Althea Gibson

Hello! My name is Althea. I was born a long, long time ago, in the year 1927. When I was a little girl growing up in a big city called Harlem, I loved to play outside more than anything. My favorite game was paddle tennis. I would hit a little rubber ball with a big wooden paddle, and I was really, really good at it!

Soon, I learned a new game called tennis. It was like paddle tennis, but with a bouncy yellow ball and a racket with strings. I loved it! I practiced every day, hitting the ball back and forth, whizzing over the net. I got so good that I traveled across a giant ocean to play in big, important games. In the year 1957, I became the first Black person to win the biggest championships in the world, called Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals. I held up shiny trophies, and everyone cheered for me!

Winning was fun, but the best part was showing all the children watching me that they could do anything they dreamed of. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you look like. If you practice and believe in yourself, you can be a champion, too. I lived to be 76 years old, and I am so happy that I helped open the door for so many other amazing players to follow their dreams.