WEBVTT

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[music]

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[music]

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[music]

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It was an amazing day, an amazing day.

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Althea playing at Forest Hills and being the
first Black player to be able to play was

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major. Was a beautiful, sunny day.
Beautiful, sunny day. And she walked

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on the court to play Louise Brough, who was
the best player in the country at that time.

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Nearly 2,000

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spectators jammed at the stands, and the
Pinkertons had to close the gates. Among the

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spectators were hecklers shouting, \"Beat the nigger.\" Althea blocked
them out. \"I was too arrogant and antisocial,\" Althea said.

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\"I was not conscious of
the racial difference.\"

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[music]

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Althea won the first set,

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was up in the second set. And out
of left field, the sun and the

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blue sky turned black just as Althea\'s
about to close the match out.

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But there\'s no way she could have lost.
None. and in two seconds, the

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rain came down like buckets.

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And at that time, one of

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the eagles that adorns the top of this
gorgeous stadium was knocked off.

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I would guess it might have been lighting, but it was
certainly something that was, ah, tremendous in strength

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and power. When we walked up to
the stadium, we saw this huge

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eagle. So I\'m thinking, \"Oh, my God.
To be in the stadium, for the

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thunder and lightning to come, to strike one of
these in such a way for it to tumble to the bottom,

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it was as if the tennis gods were, like, saying, \"Oh,
no, this can\'t happen. We got to do something to stop

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this match.\"

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[music]

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They tell me I was born on August 25,

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1927, in a small town in South
Carolina called Silver.

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My father, Dush, and my

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mother, Annie, both lived in a
little cabin on a cotton farm.

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Daddy wouldn\'t have minded me

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being a tomboy at all.

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He wanted a son, so he
always treated me like one.

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[music]

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Daddy always said, \"The big man, he buy

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the cotton. He gave you the
lowest he could give you for it.\"

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[music]

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Daddy and my uncle only had five
acres of land. Even if things

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had gone well, they couldn\'t
have put anything by.

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\"I worked three years for nothing,\"
Daddy said. \"I had to get out of

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there.\"

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[music]

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[music]

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Althea came down

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a hard road. She was a street kid. She

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lived in a depressed community.
She had a rough

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life, and she was aggressive. She
was instinctively aggressive,

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and I think that has a lot to do with where
she came from and how she got there.

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If we were products of our own environment,
then, you know, Althea came to tennis

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an aggressive female that had to
learn how to survive. Althea didn\'t

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go to school from the time she was 12 years
old. She went to high school from like 18 to

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22, and so that gap of years between
12 and 18, Althea was pretty

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much, you know, moving around the streets.

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[music]

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Her father really wanted a boy.

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Every day, he prepared her

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as a boy.

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They would go up on the
rooftop, and he would have her

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actually physically fight against him.

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He held nothing back.

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Punishing each other. Can you
imagine some of the blows that she

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had to take to prove to her
father that she was tough

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enough? It was just like
she was fighting for

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her life. He knew that if she could one

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day take him, that she was
ready to take care of herself.

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Playing the game of tennis against

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an opponent across the net,
hitting a fuzzy tennis

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ball, that was like ice cream and cake.

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Well, it was paddle tennis
that started it all. At that

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time, my parents was living at 143rd
Street between Lennox and 7th Avenue.

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And that happened to be one of
the play streets, and they had

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all types of games up and down the
street, hoop basketball, marbles,

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loadies, and paddle tennis. And
that paddle tennis court was

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right in front of my parents\' stoop of
that building. One summer morning, I came

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down and a friend of mine, we hung out together,
we played together, we roamed the streets

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together. We saw two bats and a
ball on the paddle tennis court.

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So we started hitting back and forth,

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and from that moment on, we would get up in
the morning. As soon as they laid the court

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out, we were the first ones on. We
stayed on, and we challenged anybody on

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the block to play us. Nobody would. So
we were the... that\'s how I got started.

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Well, I think growing up in

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Harlem really did help to develop
Althea\'s aggressiveness because

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in street games, you stay
on the field when you win.

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You get off the field when you lose. Who
wants to sit down and watch? Althea was

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the epitome of winning every
time and at all cost.

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Tennis is a game where you learn from
the people around you, but early on,

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Althea was her own girl. I was introduced

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to the play street director named Buddy Walker
who happens to be a band leader and plays tenor

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sax. We have in those, in those
years a tennis club called the

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Cosmopolitan Tennis Club. That was
the Black elite club in those years.

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And he introduced me to the club.

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This was a private black club
that had five clay courts.

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And it was primarily a club

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with what we might call in those
days the black bourgeoisie.

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[music]

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The educated African-American
mirrored his White counterpart.

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So the Black doctor wanted for his family the same kind
of recreation, the same kind of nice homes, same kind of

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facilities that the White doctor had. Whatever
he got exposed to when he went back into

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his community, he took that. We got to

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see and rub shoulders with and converse with
people that were extremely well-educated

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people. But these are the kind of
people that began to have an influence

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on Althea and to show her
that there was another way,

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that you could play a different
kind of game and succeed at it.

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But you had to play the game. Well, my
style of play, I believe, was aggressive,

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dynamic, and mean.

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Althea was a rough type
of person when she first

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came out of Harlem into the tennis
environment and probably didn\'t

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have some of the social graces
that they thought would be more

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amenable to being accepted. One of my
main mentors was named Hilton Davis,

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and he was telling me about how
when Althea lost to this Nana

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Vorne when they were juniors and he laughed
in the stands. She ran off the court and

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ran up into the stands to beat up this man.
Althea was known

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to be tough. You know, that\'s why she was
kind of special to me, because Althea,

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like myself, was urban, and we carried the

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urbanness. We didn\'t hide it. You know, I was proud of where I was
from, I was proud that I was a Northerner, I didn\'t want to hold

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my head down.

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Growing up in an

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inner city, it is really a survival of
the fittest in many ways. Now, when you

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transition that over to
tennis, it\'s very alien to

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get into a competition with somebody,
maybe get your brains beat out, and

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then walk up to the net, quietly shake this

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opponent\'s hand, and congratulate them for
having beat your brains out. It\'s just

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not something that we instinctively
wanted to do. Those are the kinds

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of genteel skills that one needed to learn

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to become a tennis player. And
those were the challenges that

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many of Althea\'s mentors, like
Sugar Ray, had to teach her.

