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    The Althea Gibson Quarter

    Baseball and American athletics changed forever in 1947. Jackie Robinson’s debut at first base for the New York Yankees ushered in the era of integrated sports – an era that continues to this day.

    However, black women also have their own Jackie Robinson. That lady is Althea Gibson (1927 – 2003), who was the first black woman and, for that matter, black person to play tennis at the highest possible level.

    She didn’t just play, either. Gibson won several major tournaments (also firsts for black people and black women) during her career and is widely considered one of the greatest tennis players to grace the game.

    A trailblazer such as Althea Gibson, who understandably dealt with incredible opposition and struggle throughout her life, is worthy of a compendium of accolades and honors. So, her inclusion as the very last American Women Quarter Program’s honorees is only the latest bit of polish on the legacy of Althea Gibson.

    Biography

    Althea Neale Gibson was born on August 25, 1927 in Silver, South Carolina. She was the oldest child of Daniel and Annie Gibson, who were two sharecroppers working for an area cotton farm.

    However, the Gibsons found their opportunities drying up with the onset of the Great Depression two years later. So, they packed up and moved to the Harlem neighborhood in New York City.

    Her neighborhood offered ample opportunities for the young Althea to play various sports. She quickly grew to be one of the best paddle tennis players in the area. By age 12, Althea Gibson had won the New York City’s women’s paddle tennis championship.

    Gibson quickly moved to playing tennis itself. In fact, her prowess and talent were so great that a combination of a reduced rate and community support allowed her to be trained at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club.

    She entered her first named tennis competition in 1941 at age 14. She won the tournament, and the tournament was the American Tennis Association’s New York State Championship. The ATA was the nation’s foremost tennis organization for black players in the US at the time.

    She would go on to win this state tournament six times between 1944 and 1950. She also became the ATA national champion in 1947 and proceeded to win the national title ten consecutive times.

    Gibson attracted attention from across the country through her athletic escapades. In particular, she drew the eye of two prominent African-American doctors, Walter Johnson and Hubert Eaton. Johnson offered Gibson financial and professional mentorship, while Eaton offered to allow Althea to move to his Wilmington, North Carolina house to pursue larger tennis opportunities.

    Now, as much as Althea Gibson excelled at athletics, her early scholastic endeavors were less than stellar. While she lived in New York, she dropped out of school at age 13 and spent most of her non-tennis time getting into fistfights on the streets.

    Under Eaton’s roof, she rededicated herself to school and graduated from high school shortly after her 1946 arrival in Wilmington. Her athletic achievements eventually led to her receipt of a full athletic scholarship to Florida A&M, where she would graduate in 1953.

    Early playing years

    However, the real struggle appeared in 1950, as Althea Gibson presented a quandary to the larger tennis community. On the one hand, she was the dominant player in the ATA and was certainly among the best American tennis players at the time.

    On the other hand, she was black, and ran into a problem with gaining entry to the USTA’s United States National Championships – the premier tournament that later became the US Open, one of tennis’ four majors. The issue was that, as an open event, players had to qualify to play in smaller tournaments.

    At the time, there were not a huge number of independent tennis courts to house these qualifying events. Instead, they took place at country club courts. Even though the championship itself didn’t bar black people, the country clubs did, which made entry impossible for Althea Gibson.

    It was only after some campaigning on the part of the ATA and retired tennis player Alice Marble that Gibson was granted an exception. The USTA issued an invitation to her in 1950 and allowed Althea Gibson to become the first black woman and second black person to play in the top American tennis championship.

    Gibson made it to the second round of the tournament but was interrupted during this match by inclement weather. She eventually lost the match, but her opponent was Louise Brough, who was the reigning Wimbledon champion.

    The following year brought more firsts for Althea Gibson. She traveled to Jamaica and won her first international tournament. Then, she became the first black woman to play at Wimbledon in the summer of 1951, though she did not win.

    Hiatus

    After her experience at Wimbledon, Gibson’s career entered a period of low activity. Even though she was ranked the seventh best tennis player in the country, she still had to complete her education and find work for herself. Playing tennis professionally was not the sustainable career that it is now.

    So, after she graduated from Florida A&M in 1953, she moved to Missouri to teach physical education. She spent the next two years there, and even considered joining the Women’s Army Corps.

    Career prime

    Thankfully, the period of quiescence lasted only four years. In 1955, the US State Department sent Gibson on an international tour to play tennis.

    She played in countries like Burma, India, and Thailand, and found great kinship with the people in those lands. Those experiences, along with playing successfully against some of the world’s best players, bolstered Gibson’s confidence and star considerably.

    Althea Gibson finally broke through in 1956. She won her first major championship when she prevailed at the French Championships – the forerunner to the French Open.

