Gibson reigned before Williams sisters born
by Christian Red, New York Daily News (KRT)

     NEWARK, N.J.—Althea Gibson was remembered as a “pioneer” and “groundbreaker” in tennis and the larger world of sports during a service at Newark’s early-19th-century Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral on Thursday.
Gibson, who died recently at 76 in East Orange, N.J., where she had lived for many years, was the first African-American to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Tennis Championships (precursor to the U.S. Open), which she did in 1957 and 1958.
     Some mourners, like former New York Mayor David Dinkins, had met Gibson in the early 1950s, when, he noted, “there were very few African-Americans found on tennis courts.
“She had to be a fighter,” Dinkins said, referring to the segregation and other forms of racism Gibson faced in the tennis world.
    “But this was the climate in which Althea achieved greatness. The world was a better place because she was here,” he said. “A lot of folks stand on (her) shoulders,” Dinkins continued, “and that includes my great friend, Arthur Ashe. Many were inspired by what she was able to do. She fought her fight. Now she can rest. Game, set, match.”
    More than 200 family members and friends filled the Colonial-style Episcopal church, including 1990 Wimbledon finalist Zina Garrison, one of many who benefited from Gibson’s influence on the sport.
    “I for so long was supposed to be the next Althea Gibson,” Garrison said. “But I discovered my role was to fill the gap in a path for women of color. Thank you for the chance to be me. You broke down doors for me and many others.”
    Alan Schwartz, president of the United States Tennis Association, said Gibson’s career was all the more remarkable because she succeeded years before the civil rights movement fully evolved.
    He told of one occasion when a hotel where she was being honored at a luncheon wouldn’t let her stay overnight.
    Newark Mayor Sharpe James added some levity to the occasion.
    He told of the time Gibson was his partner in a charity doubles match more than a decade ago.
Their opponents? Ashe and Dinkins.
     “I said to Althea, `How are we going to win?’ `Easy,’ she said. `Hit the ball to David Dinkins.’ We won. It was a great strategy,” James said as the audience broke into laughter.
    “Today we come to celebrate a good life,” James said. “Althea Gibson crossed a barrier, defeated a barrier and added a rainbow to a previously all-white sport. We thank God for allowing Althea Gibson to pass our way.”

 

ALTHEA GIBSON CHRONOLOGY

August 25, 1927 Althea Gibson born in Silver, South Carolina.
1930 Moves to New York City.
1941 Starts taking tennis lessons at Harlem's Cosmopolitan Club.
1942 Enters and wins her first tournament, sponsored by the all-black American
Tennis Association (ATA).
1946 Moves to Wilmington, North Carolina, to work on her tennis game with Dr.
Hubert A. Eaton; enrolls in high school there.
1947 Wins the first of ten straight ATA National Championships.
1949 Competes against white players for the first time, enrolls at Florida A&M
University in Tallahassee, Florida.
1950 Enters her first outdoor United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA)
tournament; plays in the U.S. National Tennis Championships at Forest
Hills.
1951 Competes in the All-England Tennis Championships at Wimbledon for the
first time.
1953 Graduates from Florida A&M; moves to Jefferson City, Missouri.
1954 Starts working with tennis coach Sydney Llewellyn.
1955-56 Travels throughout Southeast Asia on a U.S. State Department-sponsored goodwill tennis tour.
1956 Wins the French Championships; tours the Australian tennis tournament
circuit.
1957 Wins the All-England Championships at Wimbledon and the U.S. National
Tennis Championships at Forest Hills.
1958 Wins Wimbledon and Forest Hills; retires from amateur tennis.
1959 Releases a record album, Althea Gibson Sings; appears in a film, The
Horse Soldiers.
1960 Tours with the Harlem Globetrotters playing exhibition tennis.
1964 Launches her professional golf career; joins the Ladies Professional Golf
Association (LPGA).
1965 Marries Will Darben
1971 Retires from professional golf; starts a career as a professional tennis
player.
1975 Takes a job as manager of the East Orange, New Jersey, Department of
Recreation.