Althea Gibson

College

Florida A&M University

Hall of Fame

⭐ International Tennis Hall of Fame

Althea Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina (Clarendon County), and moved with her family to Harlem, New York City at age three. She was discovered playing paddle tennis on a Police Athletic League court in Harlem, and it was the Black tennis community — particularly the ATA (American Tennis Association) and Dr. Hubert Eaton — who recognized her talent and fought to provide her opportunities in a deeply segregated sport. After attending Florida A&M University, she became the first African American player to compete at the U.S. National Championships (now the U.S. Open) in 1950, and the first to play at Wimbledon in 1951 — breaking the color barrier in tennis in the same era that Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were doing so in baseball. Her breakthrough came in 1956 when she won the French Open, then in 1957 and 1958 she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals back-to-back in consecutive years — the first Black athlete to win a Grand Slam title. She was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958 and finished her amateur career with 11 Grand Slam titles (6 singles, 5 doubles). After her tennis career, she became the first African American to compete on the LPGA Tour. Her trailblazing legacy preceded and directly inspired Arthur Ashe, Venus and Serena Williams, and a generation of Black athletes in predominantly white professional sports. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971. Born in Silver, South Carolina.