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Sugar Ray Robinson loved...
Believe it or not,

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he loved tennis. And he
took a liking to Althea and

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realized the potential that she had.
She met

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Sugar Ray Robinson, and
he did a lot for her. And

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Robinson put in her head that
she could be another Sugar Ray

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Robinson. So then she started
believing in herself.

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[music]

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We could immediately see she was a gifted
athlete. She was a few years older

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than I was, and she started taking
lessons from the same coach that I

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did, ah, a man by the name of
Fred Johnson, who ironically

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only had one hand and one arm,
and he would hold the ball

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and the racket in the same arm. And he took

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me on to teach me how to play lawn tennis.

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He taught me the basics, the
footwork, the service motion.

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I won the ATA Girl\'s Singles
Championship at the

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Cosmopolitan Tennis Club through the
tutelage of Fred Johnson at the time.

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Tennis today is packing them in on
courts all across the 48 states.

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This match between two queens of the
courts, Miss Peters of Tuskegee

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and Miss Althea Gibson of New York,
draws a large crowd. For tennis,

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it\'s said, holds a strange fascination
over the people who watch it.

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So, there\'s a time in our
history in America where

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African-Americans could not participate
in organized major sports.

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So what we did was form
our own organizations.

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We formed the American Tennis
Association, which was the first sports

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organization founded by African-Americans
in 1917. And it was pretty much

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a who\'s who recreational circuit
for the black intelligentsia.

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Althea Gibson, she had a
couple people that really

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supported her, that she really liked,
but overall, this was not her world.

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She had a lot of hostility

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towards the Black middle class who
actually supported her. And a lot of the

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Black middle class had hostility towards
Althea as a result of her attitude.

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She took to tennis, but she didn\'t
want to take the culture of the middle

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class. All of the etiquette of
the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club was

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foreign to her, but she really wanted to make
a point that \"this wasn\'t my background.\"

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[music]

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I\'m ashamed to say I was still living
pretty wild. I stopped going to school.

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I was supposed to be looking for a job, but I didn\'t
look very hard because I was too bus playing tennis

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in the daytime and having fun at night.

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Some of the Cosmopolitan
Club folk who brought me out

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from New York were pretty disappointed
in me. I remember one of them saying

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they were through with me because they
didn\'t think much of my attitude.

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[music]

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I think the thing that she was very
much lacking was knowing that someone

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really cared for her and
really wanted to help

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her succeed in life. Dr. Hubert

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Eaton, to me, was one of the two

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godfathers of Black tennis.

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Back in 1946, my grandfather
approaches Althea with

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Dr. Hubert Eaton and posed the question about
whether she\'d be interested in playing the

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U.S. National Championships, Forest
Hills, the mecca of American tennis and

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national championships. And, of course, when she
heard that, she thought these guys are either,

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ah, snake oil salesman or, or some kind
of charlatans. No way that that was

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gonna be possible give the social
backdrop and landscape of the time.

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[music]

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One of the two of them, either Whirlwind or my father
said, \"We ought to try to do something to help this girl,

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young physicians, uhm, who are really

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enthusiastic about tennis. So they made some
inquiries and found out this young lady was about

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18, 19 years old and hadn\'t
been going to school.

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They made her an offer, saying,
\"Now, Althea, you\'ve got

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a lot of talent, but in
world that we live in,

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you can\'t really improve your game
or move up until you get some

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education.\" So the master
plan was to split time

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in North Carolina during the winters, where
Althea, with Dr. Hubert Eaton\'s family, would

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work on getting her education and high school degree.
And at the same time, in the summers, come to

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Lynchburg, Virginia, and spend the entire
summer with my grandfather, Dr. Johnson,

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traveling and training on a daily basis with the rest
of his charges that were part of the Elite Junior

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Development Program that he was
starting to form. Blacks wanted to be

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represented in major league tennis. When
they saw Althea Gibson in the \'40s,

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they saw a Jackie Robinson. I think he saw

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the challenge in front of them. \"Why wasn\'t
there more color in the game of tennis?\" was

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really a question of access. He trained

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almost the same that we do today. You
know, drills, backhand, forehand,

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lot of balls. They have to hit
about 12,000 balls a day, it

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you know, hard as you can hit.

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The best minority players
in the country were being

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brought into one location to hone
our games, so he arranged to

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bring us together, and we traveled,
playing tournaments with one another.

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We learned to get along and support one another
because we were a very select few people

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that were allowed to go out and
play in these tournaments.

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We went to Ohio. We were in a small town,

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and we were staying in a YMCA, and they
allowed us to play in the tournament

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to the chagrin of many of the
players and their families.

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We were asleep in the middle of the night, and
that fire ax came through the door. I mean,

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we, we jumped up. It was a
frightening experience. To see

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an ax through your door is
a frightening thing. And,

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of course, when we finally did open the door, nobody was
there, but there was a note that said that we should go home,

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which we did not do.

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Dr. J was cool as he could ever be.
He said,

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\"We know this is gonna happen. Don\'t worry about it.
You won\'t get hurt.\" And we went on and played.

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He promised our parents

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that he would take care
of us and always our

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safety would come first.
I don\'t know how much

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Althea knew about the South before
she came. Of course, the school

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systems were totally
segregated, a real Apartheid.

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Althea came to Wilmington in September

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1946. She lived upstairs in
our two-story bungalow on

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Orange Street. On the way
home, there was Brown\'s

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Pool Hall right on the corner of
11th and Orange. So she stopped in

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one day and started to shoot some
pool, and people, as they are

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in small towns, noticed her and then
got on the phone and called, said,

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\"Doc, your girl up there playing
pool at Brown\'s Pool Hall!\" So when

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she got home, my mother and father talked
to her, said, \"Now, in the South, ladies

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don\'t go in pool halls.\"
And that was the end of

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that. Unless you really grew up in that

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kind of segregation, it was kind
of hard to enjoy being away for a

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summer of tennis based out of Lynchburg,
Virginia. Just the name, Lynchburg,

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Virginia. The only place
we could play tennis was

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in the backyard, and when the top white players
wanted to come and work out with us, they had

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to come and play in the yard, and we would have matches
sometimes that would take eight hours. We\'d start in the

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morning, and one match after another, just
play in the yard all day. Dr. Johnson

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got permission for us to practice at a public school
hard courts, cause we were going to the ATA Nationals,

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
and it was on hard courts. And so we got this
permission, and I\'ve never been called nigger so

