The amateur years
United States · born Silver, South Carolina, 1927 · died 2003 · twice Wimbledon champion
All playersBack to the rankings
2
Wimbledon singles titles, 1957 and 1958
3
Wimbledon doubles titles, 1956 to 1958
11
Major titles in singles, doubles and mixed
50
Minutes to win the 1957 Wimbledon final
Born on 25 August 1927 in Silver, South Carolina, Gibson moved with her family to Harlem in 1930 and was New York City women's paddle tennis champion at 12, on a Police Athletic League play street. Neighbours paid for a junior membership at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in 1940, and the doctors Walter Johnson and Hubert Eaton became her mentors. Alice Marble's campaign helped open the US Championships to her in 1950, and her French title in 1956 made her the first Black player to win a major. She won 11 major titles: five singles, five doubles and one mixed. She left amateur tennis in 1958, played exhibitions before Harlem Globetrotters games, joined the LPGA in 1964 as its first Black member, entered the Hall of Fame in 1971 and died in East Orange, New Jersey, on 28 September 2003.
| Major singles titles | 4: Wimbledon (1957, 1958); US (1957, 1958) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 2: Australian 1957, US 1956 |
| Other grass singles titles | 9: Northern Championships 3 (1956, 1957, 1958); Eastern Grass Court Championships 2 (1956, 1958); Pennsylvania Championships 2 (1956, 1958); Kent (1957); NSW Championships (1956) |
| Major doubles titles | 4 doubles (Wimbledon 3, Australian 1), 1 mixed (US 1) |
| Wimbledon finals | 1957: beat Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2. 1958: beat Angela Mortimer 8-6, 6-2 |
| US finals | 1956: lost to Shirley Fry 3-6, 4-6. 1957: beat Louise Brough 6-3, 6-2. 1958: beat Darlene Hard 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, the only one of her five major singles titles decided in three sets |
| Wimbledon doubles | 1956 with Angela Buxton, 1957 with Darlene Hard, 1958 with Maria Bueno. Mixed doubles finalist in each of those years |
| Other grass major doubles | Australian doubles 1957 with Shirley Fry; US mixed 1957 with Kurt Nielsen |
| Wimbledon debut | 1951: the first African-American to play at Wimbledon; lost to Beverly Baker in the third round |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Women's doubles | with Angela Buxton |
| 1957 | Women's doubles | with Darlene Hard |
| 1957 | Women's singles | |
| 1958 | Women's doubles | with Maria Bueno |
| 1958 | Women's singles | |
| Northern Championships | ||
| 1956 | Women's singles†| |
| 1957 | Women's singles†| |
| 1958 | Women's singles†| |
| Surrey Championships (Surbiton) | ||
| 1956 | Women's singles†| |
| 1957 | Women's singles†| |
| 1958 | Women's singles†| |
| US Championships | ||
| 1957 | Mixed doubles | with Kurt Nielsen |
| 1957 | Women's singles | |
| 1958 | Women's singles | |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1956 | Women's singles†| |
| 1958 | Women's singles†| |
| Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships (Merion) | ||
| 1956 | Women's singles†| |
| 1958 | Women's singles†| |
| All India Championships | ||
| 1956 | Women's singles†| |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1956 | Women's singles†| |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1957 | Women's doubles | with Shirley Fry Irvin |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1957 | Women's singles†| |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way away from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus."
The person behind the player.
Harlem, 1939
She learned on a Police Athletic League play street in Harlem and was the city's women's paddle tennis champion by 12. Proper tennis did not appeal at first: "I kept wanting to fight the other player every time I started to lose a match." In 1943 she was runner-up as a singer in the amateur contest at the Apollo in Harlem.
Source: WikipediaUS Championships 1950
On 25 August 1950, her 23rd birthday, she became the first African-American to play the US Championships. In the second round she led Louise Brough 7-6 in the third set when rain and lightning stopped play. Brough won the set 9-7 the next day.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameWimbledon 1956 · Doubles
Her partner was Angela Buxton, a British Jewish player turned away by London clubs and left out of the top British pairings. Together they won the French and Wimbledon doubles, the first Wimbledon titles for a British Jewish player and an African-American. One headline read "Minorities win". Decades later Buxton raised money to help Gibson through hard times.
Source: The Independent via YahooWimbledon 1957
On a hot 6 July she beat Darlene Hard in the final, won the doubles with Hard as well, and received a gold plate from the Queen. New York gave her a ticker-tape parade on her return, and she told the crowd: "This victory was won through the help of all your encouragement and your well wishes."
Source: Library of CongressIllinois, July 1957
Days after she had shaken hands with the Queen, hotels in Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois, refused her a room, and the Ambassador East in Chicago would not host a luncheon in her honour in its Pump Room. At a Denver country club the year before, objections to her presence at a dance faded when she sang on stage.
Source: History.comHollywood, 1959
Cast in John Ford's film The Horse Soldiers, she refused to deliver her lines in a stereotyped dialect written for her character. Ford agreed and changed the script. That year, having left amateur tennis, she also played exhibitions with Karol Fageros before Harlem Globetrotters games.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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