? and was cast as an enslaved 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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn In 1960, her first memoir, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody, written with sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald, was published.<ref>Gibson A., Fitzgerald E., I Always Wanted to Be Somebody (1960), New York: Harper & Brothers. ASIN B0007G5SL8</ref>

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 barriers once and for all, as I had—perhaps naively—hoped. Or if I did destroy them, they had been erected behind me again."Template:Sfn She also noted that she repeatedly applied for membership in the All-England Club, based on her status as a Wimbledon champion, but was never accepted. (Her doubles partner, Angela Buxton, who was Jewish, was also repeatedly denied membership.)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1964, at the age of 37, Gibson became the first African-American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour.<ref>Honoring Pioneers – Althea Gibson</ref> 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.Template:Sfn 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 did not exceed $25,000.Template:Sfn

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She retired from professional golf at the end of the 1978 season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "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."Template:Sfn

Post-retirement

Template:Quote box In 1959, shortly after retiring, Gibson appeared in the John Ford film, The Horse Soldiers, playing the secondary, but pivotal, role of Lukey,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the housekeeper (and slave) to Miss Hannah Hunter, mistress of Greenbriar Plantation. Lukey's dialog was originally written in "Negro" dialect that Gibson found offensive. She informed Ford that she would not deliver her lines as written. Though Ford was notorious for his intolerance of actors' demands,<ref>Gallagher, T. John Ford: The Man and His Films. University of California Press (1988), p. 93. Template:ISBN.</ref> he agreed to modify the script.<ref>Gray, FC; Lamb, YR. Born to Win: The Authorized Biography of Althea Gibson John Wiley & Sons (2004), pp. 120-1. Template:ISBN.</ref>

In 1968, with the advent of the Open Era, Gibson began entering major tennis tournaments again; but by then—in her forties—she was unable to compete effectively against younger players.Template:Sfn

In 1972, Gibson began running Pepsi Cola's national mobile tennis project, which brought portable nets and other equipment to underprivileged areas in major cities.Template:Sfn 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."<ref>Garrison Z: Zina: My Life in Women's Tennis. New York, Frog Books (2001), p. 84. Template:ISBN</ref>

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 inadequate funding. "I don't wish to be a figurehead", she said.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn

In 1977, Gibson challenged incumbent Essex County State Senator Frank J. Dodd in the Democratic primary for his seat.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She came in second behind Dodd, but ahead of Assemblyman Eldridge Hawkins. Gibson went on to manage the Department of Recreation in East Orange, New Jersey. She also served on the State Athletic Control Board and became supervisor of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.Template:Sfn

Gibson attempted a golf comeback, in 1987, at age 60, with the goal of becoming the oldest active tour player, but was unable to regain her tour card.Template:Sfn 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.<ref>Gibson A., Curtis R., So Much to Live For. New York, Putnam (1968). ASIN: B0006BVL5Q</ref>

Personal life and final years

Althea Gibson married William Darben in 1965, and the couple divorced in 1976.Template:Sfn In 1983, she married Sydney Llewellyn, who had been her coach during her prime tennis years, but that marriage also ended in divorce. Gibson did not have any children.Template:Sfn

In the late 1980s, Gibson's health began to decline after she suffered two cerebral hemorrhages, followed by a stroke in 1992. The resulting medical expenses led to significant financial difficulties. Despite reaching out to several tennis organizations for assistance, she did not receive any support.<ref name = "triumph"/> Her situation came to light when former doubles partner Angela Buxton publicly shared Gibson's plight with the tennis community, successfully raising nearly $1 million in donations from supporters worldwide.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gibson survived a heart attack in 2003, but died on September 28 of that year due to complications from respiratory and bladder infections. Her body was interred in the Rosedale Cemetery, Orange, New Jersey, near her first husband, Will.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Legacy

Statue of Gibson by Thomas Jay Warren in Newark, New Jersey, near the courts (in background) on which she ran clinics for young players in her later years.

It would be 15 years until another non-White woman—Evonne Goolagong—won a Grand Slam championship in 1971; and 43 years until another African-American woman, Serena Williams, won the first of her six US Opens in 1999, not long after faxing a letter and list of questions to Gibson.Template:Sfn Serena's sister Venus then won back-to-back titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000 and 2001, repeating Gibson's accomplishment of 1957 and 1958.