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
many times tilted in, in my life as when we
were out at the courts. And it was just,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
like, a powerless thing. I was out there, and
the football team was practicing that day. And

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
so as the football team was leaving the field, they were like, \"Look
at those niggers play. Play, nigger. Look at! Where you learn

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
how to play tennis like that, nigger?\" And it was just the
most incredible. And so the Southern boys looked at me,

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Lynwood, and these guys were like, \"Art, you know
the only thing you can do is get hurt down here.\"

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
Dr. Johnson was a practicing
physician, so he had

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
to get to work every day, but he would give us
a schedule, not only a practice schedule, but

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
also the chores that we had to do each day.
When we ate dinner,

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
he would give us our lessons
in etiquette, how to use your

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
silverware, how to use your knives and forks and your spoon,
how to scooping the soup away from you, those type of things.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
The first time I sat down at the table
to eat, I took two biscuits, and

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
he really went into a thing. \"You don\'t take
two biscuits here, and you don\'t have to fight

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
for food.\" And, you know, so etiquette
was really, you know, Dr. Johnson was

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
a true pioneer. We had our marching orders. You go
out there, you play the way you know how to play,

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
you question no calls, you
challenge nobody. If you

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
get a bad call, walk away. And
his idea was if you question it

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
you will be perceived as the one
that stop everybody else from

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
being able to participate. Pre-Martin Luther
King that was his... Martin Luther King

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
strategy for, ah, getting us to
be accepted to USDA tenants.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
There was a sense of pecking

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
order. It wasn\'t a sort of thing like,
okay, great, everybody did a good

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
job today. Everybody gets a badge. It wasn\'t like today\'s
society that when you show up, you get a ribbon.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
If you\'re gonna be won who was going to travel
then you will going to have to work your bums off.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
You were not gonna be allowed to have
any kind of attitude or be disgruntled

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
or ha... you just weren\'t. You just have
to be on your best behavior, I mean,

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
and you know it. He was
preparing you to deal in a

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
world that they want you. Because if
you could survive at Dr. J\'s then

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
nobody else would come up with anything more
difficult. And without really stressing, you know,

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
you can go out there and act like this around those
White folks that was never said. So it was more of

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
how you\'re representing yourself.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
I think what that brought to Althea was
the first sense of discipline. You can\'t

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
do everything that you want
to do when you want to do it.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
[sil.]

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
She recognized that this was something
that she absolutely wanted to do

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
but, but knew based on dealing with Dr.
Johnson and then Dr. Eaton.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
It wasn\'t going to be her way of their highway,
it\'s going to be their way. We had some

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
good times making those summer tours. I
played in nine tournaments that first

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
summer and won everyone of them.
For whatever

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
it was worth, I was the best
woman player in Negro tennis.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
[music]

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Everything she

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
did was with elegance. Her movement
was very, very graceful like a dancer

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
like she was built to play tennis. Long,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
lean, long legs, that helps.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
Althea was the most impressive and imposing

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
figure on the court. She was tall, willowy,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
very graceful. Enormous wingspan.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
We\'re now on the LA by never
getting anything back.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
She played the total game. She covered the

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
whole court. She would come to the net.
She could slice the ball. I have here

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
another picture of Althea serving which
is to me a classic because she\'s

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
doing a... everything correctly.
She\'s reaching up for the ball.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
She\'s looking at the ball and she
has a... had and everything is just

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
perfect form. I can remember after heading

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
with her one day at Dr. Eaton\'s. She
said, \"Do you have football, Lenny?\"

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
I said, \"Yes.\" She said, \"Go home
and get your football.\" This young

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
lady threw that football
at least 50 to 60 yards

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
right on the back could have been
a quarterback on N... NFL team.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
I mean, she could run, ah, really well
that\'s why she was serving volley

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
because she had good volley game.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
[music]

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
The one thing Althea had is self-confidence in
her ability as an athlete and that came through

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
loud and clear by her mannerisms,
her body language, what

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
she said, how she said it.
She took no oppressors.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
Everyone could feel her presence.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
She has stage presence. You\'d feel her.
She walk in the

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
room, you\'d feel her. She was very
intimidating when she walk on the court,

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
her walk, her look. She basically
scared the hell on a lot of the girls,

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
not the one who hire the player. And so she
had that edge over them psychologically.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
Often my coach would put me
on the court with her and

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
the dominant thing that I remember
about Althea is her willingness

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
to hit me with tennis balls. If
I came to the net to volley she

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
would try to knock me down.
This was Althea\'s way of

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
expressing her superiority to us.
She was the champion.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
We were her hitting
partners and remember that.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
[music]

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
Of course, in

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
those years I was struggling to
become well-known as the first

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
Black player to compete against
world class champions.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
It was the USLTA.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
I know they have written rule and that I always think they had a written
problems and unwritten rule and it just bark to anybody of color

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
of a plan. Everything was white, the
balls, the clothes, the people,

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
the socks, the shoes, everything.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
Althea wanted to play there.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
Just give me the stage and I will show you
what I could do. It\'s not about race.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
On my current lecture
tour, the question I am

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
most frequently expected to answer is whether Althea
Gibson will be permitted to play in the Nationals

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
this year. When I directed the question to a
committee member of long standing, his answer was

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
in the negative, Miss Gibson will not be
permitted to play. And it will be the reluctant

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
duty of the committee to reject her entry at
Forest Hills. I think it\'s time we faced a few

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
facts. If tennis is a game for ladies and
gentlemen, it\'s also time we acted a little more

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
like gentle people and less like sanctimonious
hypocrites. We can accept the evasions,

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
ignore the facts that no one will be honest enough
to shoulder the responsibility for Althea Gibson\'s

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
probable exclusion from the Nationals. Or we
can face the issue squarely and honestly.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
It so happens that I tan very heavily in
the summer, but I doubt that anyone ever

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
question my right to playing the Nationals because of
it. It\'s just as ridiculous to reject Althea Gibson

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
on the same basis and
that\'s the truth of it.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
[sil.]

