Althea Gibson: Rattler Legend

Fifty years ago, today, before the U.S. Open was "the Open". Before pros were accepted. Before tennis was integrated. Before tennis players played before crowds of thousands and were admired by millions, FAMU graduate Althea Gibson toiled in isolation.

Before Althea Gibson could play -- much less win -- major tennis tournaments, another opponent had to be defeated. But Gibson had less control against this foe, which went by the name segregation.

Jackie Robinson played in the major leagues (1947) before a black was permitted to play tennis at the U.S. National Championships. But cracks soon developed in the lily-white sport. And finally, in 1950, when Gibson was 23 years old, she was permitted to play at the U.S. Nationals, becoming the first black to compete in the tournament.

Besides making history like Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson felt the same sting of racism as the baseball pioneer did just a few years before her.
She also later cracked the color barrier at Wimbledon.

In 1956, Gibson made history by becoming the first black person to win the French championships. The next year, she made more history by winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals, the first black to win either. She must have liked winning the world's two most prestigious tournaments, too, because she repeated the accomplishments in 1958.

"If it hadn't been for her," says Billie Jean King, winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, "it wouldn't have been so easy for Arthur (Ashe) or the ones who followed."