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Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was an American athlete and Hall of Fame tennis champion. She was the first African-American to compete in the U.S. tennis championships, in 1950, after winning a series of titles in the all-black American Tennis Association. She was also the first black to compete in Wimbledon in 1951. Ms. Gibson went on to become the first black woman to
win a major tennis crown by winning the French Championship in 1956. The following year, she became the first black to win the Wimbledon women's singles title, and the first African-American to win the U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills, New York. She successfully defended both her Wimbledon and U.S. titles in 1958. In 1957, Gibson became the first African-American to be named Associated Press female
athlete of the year. She was honored with the award again in 1958. She won a total of 56 tournaments, including 11 Grand Slam events, five of which were Grand Slam singles titles, six were doubles. Her doubles titles included wins at the French, Wimbledon, United States and
Australian championships. Following her tennis career, she became the first African-American to play in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In later years, Althea served as state commissioner of athletics in New Jersey (1975-85), then served on the state athletics
control board until 1988, and the governor's council on physical fitness until 1992. Her autobiography, I Always Wanted to be Somebody, was published in
1958. October 17th, 1965, Gibson married William Darben. They had no children and divorced in August of 1976. Her second marriage was to her former tennis coach, Sydney Llewellyn, and took place April 11th, 1983, but lasted less than 3 years, and also produced no children. After
her second divorce, she rekindled her friendship with her first husband, and they remained close until his death. Biographical fast facts
Date, time and place of birth: August 25, 1927, at 9:00 a.m.*, Silver, South Carolina, U.S.A. Error corrections or clarifications
* Source: Birth certificate If you find the above data useful, please link to this page from your webpage, blog or website. You can also help support Internet Accuracy Project's work by contributing surplus office supplies, or used books. Alternatively, consider recommending us to your friends and colleagues. Thank you in advance! Copyright © 2005-2012 INTERNET ACCURACY PROJECT. All rights reserved. All content, is the exclusive property of Internet Accuracy Project and may not be reproduced (on the Web, in print, or otherwise) without the express written permission of our organization. BY ACCESSING THIS SITE YOU ARE STATING THAT YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS regardless of whether you reside in the United States of America or not. Our Privacy Policy. This page was last updated January 1, 2012.
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