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
I got the chance to go out to

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Forest Hills with Althea. I warmed
Althea up before she went out

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
to play and it was a remarkable experience.
It was the mecca of tennis

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
and it was something that
was very alien to us.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
[music]

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
People who have not been to Forest Hills don\'t
understand that it was in the community.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
So you\'d park in somebody\'s driveway
and they would charge you five dollars

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
to watch your car while you\'re waiting in.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
And there was that club
house like a Tudor home

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
in England sitting by itself
and say, \"Hey, to get

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
in here you have to be somebody.\"
Even when the tournament was

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
on to get in was a feat on themselves.
And then they\'ll go up in the lock room

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
to go to the bathroom. Holy bathroom, that... you
know that\'s... that, that, that was unbelievable.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
The smell of the food as you walk
in, the people with the hats, the

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
players with the sunscreen,
things like we had never seen

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
is just so mind-blowing and intimidating.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
There\'s no crowd like the New York crowd.
There ain\'t no crowd like New York

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
crowd and there will never will be whether
football, basketball, the marathon or tennis.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
And once you walk in

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:10.000
the stadium it is a new
world that opens up to you.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
The press coverage of the
big cameraman all over the

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
place and so they walked on a grass
tennis court next to the stadium.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
It was a shame that it was in the grandstand
because so many people were unable

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
to see her. They were turned away but they
were looking under the fences, under the wind

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
screens, climbing in the trees, looking down
on the court to get a glimpse of this, ah,

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
wonderful young lady.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
The first

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
time I played at Forest Hills.
It was against

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
defending champion at
that time Louise Brough.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Louise always had a tendency

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
to get nervous. She had a bad service
toss and her forearm got shaky but for

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
some reason she just felt extremely
nervous. It looks like weird to me. I was

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
beating her per set of
piece and the third set

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
I was leading. And all of a sudden the

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
clouds open up, the sky got dark

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
as if as they didn\'t want me to
win this match. And the rains

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
came pouring down, lighting
came immediately and struck

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
the eagle on that corner of the
stadium and tumble it down.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
And they have to postpone the match.
I had to

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
sleep on that, that overnight. Now

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
the tennis world wonder, will young unknown
Althea oust the star? All she needed

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
was one game.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
The pressure was too much
for young Althea Gibson.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
She lost her touch. Miss
Brough took full command.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
For Althea,

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
it was a heartbreaking experience.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
And the next day I came out,

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
I don\'t have nothing. I lost
all sting and she beat me.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:43.000
[music]

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
I have sat in on many dramatic moments in

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
sports, but few were more thrilling than Miss
Gibson\'s performance against Miss Brough. But

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
because of the great try by this lonely, and
nervous, colored girl, and because of the

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
manner in which the elements
robbed her of her great triumph.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:18.000
[music]

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
My first encounter with Althea was at
Green\'s Club when I was still in my

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
school uniform with my straw boater
hat and my satchel on my back.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
She was playing on court nine near the
gate. So I sort of waddled my way in and

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
lo and behold there she was, serving and
volleying, looking like a young man.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
She hit the ball much harder than never seen
before. She was coming off the court so I quickly

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
produce, ah, a little
notebook from my work satchel

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
and asked her to sign something for me.
She looked at me and I said, uhm,

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
\"I\'d like to play like you one day, possibly in
Wimbledon.\" She says, \"Well, not before I do.\"

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
[sil.]

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
In those days, it was a

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
totally different tour than it is today.
Always in the clubs, you

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
stay in private housing, you stay with
club members normally. There was no money,

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
you get your expenses, if you were lucky. And
if you were a very good player you might make

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
$200 a week to get you cover your expenses.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
We went to country clubs during the day.
It was a nice life. It was fun.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
And you will never gonna
get a head financially.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
You know, they used to have a term called the tennis bum.
We\'re kind of tennis bums. We were just kind of live

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
off to rich people week to week. It\'s
basically what we\'re doing. Well, you feel

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
uncomfortable. I can tell you. You don\'t know
what to do because you know these people are very

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
wealthy. They have certain way of thinking about the
world in the certain way and you\'re kinda walking on

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
eggshells the whole time. I always was.
The clubs were, were very restricted.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
I mean, I would say 95% of the clubs
that players played in had no

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Black members. In many cases they had
no Jewish members and they would

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
allow the week of the tournament for
an... Althea Gibson or, ah, Arthur Ashe

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
to play because they wanted to see the best players
but certainly they\'re going to become members.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
As far as Althea was concern it was not

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
about representing the race.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
Arthur and I uses our tennis as a platform.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
That\'s how what she wanted. She just
want to play. Just let me be one of you

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
and unfortunately in the \'50s it just wasn\'t
that easy. This is not gonna be like that.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:28.000
[music]

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:58.000
[music]

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
They sent them to the
far east to do clinics

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and to play tournaments. The motives
behind the state department tour

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
in the 1950s was to try and impress on the

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
wider road at large particularly
the Black communities over there

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
that tennis was a good sport
to play for Blacks and

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
for Whites and blondes and you could
have tan, whatever color you were,

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
whatever background you came from.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
[music]

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
She was sent with girl
called Karol Fageros from

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
Carol Gables, Miami who was very
pretty, uhm, and they selected

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
her particularly because she was good tennis player
and she was good looking as well and here was Althea

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
in contrast Black also
a good tennis player.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
I was sent there too by the
British Lawn Tennis Association.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
So I chummed up with the American girls

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
and I became very friendly
with Althea and Karol. Their

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
flight ticket was a return ticket to
United States at the end of the month

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
and Karol went home but Althea

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
talked to me about the possibility of staying
on. And she asked me could she last out

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
to play all the tournaments
between January and

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
July which was Wimbledon and the money. And
I said to her, \"Well, I think you could.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
And if you don\'t you always got your return
ticket to US. You can go back again.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
I\'ll see you in Paris.\" Because the Paris
indoors was coming up in February.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
And I said, \"If you like,\" I said, \"We\'ll play
doubles together.\" So she said, \"Yes! Okay, let\'s do

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
that.\"

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
She was curiosity in

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
most tournament organizers wanted
her because she was an attraction.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
People had never been a Black player before and
they didn\'t know Black people could play tennis.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
And so they would

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
prepared to pay her expenses
so she had a little

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
money. She was learning to be professional.
She was learning to look

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
after her body because if she became
sick she was out in attention,

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
she couldn\'t loss. So she
needed the money every week.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
She became very meticulous with what

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
she ate, ah, of the time she went to bed,
the time she got up in the morning, the

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
rest and the practice, everything. She was
much, much more professional during that

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
six months. It made her really because she felt nothing
and that she had to keep well but she had to win

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:15.000
as well.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
[music]

