Research Catalog

Title

Althea : the life of tennis champion Althea Gibson / Sally H. Jacobs.

Author

Jacobs, Sally H., 1957-

Publication

• New York : St. Martin's Press, 2023.
• ©2023

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 447 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"A captivating book that brilliantly reveals an American sports legend long overlooked. Sally Jacobs tells the riveting story of Althea Gibson, my personal hero, who overcame daunting odds - on the tennis court and off - to stand at the world pinnacle of her sport and became an inspiration to many." - Billie Jean King In 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson first walked onto the diamond at Ebbets Field, the all-white, upper-crust US Lawn Tennis Association opened its door just a crack to receive a powerhouse player who would integrate "the game of royalty." The player was a street-savvy young Black woman from Harlem named Althea Gibson who was about as out-of-place in that rarefied and intolerant world as any aspiring tennis champion could be. Her tattered jeans and short-cropped hair drew stares from everyone who watched her play, but her astonishing performance on the court soon eclipsed the negative feelings being cast her way as she eventually became one of the greatest American tennis champions. Gibson had a stunning career. Raised in New York and trained by a pair of tennis-playing doctors in the South, Gibson's immense talent on the court opened the door for her to compete around the world. She won top prizes at Wimbledon and Forest Hills time and time again. The young woman underestimated by so many wound up shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II, being driven up Broadway in a snowstorm of ticker tape, and ultimately became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the second to appear on the cover of Time. In a crowning achievement, Althea Gibson became the No. One ranked female tennis player in the world for both 1957 and 1958. Seven years later she broke the color barrier again where she became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In Althea, prize-winning former Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs tells the heart-rending story of this pioneer, a remarkable woman who was a trailblazer, a champion, and one of the most remarkable Americans of the twentieth century"--

Subject

• Gibson, Althea, 1927-2003
• 1900-1999
• African American women tennis players > Biography
• Women tennis players > United States > Biography
• Tennis players > Biography
• Racism in sports > United States > History > 20th century
• Discrimination in sports > United States > History > 20th century
• Biography
• African American women tennis players
• Discrimination in sports
• Racism in sports
• Women tennis players
• Racism
• Tennis players
• United States

Genre/Form

• Biographies.
• History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-435) and index.

Contents

Preface -- The promised land -- The cosmo club -- The doctors -- "First Negro" -- The other Gibson Girl -- "The biggest flop" -- Black ambassadors in short pants -- Small fry, big fry -- At last, at last -- Am I somebody? -- Great ugga mugga! -- Not the Gibson grandstand.

Call Number

Sc E 23-797

ISBN

• 9781250246554
• 1250246555

LCCN

2023015096

OCLC

1310766933

Author

Jacobs, Sally H., 1957- author.

Title

Althea : the life of tennis champion Althea Gibson / Sally H. Jacobs.

Publisher

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2023.

Copyright Date

©2023

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-435) and index.

Local Note

Schomburg copy with dust jacket.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Research Call Number

Sc E 23-797