Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. 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 tournaments, including six doubles titles, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived," said Robert Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters." In the early 1960s she also became the first black player to compete on the women's professional golf tour.
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." "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. "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."
Podcasts:
Althea Gibson
ALBUMS
- Great Moments of the 20th Century released: 2000
Great Moments of the 20th Century
Released 2000- News Report: Atomic Bomb Testing Continues (1953)
- News Report: Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain (1953)
- News Report: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Are Denied Clemency (1953)
- President Dwight D Eisenhower Announces End to Korean Conflict (1953)
- Author Ray Bradbury Provides More Positive Outlook on Future Than His Book 'Fahrenheit 451" Suggests (1958)
- President Dwight D Eisenhower Assures There Will Be Further Development of Polio Vaccine (1954)
- News Report: Congressmen Provide Conflicting Viewpoint on School Desegregation (1954)
- Senator Joseph McCarthy Presides at House Unamerican Activities Hearings (1954)
- New York Giants Manager Leo Derocher States Strong Leadership Is a Baseball Team's Top Asset (1954)
- Author Ernest Hemingway Delivers Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (1954)
- Cleveland Disc Jockey Alan Freed at the Top of His Form Hosting 'The Moondog Show' (1954)
- Ensure Your Safety With the Purchase of This Nuclear Survival Course Record Album; Supplies Are Limited (1954)
- James Dean Discusses His Craft on the Set of 'Rebel Without a Cause' (1954)
- News Report: Music Experts Squabble Over the Meaning of Rock and Roll (1956)
- News Report: Baseball Yankees Pitcher Don Larsen Delivers First Perfect Game in World Series History (1956)
- News Report: Hungarian Revolt Crushed by Soviets (1956)
- News Report: What Do We Know About Cuban Revolutionary Fidel Castro (1957)
- Althea Gibson Becomes First Black Athlete to Win Wimbledon Tennis Championship (1957)
- President Dwight D Eisenhower Denounces Arkansas Efforts to Enforce School Segregation (1957)
- Black Politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr Speeks Out on Notion of Freedom (1957)
- News Report: United States Successfully Launches First Orbiting Satellite 'Explorer I' (1958)
- Author Lorraine Hansberry Discusses Her Play 'a Raisin in the Sun' (1959)
- News Report: NASA Introduces First Seven Astronauts for Project Mercury (1959)
- News Report: Cuban Premier Fidel Castro Visits U.S. for First Time (1959)
- Author Allan Ginsberg and Anthropologist Margaret Mead Discuss Origins of the Term 'Beat Generation' (1959)
- Candidates Debate Presidential Candidates John F Kennedy and Richard M Nixon Square Off in Televised Debate (1960)
- President-Elect John F Kennedy Wins Narrow-Margin Victory (1960)
- President Dwight D Eisenhower Delivers 'Military Industrial Complex' Farewell Speech (1961)
- President John F Kennedy Addresses Nation With Inaugural Speech (1961)
- News Report: Bay of Pigs Invasion Denounced at United Nations Address (1961)
- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Decries Television as a Vast Wasteland (1961)
- News Report: The Birth of the Berlin Wall (1961)
- News Report: Launch of the Telstar Satellite Ushers in Age of High Speed Communications Technology (1962)
- Author John Steinbeck Discusses Winning Nobel Prize for Literature (1962)
- News Report: Debut of the World's First Talking/Singing Computer (1962)
- President John F Kennedy Visits the Berlin Wall and Rallies Anti-Communist Support (1963)
- News Report: President John F Kennedy Assassinated (1963)
- News Report: JFK Assassination Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald Is Shot (1963)
- News Report: North Vietnamese Vessels Attack United States Navy in Gulf of Tonkin (1964)
- Activist Mario Savio Speaks Out on University of California at Berkeley 'Educational Tyranny' (1964)
- News Report: Reports Confirm Soviet Communist Party Personnel Shake-Up (1964)
- Activist Whitney Young Talks in Selma Alabama on the Importance of the Black Vote (1965)
- News Report: Racial Violence Breaks Out in Watts District of Los Angeles (1965)
- News Report: Vietnamese Radio Propaganda Queen 'Hanoi Hannah' Broadcasts to United States Troops (1966)
- Dr Christiaan Barnard Performs First Human Heart Transplant (1967)
- Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir Articulates Israel's Need for Peace (1967)
- Senator Robert Kennedy Announces Presidential Candidacy (1968)
- President Lyndon B Johnson Declines Nomination for Re-Election (1968)
- Martin Luther King Jr Stirs Memphis Audience With 'Mountain Top' Speech (1968)
- News Report: Senator Robert Kennedy Is Assassinated (1968)
- News Report: Soviets Invade Czechoslovakia (1968)
- News Report: Riots Break Out at 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention (1968)
- News Report: Apollo 8 Astronauts Conduct Christmas Eve Broadcast (1968)
- Mickey Mantle Gives Farewell Speech to Yankees Fans (1969)
- Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong Broadcasts Man's First Steps on Moon (1969)
- Beatle Paul McCartney Refutes Rumors of His Death (1969)
- News Report: Thousands of Protesters Show Support on Vietnam Moratorium Day (1969)
- Vice President Spiro Agnew Lashes Out Against 'The Media Elite' (1969)
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