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
So this is the picture of the finalist of
the 1920 88th championship in New York.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
On the left here is B.M. Clark and he came
from Jamaica. And on the right is Tally

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
Holmes who was the current champ from
Washington D.C. Tally Holmes by the way

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
was a doctorate graduate in the 1960, 1970

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
and B.M. Clark was the first, uhm,
Black men to play in Wimbledon.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
He played Wimbledon in 1924. Like I said,
he was Jamaican. So you can see the ATA

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
was an international tournament. It wasn\'t just
African-Americans of the north, it has a tremendous

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
influence on northern tennis on the West Indies
community because they had tennis in Jamaica.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
They had tennis in Trinidad. They had tennis in
the Caribbean Islands where these people came

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
from. You really don\'t know black tennis if

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
you don\'t know who Sydney Llewellyn was because he
was Black tennis in the New York, New Jersey area

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
in the \'50s. He uses a dominate
personality. He was very flamboyant.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
Sydney Llewellyn was a Jamaican became to

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
America at 18 years old. First
time I saw him he pulled up.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
He was wearing a safari hat with a safari jacket,
he was New York all the way. He came to America

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
to be a professional dancer. He said, \"I\'m a mad
man.\" He is the first one to use the word pimp

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
and not meaning prostitutes
but charisma, character,

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
style. You don\'t say it in the, in
the Black language. He helped Althea

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
developed her self-confidence that
allowed her to be a champ. It wasn\'t her

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
initial coach. Fred Johnson was that, Dr.
Johnson, Dr. Eaton these guys helped her in

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
ATA but she didn\'t win any titles until she was
with Sydney Llewellyn because Sydney Llewellyn was

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
the mental man. He, you know,
he worked from a mind game.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:35.000
And so, he helped Althea
tremendously mentally.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:28.000
[music]

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
Once a year, the world\'s
best tennis players come to

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
Wimbledon for the All England Championship, the
unofficial equivalent of the World Championship.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
Favor to win the women\'s singles
in 1957 is Althea Gibson

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
from New York, USA but they\'re maybe
an upset. Her opponent for the

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
semi-final is a 16-year-old British girl,
Christine Truman. The young blonde

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
prodigy who was crowned several
of the top seated stars. For

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
Althea Gibson this is a crucial match in her
10-year long effort to become the world\'s best

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
tennis player. Althea has a big
powerful game. She overwhelms

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
the British girl. The score, 6-1, 6-1. The

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
great test is still to come. Queen Elizabeth of
England is among the spectators at the time.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
Here, Althea Gibson faces Darlene Hard,
her fellow American from California.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
Even Miss Hard applause.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
Althea is in tough condition.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
Match

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
point.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
And it\'s all over, 6-3, 6-2.
Darlene has a good lose.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
Queen Elizabeth walks on

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
to the center court to present the trophy.
This is Althea Gibson\'s reward for many

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
years of effort. It\'s a
moment crowded with memories.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
[music]

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
The young woman we are honoring

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
today truly deserves our tribute.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
She is a product of our city.
She came up the hard way.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
And now stands at the top of her class.

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
She reach the top not only because
of her natural athletic ability

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
but because of her unwavering
courage and determination

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
to be a champion.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Well, Althea, how do you feel about
your victory at Wimbledon? Well, I

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
feel quite elated and, ah, quite happy
about it, of course. It was a...

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
That was a big thing. I went over to
win Wimbledon and I, I succeeded.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
Althea, when... Althea, when you left for a Wimbledon,
ah, two weeks ago I understand that from Buddy Walker

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
that he and two others were the only people to see that. Is
there a big change in the situation, ah, two weeks later?

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
Well, yes. A great, a great big change.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
Althea you are a champion
in a world of champions.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
What you have done is added
strengthened meaning

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
to Star-Spangled Banner and it\'s a
truly Americans stars and stripes.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
How you reached that goal is an
inspiration to all Americans.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
What you came through to sit
here today honored by your

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
fellow citizens of all races,
streets color and religion is ample

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
proof that in our democracy
we take the leadership in

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
emphasizing human achievements
as we move ever far with in

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:15.000
our vigorous crusade toward
full equal opportunity.

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Will you come in Mr.
Challenger and sign in please.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
So there\'s one question at
the time in turn moving

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
clockwise and let\'s begin with
Dorothy Kilgallen. Are you in

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
anything other than a motion
picture industry? Yes.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
And are you principally a movie star?
No. Well, are you, ah,

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
in the theater? No. One hundred
eighty go Mr. Cerf. Would

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
you said that your field was
athletics of any kind? Yes.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
Ms. Kilgallen? Ah, have you
been to England within the

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
last few weeks? Yes. Ms. Francis?

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
Well, are you, uhm, practically
our best tennis player?

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
Miss Althea Gibson? Yes. Yes.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
In 1957, she meets

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
Louise Brough for the U.S. Championship. The same Louise
Brough who have dealt her that heartbreaking defeat

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
seven years early.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:38.000
[sil.]

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
The U.S. title which has
alluded her all these years

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
is what is after now with all her mind.
She is relaxed and confident.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
This time she is sure of herself.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:13.000
[sil.]

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
Louise Brough great player
though she is cannot stop at

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
this time. At the end
scores down at 6-3, 6-2

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
and Althea Gibson is the new champion
of the United States. She stands in

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
the big stadium in her hour of play. The
long years of struggle are forgotten

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
in the ovation. The tribute to her
fellow countrymen as they rise for her.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
As the

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
vice-president of the United States present
her with the trophy. It\'s a dream come true

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
for Althea Gibson, tennis champion.

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
[music]

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:13.000
[sil.]

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
After she won Sydney Llewellyn he told her, \"Okay,
you didn\'t won, now show him that it wasn\'t a flu.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
Go back and do it again.\"

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:30.000
[music]

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:40.000
[music]

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
[music]

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
The Wimbledon ball was fully evening dress

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
and it was by invitation mainly. And it was

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
like Hollywood. The photographers

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
they were all on the sidewalk as the
players stepped down of a taxis

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
to go into the hotel and they would be identified
whispers, you know, that\'s... the say,

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
\"Althea Gibson over there\" or something.
The evening

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
of the ball was a very joyous occasion.
It was a

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
part of the ceremony that the
women\'s winner would open the

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
dancing with the men\'s winner. I just

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
put a good word in to the band actually

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
is whether they would, ah,
entertain the fact, uhm, of Althea

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
singing a song or two with them. And they
said, \"Certainly, what a great pleasure.\"

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
She brought the house down, of course, cuz

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
no one really was expecting her to sing.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
Like, I think she, she sung, uhm, I can\'t
give you anything but love, baby, I think

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
that\'s the song she sung. I can\'t
give you anything but love,

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
baby. It\'s our final set

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
for the matchup title. Althea
Gibson still the women\'s

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
world champion.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
Good evening, Althea. Good evening, Mr.
Miller(ph). How are you? Fine. So, with

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
all the matches you won you could probably use a
second apartment just to display the trophies,

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
didn\'t you? My goodness, yes.
So the first trophy

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
over here that I won in Paris, France.
It is a beautiful thing?

