Althea Gibson
by Michael R.

Althea Gibson lived a long and happy life. On August 25, 1927 Althea Gibson was born in Silver, South Carolina. Althea was the first African-American to win Wimbledon.
Althea first started tennis by playing paddle tennis. When a person named Buddy Walker came by her street one day and saw how well Althea was playing paddle tennis, he invited her to play the actual game at the Cosmopolitan Club.

After a year of playing at the club, Fred Johnson, her coach, entered her in her first ATA
tournament. She played in the tournament, but lost. The following year, which was 1944, she won the ATA tournament. The next year she won her second ATA tournament title. During that tournament two people were watching and asked if they could help her improve her game. So she thought about it and said "Yes". At this time Dr. Hubert A. Eaton became her new coach. In 1946 Althea moved in with Dr. Eaton in Wilmington, North Carolina to improve on her tennis game and enroll in high school.

In 1949 Althea enrolled at Florida A&M University Tallahassee, Florida. In 1953 Althea graduated from Florida A&M. In 1955 and 1956 Althea traveled through Southeast Asia on a U.S. State Department-sponsored goodwill tennis tour. In 1957 Althea won the All England Championship at Wimbledon and met the Queen. This was a really great time for Althea.

In 1958 Althea won Wimbledon and retired from amateur tennis. In 1960 Althea toured with the Globetrotters. In 1964 Althea launched her professional golf career and became the first African American to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association. In 1971 she retired from professional golf and started a professional tennis career. In September 23, 2003 Althea died at the age of 76.

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