“She simply changed the landscape of tennis,” said Alan Schwartz, president
of the United States Tennis Association in an ESPN.com interview. “Arthur Ashe’s
job was not easy, but if he had to climb a hill, Althea Gibson had to climb a
mountain. She was the original breakthrough person.”

Born August 25, 1927 in Silver, South Carolina, Althea Gibson was raised in
Harlem, New York–where her career in sports found its legs. Though she’s known
for her record-setting tennis accomplishments, she was also an accomplished
golfer and basketball player in adolescence.

At age 20, she won the first of ten straight Black national championships
run by the American Tennis Association. She wasn’t able to compete in
mainstream, non-segregated tennis competitions until 1950, when she participated
in the U.S. Open. She was the first ever African American to compete in the Open
and the following year, she became the first African American to compete in
Wimbledon.

She won the French Open in 1956 and back-to-back U.S. and Wimbledon titles
in 1957 and 1958. For the Wimbledon accomplishment, New York City hosted a
tickertape parade in her honor. She earned two Associate Press Female Athlete of
the Year awards.

After retiring, Gibson led an equally fascinating life, recording an album,
Althea Gibson Sings in 1959, competing in the Ladies Professional Golf
Association (marking another “race first” as the initial African American to
compete in the LPGA in 1964). She also played saxophone, taught classes, wrote
an autobiography, and appeared in films.

Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971. She
became New Jersey State Commissioner of Athletics in 1975, a post she held for
ten years. She then served on the State’s Athletics Control Board until 1988 and
the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness until 1992.

Gibson passed away in 2003. She was 76.