Golfing Pioneer Althea Gibson Dies at 76


Althea Gibson broke racial barriers in tennis and golf. (USGA Photo Archives)

By David Normoyle, USGA
November 6, 2003
Althea Gibson, who played in 10 U.S. Women's Open championships, died Sunday at the age of 76. A preternaturally gifted athlete, Gibson found her first calling as an amateur tennis star by twice winning at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open before turning her attention to the world of ladies' professional golf.

Gibson broke existing racial barriers in both sports by becoming the first black female tennis champion and the first black member of the LPGA. Though she paved the way for future generations of black athletes, Gibson's accomplishments on the game's playing fields place her among sport's greatest athletes.

Gibson was born Aug. 25, 1927 in Silver, S.C., the daughter of a sharecropper. She moved to Harlem as a young girl and through the Police Athletic League programs was soon identified as a natural at tennis. Due to her modest financial background and with her star in tennis on the rise, Gibson was dependent on the support of generous family friends to make ends meet.

In 1958, at the pinnacle of the tennis world after winning her second consecutive Wimbledon and U.S. Open championships, Gibson announced her retirement from amateur sport. Frankly, at 31 years old, Gibson needed to make money; success on the amateur level did not support her financially. For a time she pursued a career as a singer, making several records and appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, and even toured briefly with the Harlem Globetrotters, but she soon abandoned those pursuits in favor of professional golf.

"The siren song of golf was barely audible to me when I retired from amateur tennis," said Gibson in her 1968 autobiography. "But it was never completely out of hearing, and soon it was to grow so loud that I would not be able to resist its seductiveness."

Gibson was a classic athlete. She claimed to have tried most every sport at one time or another and, next to tennis, proved to be talented at almost every one. Her success in tennis was due in part to innate skill, but also in part to her fiery competitive nature.

Though she could drive the ball more than 200 yards without ever receiving a lesson, to succeed in golf Gibson had to manage prodigious talent while refocusing the competitive fire within. But she couldn't help but be drawn to the prospect of becoming the first black female national champion in both golf and tennis.

"Althea always played with style - she was a real professional," said women's golf historian Rhonda Glenn. "She was always a long hitter, and would hold her finish high at the end of her swing. She could really work a gallery."

Gibson competed in 10 U.S. Women's Open championships from 1963 through 1976. She made the cut three times within that stretch, with her best finish a tie for 26th at the 1970 U.S. Women's Open in Muskogee, Okla. Though she competed in two decades, she never won an LPGA tournament.

Gibson never enjoyed the same level of success in golf as she did in tennis, though she encountered similar struggles with the issue of race in the early years.

Barbara Romack was the president of the LPGA in 1963 when she had to tell Gibson that several of the southern clubs hosting LPGA tournaments refused to let her play. Ever the graceful champion, Gibson took the insult in stride and resolved to come back even stronger when she was let in.

"When we would have rain delays during a tournament," said Romack, "we would always gather in the clubhouse to play cards and Althea just was wonderful. It was never an issue of breaking barriers; she was just one of us: a golfer."

Visit Althea Gibson's official Web site at www.altheagibson.com.