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
All right. It\'s very dainty. It\'s very
nice. Althea, is that Hi-Fi set there?

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
Yes, it is This is the one of my great
pleasure to enjoy when I\'m around in the house

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
and listen to the one of the music.
And also this is my first

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
album. To my reply, would you like to here
one of the selection? Very much. Wonderful.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
I think you will like it.

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
It\'s around the world. Around the world

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
I searched for you... Naturally, I\'m always

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
glad when something I do turns out to he helpful
to all to all Negroes or, for that matter, to

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
all Americans, or maybe only to all
tennis players. I don\'t consciously

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
beat the drums for any cause, not even the
cause of the Negro in the United States.

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
Althea Gibson was our Jackie Robinson.
So this wasn\'t just

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
tennis, this was a woman that was
really held in highest team.

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
She was pressured to be more
outspoken but she wanted to be

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
a person who didn\'t do her reckon.
And she felt

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
showing people what a person
from the ghetto could accomplish

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
with more than just talking
in front of a group.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
She never got into a... like
Jackie Robinson did. So they\'re

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
all Black people have no
used for in a way that time.

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
[music]

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
And that happen out, you know, she should
have been down into fight cuz she is a

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
celebrity. She don\'t make
any speeches on often.

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
People will

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
look at a star baseball player and
listen to what he says about politics.

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
He doesn\'t know the first damn thing
about politics but because he\'s our

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
hero and because he\'s our major
figure he\'s opinion mean something.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
Well, for that reason, I think
that, that any reluctance

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
on a part of, uhm, a performer
or an athlete to get in

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
to the prey when it comes to the betterment
of the conditions of their people

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
was ill-advised. They should have
done it right from the beginning.

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
I guess we were too absorbed in ourselves.

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
I don\'t think she really felt how denials

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
or hardships were civil rights thing.
Althea, ah, did you

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.999
find income in getting to the top of the tennis
world as you had a real good obstacles because of,

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.999
of your race or, or did you find
that surprisingly easy road? No,

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.999
I don\'t, I don\'t think that the... there are
any obstacles as far as race is concern.

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
I was born into a Jewish family in

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
England. During the war, when I
was a small child in South Africa

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
as an evacuee we live in Cape Town and

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
we shared a sort of community backyard right
at the foot of the mountain on the back door

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
and this little Black girl and the same
ages myself, pretty little girl used to

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
come out after school and play.
And so did I. We developed

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
a friendship. And the friend of my mothers

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:19.999
said, \"I would stop that friendship right away
if I were you. It\'s not right in this country

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.999
for White people to befriend Black
people.\" And I was stopped seeing her.

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
And I never really understood it
neither my mother didn\'t either but

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
we were in a way there in South Africa,

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
uhm, the kind of permission of the South
African government. We didn\'t want to

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
upset the upper class in any way at all
cuz they might asked us to go home.

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.999
So she agreed but we never
really understood it because

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:54.999
she thought and, and I thought because
she thought that they were just

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
the same with us. What was the matter
with that? And I never met any other

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
Black people until I met Althea. With

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:09.999
Althea I found a kindred spirit.
One could say

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:14.999
we were like soulmates. One favorite who\'ve
been missed on of course this year is Britain\'s

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.999
Angela Buxton who has endured her rest. But we\'ll
be seeing American champion Althea Gibson, and

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
Angela has designed an outfit specially for
Althea. She\'s joined the London sportswear firm

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
as a designer and this is one of her models. By
this time, I was already number one in the game in

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
England. And I went up for the
Easter tournament and asked them if

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
I could... if they could supply somebody
for me to hit with, and I never had.

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.999
And eventually the
journalist from the South

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:49.999
Pole visitor, he said, \"They had a
meeting about you and they decided

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
no Jews at this club, and therefore they
would not allow you to practice there.\"

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
In Althea\'s company, I never felt anything

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
like that at all, ah, which
I did with the other girls.

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
People reacted to Althea in Great Britain

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.999
in a shock sort of way. They didn\'t
say very much because we\'re not, ah,

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
uhm, very talkative about these things.
We tend to keep it to

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.999
ourselves. But, uhm, Black people

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
wouldn\'t really accept it. Ah, we didn\'t
have a lot in England actually, so

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
again, this arouse even more curiosity.
When she did

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
come to stay with me there were a few
raised eyebrows in the block of flats.

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.999
And I was asked how long she was
staying cuz one or two of the

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.999
unit owners had noticed her
and wanted to know whether

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
she\'d moved in actually. Uhm, but, uhm,

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
I didn\'t give a damn actually.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.999
We had a knock on the door

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.999
and I opened the door in my flat and there
was this Black guy standing there...

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.999
Handsome, in uniform, a major, with a

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
mustache... oh, what a good-looking
guy he was. \"I... is Althea Gibson

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
here?\" I said, \"Yes.\" So he... \"Come on in.
Are you a friend of hers?\" \"Yes.\"

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
And it was an old, uhm, ah,
relationship. And they

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
got cracking. I gave them the bedroom, I moved out.
And, and they were there for two days. I was putting

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
trays with food outside so they
could eat at least in between.

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
Ah, oh, yes, yes, only good time.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
Will Darben, he was the love of,
of Althea\'s life, her first

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
husband. My uncle Will was always

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
more of a quiet, intellectual type.

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
So I think it would for her was kind of
a rest bed away from being competitive

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
in a more athletic type of pursuits.
It takes

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
a special man to be able to

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
be secondary in a relationship.
He not only had Althea but he

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
had her fans, he had the publicity,
and I think in a couple of occasions,

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
he was called \"Mr. Gibson\" and
he didn\'t appreciate that all.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
She won Wimbledon and the U.S. opened

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
both, ah, in \'57 and \'58,
then she had to quit.

