Althea Gibson

In 1941, just having turned 14 and within a year of swinging a tennis racket for the first time, Althea Gibson won the American Tennis Association tournament in New York City. She took a couple of years off, then won the tournament again in 1944 and 1945, and from 1947 to 1956.

So, what happened in 1946?

“Well, I didn’t do as well as thought I should have done,” Gibson said, somewhat sheepishly, years after retiring. “I guess I just didn’t have it that year.”

Gibson went on to be one of the greatest tennis players ever and, until Venus and Serena Williams hit the professional tennis circuit in the late 1990s, the best African American woman to ever grace the tennis courts.

She was the first black woman to win a Grand Slam title (the French Championships in 1956); a five-time winner at Wimbledon (twice in singles and three times in doubles); a two-time champ at the U.S. Championship (now called the U.S Open); and winner of the Australian Open.

In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles and one mixed doubles title. She was also voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press — twice.

She’d beat the Williams sisters

“She is one of the greatest players who ever lived," said Bob Ryland, the former coach of both Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina [Navratilova] couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters.”

Said Venus Williams, "I am honored to have followed in such great footsteps. 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.”

Gibson not only won her matches, she dominated the competition, either winning or making the finals of nearly every match she entered during a stretch of the 1950s. Gibson’s style was a mixture of power and finesse: she could easily overpower her opponents with her serves and returns, or deftly drop shots just out of their reach.

Despite having many championship years, she considered 1957 “Althea Gibson’s year.” Seeded first at Wimbledon in London, she won the singles and doubles title. Her singles title made Gibson the first African American champion and the first person in the tournament’s history to receive the trophy personally from Queen Elizabeth II.

"Shaking hands with the queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus," Gibson said afterwards.

When she returned to New York City from Wimbledon, she was presented with a Bronze Medallion, the city’s highest award, and honored with a ticker tape parade, joining Jesse Owens as the only blacks at the time given a parade.

A month after returning from Wimbledon, she won the U.S. National Championship. "Winning Wimbledon was wonderful and it meant a lot to me,” she said. “But there is nothing quite like winning the championship of your own country."

She retired from tennis in 1958 because she needed money and playing tennis professionally, well, didn’t pay the bills.

"Being the Queen of Tennis is all well and good, but you can't eat a crown,” she said. “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.”

In 1964, at age 37, she became the first black player to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. 

Gibson survived a heart attack in early 2003 but died later that year at the age of 76 from complications following respiratory and bladder infections. She was buried at Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, New Jersey.

"I knew that I was an unusual, talented girl, through the grace of God," she said late in her life. "I didn't need to prove that to myself. I only wanted to prove it to my opponents."