Althea Gibson’s Birthday – Anniversary

Aug 25, 1927. Born at Silver, SC, Althea Gibson learned paddle tennis by chance as a child when her block of W 143rd St in New York wasdesignated as a Police Athletic League play street. She overcame great financial and social adversity and eventually won 10 consecutive national titles in the American Tennis Association, a league for black players. On Aug 28, 1950, she became the first black player to compete in the national tennis championship at Forest Hills, NY. A few years later, she became the first black woman to win the singles championship at Wimbledon. In her prime, she was ranked as high as seventh in the US, winning titles at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Nationals at Forest Hills. She died at East Orange, NJ, Sept 28, 2003.