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
And she had to quit because she didn\'t have
a job. The bottom line was we lived in an

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
era where there was no money in tennis.
Tennis was for all the, the

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
genteel part of the society
of which she was not warmed.

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
She had stopped playing

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
tennis during that time when she was
clearly the best player in the world.

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
You can\'t either crown. So I, I
got to, I got to make a living.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
Because of you my life is now

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
worthwhile. And I can smile.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
Because of

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
you.

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
Good evening ladies and
gentlemen, your mercury dealer

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
and your Lincoln dealer
present the Ed Sullivan Show.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
Though life seems weary and

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
blue you know there\'s someone who cares

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
for you. Though the heart of

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
man be gone,

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
the soul will carry

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
on. You thought about turning

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
professional? Well, actually, I, I don\'t, I
don\'t talk about the professional tennis,

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
you know, it\'s a bad omen.
Cuz when you talk... ah,

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
some, some, some of the, ah... some people get the
idea that when you talk about the professional

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
tennis, they, they feel that you might, ah,
be a professional or you might do this.

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
And I thought to avoid all of the... those
criticisms. I don\'t talk about professional tennis.

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
Particularly, men will e... either
go be a contract pro and keep

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
playing tennis and make money, or
they go into some field of business

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
like finance cuz they had good connections.
The wider network really help the men,

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
we do not have that. If Althea was

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
playing today, she will probably be earning
close to ten million dollars pretty easily. If

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.999
you flip it back into the \'50s when she
was playing, if she cleared $200 a

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:09.999
week, she was doing great. If she
paid her coach or if she had a friend

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:14.999
or a husband or whoever that was traveling with
her and she pay any of that, she lost money.

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
She\'ll not gonna say, I heard a guy
say that. The stream will always

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.999
show the source. And so she
didn\'t go to school, she was a

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:29.999
street kid, and lot of that
street stayed in her spirit.

01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:34.999
You know, and she had people that like to helped her
again in the Forest Hills and when a... but I never

01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:39.999
saw anywhere where, you know, just in the business
sense, that she had any allies and (inaudible)

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:44.999
and so let\'s open an
Althea Gibson restaurant.

01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:50.000
[music]

01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:14.999
[music]

01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:19.999
It was after the Globetrotter
days and she wasn\'t able to make

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:24.999
any money and she was always trying to
find some way to enhance her monetary

01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:29.999
situation. In around

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.999
1960, when she started to play golf
and, and got very good in a short time,

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:39.999
she got hit the ball long way,
ah, and drive almost 300 yards.

01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:44.999
Around the second and third year

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:49.999
of playing, she came to me
and asked me if I can help,

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:54.999
you know, sponsor her because she was having
a hard time traveling in her car going to

01:07:55.000 --> 01:07:59.999
tournaments. The first tournament she played in, as a matter
of fact, in Oklahoma she couldn\'t use the women\'s dressing

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
room, she got to change in her car.

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:09.999
The era that we helped her
she did her best as far as

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:15.000
money. She never won in the... in a major
tournament, she was runner-up once or twice.

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:38.000
[music]

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:44.999
We got good in the game that has
social demands on it before we had

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.999
met the social requirements. Tennis
had Althea moving faster than her

01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.999
social skills could keep up with it.
If you were a good

01:08:55.000 --> 01:08:59.999
tennis player you got invited. Of course you got invited
by the well-off Blacks and then you got invited

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:04.999
by the Whites. The next year, you got an exposure and exposure and
then but it\'s taking you further and further and further out,

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:09.999
and then at some point it snaps

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:14.999
and you\'d left your home base.
Althea was a Virgo.

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.999
She was very self-critical
and very socially, you know,

01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:24.999
standoffish, and so her
personality played a

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.999
great part in her, her life also.
I mean, she

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:33.999
wasn\'t a gregarious type of person, she can go out
her way to be social and to be in (inaudible)

01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:35.000
. And so

01:09:35.001 --> 01:09:39.999
if you could get to or can get to know her,
you\'ll see that you might like Althea. But

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
she wasn\'t gonna, you know, she
wasn\'t that easy to, to, to approach.

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:49.999
There was a resentment that, uhm, you

01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:54.999
know, when she was in the line where people were
clamoring after her, they want to hear from her,

01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:59.999
they want to see her, and, you
know, gradually that die.

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.999
It meant a lot, and I think it hurt
her feelings. Althea was a champ in

01:10:05.000 --> 01:10:09.999
1857 to \'58, and so it was
one thing for her to be

01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:14.999
African-American. It was another thing
for her, you know, for any questions

01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.999
to be in... involved her sexuality. I
don\'t wanna be the one to say it but,

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:24.999
you know, how would her sexual preferences
were... that\'s real, you know,

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
uhm, and I never heard anybody mentioned
it. I don\'t know how could you

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
talk about Althea Gibson and not talk about
the whole person. We\'re not putting it

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
down. I have no judgment of it, but
this is way, way lie about who she was.

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
If anybody had the slightest
suspicion that she

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
was a lesbian just because she was an
outsider is too ridiculous for words.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
There were no husbands around
really, because once you, you got

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
married that was it. You see? You hung, you hung your
rackets up. You know, the girls used to travel in

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
twos, keep each others company. She
like men. She like sex with men.

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
And that was a beginning and end of it. I
think that people neglect to really look at

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
why Althea had such a rough time,
you know, after her tennis life had

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
her golf life. Everyone athlete is accused
of being a lesbian. Every single one.

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:24.999
Are they? Isn\'t that pathetic?
I think she knew that no

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:29.999
matter what she did it was gonna come under
scrutiny. It was gonna be an object or a subject

01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
for, uhm, people to, you know, make
judgments on her. This was something that

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
quietly traveled behind her aside from
all of her... the Black list and this

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
and other thing... if you
put that with it, I guess

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
you end up with a sad story. As time went

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
on, Althea got more and more depressed and
more and more reclusive until it just

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
by the time you got to \'90s, she got dropped
completely off the scene and she was

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
neglected by everybody.

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:10.000
[sil.]

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:19.999
One Friday morning, I was cooking,
preparing for the Sabbath meal,

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:24.999
my phone rang in the living room and I
went to answer it and it was Althea.

