11 June 2008
Trailblazing African Americans Enriched the Sport of Tennis
Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe broke the color barrier on the tennis court
Washington -- Before 1950, professional tennis in the United States was segregated and African Americans were limited to playing in the American Tennis Association. Two black players, Althea Gibson (1927-2003) and Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), changed that with their skill and determination.
Gibson often is referred to as “the Jackie Robinson of tennis,” because she -- like baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who integrated baseball in 1947 -- broke the color barrier with her entry into the 1950 U.S. Tennis Championships. During her tennis career she won the U.S. Championship and Wimbledon singles twice, and won the French Open singles.
Gibson grew up in Harlem, New York. A high school dropout with a love for tennis, she moved to the South on the advice of a friend -- the future boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson. There she lived and trained under the care of two tennis-playing doctors, Robert W. Johnson of Virginia, with whom she stayed in the summer, and Hubert Eaton of North Carolina, with whom she stayed during the school year. She graduated from high school and later finished Florida A&M University on a tennis and basketball scholarship.
Her tennis playing was superb: by age 20 she had won 10 consecutive American Tennis Association national tennis championships. At age 23, she was given the opportunity to compete against white players in the U.S. Championships after Alice Marble, a four-time winner of the event, challenged the tennis community to allow Gibson to compete. She won her first match and came within one game of winning her second match against Louise Brough, who had won the previous three Wimbledon tournaments. Gibson’s exemplary playing proved a new star had entered the tennis world.
Gibson’s tennis career symbolizes both the level of achievement and the limitations for women at that time. In addition to winning five Grand Slam singles, Gibson won six doubles Grand Slam titles. She won two Wimbledon doubles titles in concert with Jewish Englishwoman Angela Buxton. Buxton also had experienced discrimination in her tennis career and was the first Jewish champion at Wimbledon; Gibson was the first black champion. Gibson retired from world-class tennis in 1958, arguably her best year in tennis. At that time, competitive female tennis players were all amateurs and there was no professional tour for women. When Gibson turned pro in 1958, she had effectively ended her career. She passed away in 2003 at the age of 76.
Arthur Ashe is considered the greatest African-American male tennis player. Ashe won in the U.S. Open, the Australian Open and Wimbledon, three out of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Ashe accomplished many firsts: he was the first African American on the United States Davis Cup team and the first black player to play in the South African national championships.
Starting at age 10, Ashe trained in Virginia with Dr. Robert Johnson, the same doctor who had trained Gibson. As a teenager, Ashe moved from then-segregated Richmond, Virginia, to St. Louis, Missouri, to avoid having to travel large distances to play tennis with white peers. Ashe excelled in tennis and academically. A straight “A” student, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on a tennis scholarship. In 1966, he became the first college graduate on his paternal side of the family. He went on to serve two years in the military. In 1968, while still in the military, Ashe became the first African-American man to win the U.S. Open. When returning to the dining hall at the military posting at West Point, he received a surprise standing ovation.
Ashe’s tennis career was intertwined with his advocacy for civil rights. When he was denied a visa to attend the South African Open, he advocated expelling South Africa from the tennis circuit because of its apartheid system. The high point of Ashe’s career was when he won the Wimbledon singles title in 1975, his third career Grand Slam. All three titles had been a first for a male African American. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack, due to a hereditary heart condition, forcing his retirement from professional tennis. He died of AIDS, contracted through a blood transfusion, in 1993.
The players’ legacy lives on. A statue commemorating Ashe stands on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, a location that had been reserved for statues of Confederate generals. The main stadium for the U.S. Open, the premier U.S. tennis tournament, is named the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Gibson’s legacy is visible in women African-American tennis greats like sisters Serena and Venus Williams.