A decade after Gibson's last triumph at the US Nationals, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American man to win a Grand Slam singles title, at the 1968 US Open. Billie Jean King said, "If it hadn't been for [Althea], it wouldn't have been so easy for Arthur, or the ones who followed."<ref name="sports-century">Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 National Women's Hall of Fame.Template:Sfn She received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1988.<ref name="page1">Template:Cite web</ref>

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."Template:Sfn Sports Illustrated for Women named her to its list of the "100 Greatest Female Athletes".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In a 1977 historical analysis of women in sports, The New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden wrote

On opening night of the 2007 US Open, the 50th anniversary of her first victory at its predecessor, the US National Championships, Gibson was inducted into the US Open Court of Champions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> "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:

Gibson's 1956 Wimbledon doubles trophy, her first of three, and the first Wimbledon trophy won by an African American

Gibson's five Wimbledon trophies are displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.Template:Sfn The Althea Gibson Cup seniors tournament is held annually in Croatia, under the auspices of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).<ref>ITF Super-Seniors Althea Gibson Cup. ITFTennis.com Retrieved May 6, 2013.</ref> The Althea Gibson Foundation identifies and supports gifted golf and tennis players who live in urban environments.<ref>The Althea Gibson Foundation. AltheaGibson.com Retrieved May 6, 2013.</ref> In 2005 Gibson's friend Bill Cosby endowed the Althea Gibson Scholarship at her alma mater, Florida A&M University.<ref>The Althea Gibson Endowed Scholarship. FAMU.edu. Retrieved May 7, 2013.</ref>

In September 2009, Wilmington, North Carolina, named its new community tennis court facility the Althea Gibson Tennis Complex at Empie Park.<ref>Althea Gibson Tennis Complex at Empie Park. WilmingtonNC.gov Template:Webarchive Retrieved May 4, 2013.</ref> Other tennis facilities named in her honor include those at Manning High School (near her birthplace in Silver, South Carolina),<ref>Jones, D. (April 30, 2002): Serving Up an Honor: Manning Tennis Complex Named for Althea Gibson. Google News archive. Retrieved May 7, 2013.</ref> the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina.<ref>Family Circle Tennis Center Template:Webarchive. Retrieved May 7, 2013.</ref> and Florida A&M University.Template:Sfn

In 2012, a bronze statue, created by sculptor Thomas Jay Warren, was dedicated at Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey near the courts named in her honor where she ran clinics for young players in her later years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Eunice Lee, "Statue of first Black woman to win Wimbledon unveiled in Newark park", NJ.com, March 29, 2012.</ref><ref>Althea Gibson Statue, Newark, NJ. warrensculpture.com Template:Webarchive Retrieved May 7, 2013.</ref>

In August 2013, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Gibson, the 36th in its Black Heritage series.<ref name="Linn's">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A documentary titled Althea, produced for the American Masters Series on PBS, premiered in September 2015.<ref>"Althea", American Masters Series, PBS.org, retrieved October 10, 2016.</ref>

In November 2017, the Council of Paris inaugurated the Gymnase Althea Gibson, a public multisport gymnasium in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gibson will be honored on a U.S. quarter in 2025 as part of the final year of the American Women quarters program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2018, the USTA unanimously voted to erect a statue honoring Gibson at Flushing Meadows, site of the US Open.<ref>Statue of Tennis Legend Althea Gibson Planned for US Open (February 27, 2018). New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2018.</ref> The statue, created by sculptor Eric Goulder and unveiled in 2019,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is only the second Flushing Meadows monument erected in honor of a champion.<ref name=Jacobs/> "Althea reoriented the world and changed our perceptions of what is possible," said Goulder. "We are still struggling. But she broke the ground."<ref name=Jacobs/> The Gibson comemorative also includes footage from her games and a voice over recorded by Gibson herself. <ref name=":0" />

"I hope that I have accomplished just one thing", she said, in her 1958 retirement speech, "that I have been a credit to tennis, and to my country."Template:Sfn "By all measures," reads the inscription on her Newark statue, "Althea Gibson certainly attained that goal."<ref>Bronze statue of civil rights pioneer Althea Gibson dedicated in Essex County (March 28, 2012). Independent Press archive. Retrieved May 7, 2013.</ref>