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.999
And she just phoned

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:34.999
up to say goodbye. And I said,
\"So where are you going

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.999
to?\" So, she said, \"Well,
Angie, baby,\" she said, \"I

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:44.999
can\'t hang around any longer. \" She said, \" I
haven\'t got anymore money. I\'ve gone through all my

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:49.999
savings. Life for me doesn\'t seem worthwhile
so I\'m just saying goodbye to all my friends.\"

01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:54.999
I said, \"I\'ll call you right back.
Don\'t go anywhere.\"

01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:59.999
After I called her back I said,
\"Now why are you going to commit

01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:04.999
suicide?\" and then she told me that she had run
out of money, she had no money for the rent, ah,

01:13:05.000 --> 01:13:09.999
and no money for food and, and no
money for medical. She was living for

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
hand-to-mouth all her life.

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
When she won one of her Wimbledon
titles, the queen was there. She

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
said, you know, \"I\'ve got my trophy from
the queen, and then I courtesy and I

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
backed away,\" and she said, \"because you
never turn your back on a royalty.\"

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
Althea was the U.S. royalty in tennis but
the tennis world definitely turn their back

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:39.999
on, on her.

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
[music]

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
I think she felt that, every

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:54.999
time someone wanted something
from her they would,

01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:59.999
you know, call her, contact her but any
other time, you know, she didn\'t hear

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
anything. So, only when they needed her and she, you
know, got some part when she didn\'t wanna be used

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
anymore.

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
My uncle\'s personality was
a little more passive, a

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
little more laid-back, and I think
the limelight was not something

01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:24.999
that he really embraced like she, she
could. They ended up getting divorced but

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.999
they always kept a friendship.

01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
They always kept a love for each other.

01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
She felt, I think, that Sydney Llewellyn

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
had done a lot for her in the past. As far
as I could make out, that\'s all that was

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
to do it. They were just very good friends.

01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
Sydney Llewellyn continuous travel
with Althea when she won Wimbledon,

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
one year they paid for all of the former
champs and the spouses to come so

01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:04.999
she married him so he
could go as her spouse.

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:09.999
The love of her life was with

01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:14.999
Darben because he came back into her life
again. At the very end, he was living in a home

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:19.999
which happened to be near her home in
South Orange and every day they would

01:15:20.000 --> 01:15:24.999
meet at a diner or a meal, go for a walk

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:29.999
and so on. And when he passed away, which
he did before her, that\'s when she

01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:34.999
really went down fast.

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:39.999
The only time, frankly, that I
ever really saw Althea lose

01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:44.999
her temper... really she\'d
lost it... out at the US Open.

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.999
Each year, they had the champions
come for the third day.

01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:54.999
And she had invited her
doubles partner, ah, Angie

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:59.999
from London to lunch and had made a

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:04.999
reservation at Racquets, which
is an exclusive restaurant. With

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.999
that, Angie came. Althea
go upstairs to take Angie

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:14.999
to lunch and she was turned away.

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
Turned away. \"This is

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:24.999
championship day and you don\'t
know who Althea Gibson is?\"

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:29.999
Her reaction was such that, \"This was the

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.999
final insult.\"

01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.999
Nobody

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
bothered to come to her rescue.
I think I was the last

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:49.999
stop. And I decided no way where she\'s

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.999
going to commit suicide, not when as I
was around. Ah, and I said to her, \"How

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:59.999
much are we talking about? How much money do
you need to live? \" And she said, \" $1,500

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
would about cover a month. \" So I said,
\" Okay, look, I\'ll send you that,

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
uhm, you just hold your horses. And in
the meantime, I\'ll think of another

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
way,\" which I did. This letter appeared in

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
Tennis Week, the week
of July 18th, 1996 and

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
signed by Paul Fein, \"I
call upon tennis lovers

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
and all men and women of
goodwill and compassion to help

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
Althea Gibson before it is too late.
Overcoming the racism

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
and discrimination that confronted
her, Althea Gibson became

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
our sport\'s first Black champion,
and she always represented her

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:49.999
country and her race and her sport
with great dignity and pride.

01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.999
Now she\'s financially destitute

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
and dispirited. She may
not last much longer.

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
Very few people seem to care.
And our sport doesn\'t have a

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
pension plan to help a former
champion in needy times.

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:14.999
You can help avert a needless tragedy
by sending her what you can.

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
Althea Gibson titled her
poignant autobiography,

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
\'I always wanted to be
somebody.\' She was, and is,

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:29.999
a somebody. Somebody very special.\"

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:38.000
[music]

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:49.999
Five months later, the phone
rings and it\'s Althea.

01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:54.999
\"Angela, how are you?\" \"Fine.\"

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:59.999
\"I\'ve just been down to my PO
box,\" she says, and she says,

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
\"I had to have the manager opened it,\" she
said, \"the place is absolutely blocked

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
and it\'s got money in it from all over
the world in different currencies.

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
Is this to do with you?\" I said, \"Me?
How it could be me?\" I said,

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
\"I\'m sitting here minding my own business in
England.\" \"Oh,\" she said, \"it just smells

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
of you somehow.\" She says, \"I thought
it was you.\" I flew over the

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:29.999
following week I went to Orange, I
help opened all the envelops with her,

01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:34.999
there were all different currencies
and all different amounts from

01:19:35.000 --> 01:19:39.999
players who had remembered
her and friends who

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:44.999
had watched her and enjoyed
watching her all over the world,

01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:50.000
and it was well over a million dollars.
Well over.

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:04.999
In some people\'s houses they have

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:09.999
certain people\'s pictures particularly in African-American
houses you\'ll think there\'s like a picture mark

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:14.999
with the king on the wall, maybe picture of John
F. Kennedy in the wall or picture of Jesus Christ

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:19.999
on the wall. What I can remember growing
up on our... on the top of our television

01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.999
set was an autographed picture of Althea.

01:20:25.000 --> 01:20:33.000
[music]

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
They\'re buried together,
cremated remains are together in

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
the same grave. So she do
want to be bury beside him.

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
There\'s a plaque with his name on it because
she did not want to have any marker.

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
There might have been some bitterness

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:59.999
in Althea in that she didn\'t, ah,

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:04.999
necessarily feel she was given her

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:09.999
due for what she did. I
have to remind people

01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:14.999
talking about Arthur being
the first African-American

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:19.999
to win Wimbledon. And I was always quick
to correct people, no, no, no, no, no

01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:24.999
he was the first
African-American male but, uhm,

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
people forget that Althea came first.

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:38.000
[music]