[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 135 (Monday, September 29, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S12134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A TRIBUTE TO TENNIS GREAT ALTHEA GIBSON

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, some 40 years ago while investigating a 
case near the intersection of US 15 and State Highway 26, up a dirt 
road, there were located four shacks. One was the home of Ms. Elizabeth 
Gibson. I asked her if she had ever heard of Althea Gibson. She pointed 
to the shack and said she was born right there in that shack. That was 
the first time I had ever heard that Althea Gibson was a native South 
Carolinian.
  Of course, she had to leave South Carolina to become a success. The 
good news now is that you can stay in the State and succeed. Over the 
weekend we lost Althea Gibson. We lost this championship athlete at the 
age of 76. USA TODAY has an interesting article of her success, and I 
ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

              Tennis Trailblazer Althea Gibson Dead at 76

                            (By Doug Smith)

       She took the snap from center, faded back like a seasoned 
     quarterback and then threw a perfect spiral on target to a 
     receiver 35 yards down field. Althea Gibson was 58 at the 
     time, testing her arm in a friendly game of touch football in 
     Washington, D.C.
       ``I'm a little rusty, but I can still chuck it,'' she said.
       In her younger days, Gibson, who was 76 when she died 
     Sunday of respiratory failure at an East Orange, N.J., 
     hospital, played tennis with the same unexpected boldness and 
     talent.
       A trailblazer for African-Americans as well as women, 
     Gibson fulfilled her dreams of becoming a great tennis 
     champion despite the racial barriers of that era. She won 11 
     major titles, including the 1956 French Open, Wimbledon 
     (1957-58) and U.S. Open (1957-58) and was the first African-
     American to play in Grand Slam events.
       She was named Associated Press and Babe Zaharias Woman 
     Athlete of the Year in 1957-58 and was honored with a New 
     York ticker-tape parade in July 1957 after becoming the first 
     African-American to win Wimbledon.
       Gibson won her first tournament at 15, becoming the New 
     York State black girls' singles tennis champion. Boxer Sugar 
     Ray Robinson helped pay for her travels.
       ``We all know people who influence us and, if we are lucky, 
     we meet a few in our lives who improve us,'' tennis legend 
     Billie Jean King said. ``Althea Gibson improved my life and 
     the lives of countless others. She was the first to break so 
     many barriers and from the first time I saw her play, when I 
     was 13 years old, she became, and remained, one of my true 
     heroines.
       ``It was truly an inspiration for me to watch her overcome 
     adversity,`` King added. ``Althea did a lot for people in 
     tennis, but she did even more for people in general. In a 
     tribute, Arthur Ashe once said, 'Politically, Althea's 
     acceptance was crucial to my own. It made it easer for other 
     blacks to follow.' ''
       Zina Garrison, a 1990 Wimbledon finalist, Lori McNeil, 
     Leslie Allen and Serena and Venus Williams say they were 
     inspired by Gibson's success. Gibson had lived as a recluse 
     in her East Orange home since suffering a stroke in 1994. 
     Besides her longtime friend Fran Gray, Garrison and former 
     New York mayor David Dinkins were among only a few who spoke 
     to or visited Gibson over the last few years.
       Garrison said she made a surprise visit to Gibson in her 
     home last month after the U.S. Open.
       ``I just decided that I wanted to see her,'' Garrison said. 
     ``She looked at me and said `What are you doing here?' I 
     said, `I came to see you. Looks like you're doing OK. You're 
     still feisty.' She started laughing and said, `I might look 
     good, but I don't feel that great. I'm just tired, tired of 
     being here.''
       ``I think of all that she had done in golf, as a singer, 
     her tennis, the music that she played, and I realize that she 
     broke barriers for women, not just for African-Americans.''
       Born on a cotton farm in Silver, S.C., on Aug. 25, 1927, 
     she moved with her family to New York when she was 3. She 
     grew up on the rugged streets of Harlem and made the 
     transition from farm girl to city girl without missing a 
     step. She excelled in baseball, basketball, football and was 
     unbeatable in paddle tennis and stickball champion in the 
     Police Athletic League.
       When not involved in tennis or team athletics, Althea spent 
     most of her teenage years in pool halls and bowling alleys. 
     In 1946, Gibson was rescued from a possible life of poverty 
     by two black physicians--Hubert Eaton and Robert Walter 
     Johnson--when she showed potential as a tennis player.
       With her mother's approval, the physicians devised a plan 
     that allowed Gibson to live with Eaton in Wilmington, N.C., 
     during the school year and spend the summers training on 
     Johnson's backyard court in Lynchburg, Va. She quickly became 
     the premier African-American woman player in the country.
       She took up golf in 1960 and became the first black woman 
     on the LPGA Tour two years later, but she never won a 
     tournament and earned little money.
       Recently, Gibson, Fran Gray and others had collaborated on 
     a book, ``Born to Win: The Althea Gibson Story,'' to be 
     published next year.
       ``I called her champ and still do,'' Dinkins said. ``We say 
     everybody stands on somebody else's shoulders, and we're 
     talking about people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, 
     Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. A whole lot of people--
     tennis players and many who are not tennis players--stand on 
     Althea's shoulders, because when any black achieves in any 
     discipline, it helps everybody else. It's unfortunate that 
     she never realized and reaped the rewards that she was due.''

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