Findings

The Congress finds the following: (1)Althea Gibson was born August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina. (2)Althea Gibson lived with her family in Harlem during the 1930s and 1940s. She was first introduced to tennis on the Harlem River Tennis Courts. She went on to dominate the all-Black American Tennis Association tournaments throughout the early 1940s, when racism and segregation prevented her from participating in tournaments sponsored by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA). (3)Althea Gibson graduated from Florida A & M University in 1953, and was an athletic instructor at the Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. (4)Despite her extraordinary athletic prowess, Althea was repeatedly denied entry into the world’s top tennis tournaments based on the color of her skin. Alice Marble, a four-time U.S. Open champion, wrote a historic editorial published in the July 1950 American Lawn Tennis magazine, condemning the sport of tennis for excluding players of Althea Gibson’s caliber. (5)Althea excelled in the Eastern Grass Court Championships at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange, New Jersey. Her outstanding grass play caused the USLTA to reevaluate its policy providing Althea a bid to Forest Hills. (6)Althea was the first African-American to win championships at famous tournaments, such as the French Open, the United States Open, the Australian Doubles, and Wimbledon in the 1950s. (7)Althea broke the color barrier to become the first African-American player, either male or female, to be allowed to enter the Forest Hills, New York, Championship in 1950. (8)Althea Gibson’s tennis career flourished, even in the face of discrimination. She was the first African-American invited to Wimbledon in 1951, eventually winning both the women’s singles and doubles in 1957 and 1958. (9)She would go on to become the first African-American woman to win the championship at the French Open in 1956. (10)During her career, she won 56 doubles and singles titles before gaining national and international acclaim for her athletic feats in professional tennis leagues. In the late 1950s, Gibson won eleven major titles including three straight doubles at the French Open in 1956, 1957, and 1958 and the U.S. Open in 1957 and 1958. (11)Althea was the first African-American to be named as the Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in 1957. She was given that honor again the following year. When she won her second U.S. Championship, she went professional at the age of 31. (12)As further evidence to Althea’s athletic gift, after finishing her amateur tennis career, she became a professional golfer in 1959. She was also the first African-American woman to hold a membership in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LGPA). (13)After retiring from golf, Althea Gibson shifted her focus to public service. In 1975, Althea Gibson was named the New Jersey Commissioner of Athletics. She held this position and also served on both the State's Athletics Control Board and the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness. (14)Althea Gibson was inducted into the prestigious International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 and to the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. (15)In 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) honored Althea Gibson with the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor the organization may confer on an individual. She was the first woman ever to receive this distinguished honor. (16)Althea passed away in East Orange, NJ, on September 28, 2003. (17)Althea Gibson was a trailblazer whose experiences and successes paved the way for other great African-American tennis players like Arthur Ashe. (18)The legacy of Althea Gibson continues to serve as an inspiration and a shining example for the Nation’s youth. (19)Joining the ranks of other distinguished Congressional Gold Medal recipients would be a fitting accolade to the achievements of Althea Gibson.