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score	Template:Tooltip
Win	1956	French Championships	Clay	Template:Flag icon Angela Mortimer	6–0, 12–10	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Loss	1956	US Championships	Grass	Template:Flag icon Shirley Fry	3–6, 4–6	<ref name="us-open-singles-champions"/>
Loss	1957	Australian Championships	Grass	Template:Flag icon Shirley Fry	3–6, 4–6	<ref name="aus-honor-roll-singles">Template:Cite web</ref>
Win	1957	Wimbledon	Grass	Template:Flag icon Darlene Hard	6–3, 6–2	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Win	1957	US Championships	Grass	Template:Flag icon Louise Brough	6–3, 6–2	<ref name="us-open-singles-champions"/>
Win	1958	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Template:Flag icon Angela Mortimer	8–6, 6–2	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Win	1958	US Championships (2)	Grass	Template:Flag icon Darlene Hard	3–6, 6–1, 6–2	<ref name="us-open-singles-champions">Template:Cite web</ref>

Key: (#) denotes her number of singles titles at the tournament at the time.

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score	Template:Tooltip
Win	1956	French Championships	Clay	Template:Flag icon Angela Buxton	Template:Flag icon Darlene Hard Template:Flag icon Dorothy Head Knode	6–8, 8–6, 6–1	<ref name="triumph"/>
Win	1956	Wimbledon	Grass	Template:Flagicon Angela Buxton	Template:Flagicon Fay Muller Template:Flagicon Daphne Seeney	6–1, 8–6	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Win	1957	Australian Championships	Grass	Template:Flagicon Shirley Fry	Template:Flagicon Mary Bevis Hawton Template:Flagicon Fay Muller	6–2, 6–1	<ref name="aus-honor-roll-doubles">Template:Cite web</ref>
Win	1957	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Template:Flagicon Darlene Hard	Template:Flagicon Mary Bevis Hawton Template:Flagicon Thelma Coyne Long	6–1, 6–2	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Loss	1957	US Championships	Grass	Template:Flagicon Darlene Hard	Template:Flagicon Louise Brough Template:Flagicon Margaret Osborne duPont	2–6, 5–7	<ref name="us-open-doubles-champions"/>
Win	1958	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Template:Flagicon Maria Bueno	Template:Flagicon Margaret Osborne duPont Template:Flagicon Margaret Varner Bloss	6–3, 7–5	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Loss	1958	US Championships	Grass	Template:Flagicon Maria Bueno	Template:Flagicon Darlene Hard Template:Flagicon Jeanne Arth	6–2, 3–6, 4–6	<ref name="us-open-doubles-champions">Template:Cite web</ref>

Key: (#) denotes her number of doubles titles at the tournament at the time.

Mixed doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score	Template:Tooltip
Loss	1956	Wimbledon	Grass	Template:Flagicon Gardnar Mulloy	Template:Flagicon Shirley Fry Template:Flagicon Vic Seixas	6–2, 2–6, 5–7	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Loss	1957	Wimbledon	Grass	Template:Flagicon Neale Fraser	Template:Flagicon Darlene Hard Template:Flagicon Mervyn Rose	4–6, 5–7	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Win	1957	US Championships	Grass	Template:Flagicon Kurt Nielsen	Template:Flagicon Darlene Hard Template:Flagicon Robert Howe	6–3, 9–7	<ref name="us-open-mixed-doubles-champions">Template:Cite web</ref>
Loss	1958	Wimbledon	Grass	Template:Flagicon Kurt Nielsen	Template:Flagicon Lorraine Coghlan Template:Flagicon Robert Howe	3–6, 11–13	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

Tournament	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	SR	W–L	Win %
Australian Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	F	A	0 / 1	4–1	Template:Tennis win percentage
French Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	W	A	A	1 / 1	6–0	Template:Tennis win percentage
Wimbledon Championships	A	3R	A	A	A	A	QF	W	W	2 / 4	17–2	Template:Tennis win percentage
US Championships	2R	3R	3R	QF	1R	3R	F	W	W	2 / 9	27–7	Template:Tennis win percentage
Win–loss	1–1	3–2	2–1	3–1	0–1	2–1	15–2	16–1	12–0	5 / 15	54–10	Template:Tennis win percentage
Source:<ref name="gibson-debut-undefeated">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of African American firsts
• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
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Further reading

• Lansbury, Jennifer (2014). A Spectacular Leap: Black Women Athletes in Twentieth-Century America. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. Template:ISBN.

External links

• Template:ITF
• Template:Tennis Hall of Fame
• Template:IMDb name
• Template:Find a Grave