    She also won the doubles tournament while she was there, and notched the doubles championship at Wimbledon, too. Then, she won tournaments in Italy, India, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

    For most players, 1956 would have been their best career year. However, it would be the following year, 1957, that would later be dubbed “Althea Gibson’s year.”

    She began this most eventful year during the summer. She received the top seed at Wimbledon, and defeated Darlene Hard en route to winning her first singles title there. At the time, Wimbledon was the world championship, and no black person had ever won the tournament before.

    She returned home to New York City to a ticker tape parade – only the second one given to a Black person (after Jesse Owens). A month later, she secured the title at the US National Championship, which was the championship that had eluded her six years prior.

    In all, Gibson made the finals of eight grand slam tennis events during the year. She took numerous doubles titles and won her final 55 matches of the year. Gibson would go on to defend both her Wimbledon and US Open titles in 1958, as well as taking the Wimbledon doubles title for the third consecutive year.

    For her success, Gibson was named the best tennis player in the world. She won The Associated Press’ award for Female Athlete of the Year in both 1957 and 1958 and became the first black woman featured both on Time and Sports Illustrated’s front covers.

    All in all, Althea Gibson won 56 singles and doubles titles during her prime. After her retirement, she struck one final time gold at 1960’s Wimbledon.

    Retirement

    One unsaid element from all this success is that these prestigious tournaments were all amateur events. Gibson, who wanted to make enough money with tennis to support herself, elected to retire from competition and capitalize on her celebrity in other ways.

    As a result, she appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, with the Harlem Globetrotters, and even a John Wayne movie. She also published her autobiography in 1958, entitled I Always Wanted to Be Somebody.

    Alongside her athletic talent, Gibson was also a talented singer. She recorded a jazz album in the late 1950s, but its sales did not secure her a lasting career as an entertainer.

    However, the primary place to remain gainfully employed within the world of tennis lay in teaching. Althea Gibson would work as an instructor or administrator (in tennis or overall sports) for the rest of her life.

    Incredibly, Althea Gibson served in the Jackie Robinson role for another sport in 1963 – golfing. She became the first black woman to play on the LPGA and would have a 15-year career in the sport. However, though she made some money playing golf, she never reached the heights of her tennis career.

    Both of her sports careers were also marked by unsuccessful attempts to regain her former glory. She attempted to restart her tennis career in 1968, but she found that her 41-year-old body simply did not have the spring to stay with younger competition.

    Similarly, she attempted to secure her LPGA tour card once again in 1987 in a bid to become the oldest active tennis player. Sadly, the 60-year-old Gibson was thwarted in her quest.

    Later years and death

    Unfortunately, things did not improve for Althea Gibson. After failing in her quest to regain her golf exemptions, her health began to fail. She suffered a stroke in 1992 and found herself significantly compromised for the rest of her life.

    The stroke also precipitated another hardship for her, as the medical bills drained her resources almost to the point of bankruptcy. It was only after a concerted donation effort by fellow tennis legend Billie Jean King and others that Althea Gibson was able to survive.

    Finally, Gibson suffered a heart attack in 2003. Though she initially withstood the infarction, she began to experience lung and bladder problems. She passed away from respiratory failure on September 28, 2003, at the age of 76.

    Gibson was married twice during her lifetime, and both marriages ended in divorce. She had no children. She is buried in Orange, New Jersey, alongside her first husband.

    Legacy

    To this day, Althea Gibson is recognized not only as a pioneer in women’s sports but as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time.

    She was inducted into the National Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 and the National Women’s Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980, the latter of which occurred as part of the first class of inductees. She is also a member of the Black Athletes Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

    In 1991, Althea Gibson won the Roosevelt award from the NCAA, its highest honor. Sports Illustrated identified her as one of its 100 greatest female athletes of all time.

    She is also the subject of numerous statues, tennis facilities, and tournaments, both nationally and internationally. Althea Gibson’s name appears on streets both in her home neighborhood in New York City and in Tallahassee – the location of her alma mater, Florida A&M University.

    Her quarter is also not the first bit of recognition she’s received from the US government. She was the subject of a postage stamp in 2013, so – as we mentioned above – the coin is just the cherry on top of the heap of praise reserved for Althea Gibson.

    The 2025 quarter

    The quarter itself is, well, a regular quarter. It still appears with Pres. George Washington on its obverse, as it has since 1932.

    The story of Althea Gibson appears on the coin’s reverse. She is depicted standing tall, smiling, and holding a tennis racket and ball at a net.

    Her name appears alongside her face. The coin is rimmed by the familiar “quarter dollar,” “United States of America,” and “e pluribus unum” phrases that adorn most American coins.

    However, there is another ring of lettering on the Althea Gibson quarter. Inside the outer phrases, a simple phrase – “trailblazing champion” – appears.

    That’s exactly what Althea Gibson was.

    All Market Updates are provided as a third party analysis and do not necessarily reflect the explicit views of JM Bullion Inc. and should not be construed as financial advice.