Game, Set, Match

Althea Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina. Her parents, Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson, were sharecroppers on a cotton farm. When Gibson was 3 years old, her family moved to Harlem, New York, where they had three more daughters and a son.

Gibson’s athletic abilities emerged in her childhood when she started playing paddle tennis and other sports. She honed her paddle tennis skills in public programs and began competing in tournaments. At the young age of 12, Gibson won the New York City women’s paddle championship, showing signs of a promising athletic future. Her win piqued the interest of Buddy Walker, a Police Athletic League coach. Walker purchased Gibson a pair of tennis rackets and took her to play on a tennis court for the first time. Her performance was so exceptional that other players on the courts stopped playing to watch her. 

Rising Star

As Gibson gained experience, Walker took her to Harlem’s Cosmopolitan Tennis Club, where the community raised enough money for her to get a junior membership. At the Cosmopolitan, Gibson took lessons with her first tennis coach, Frederick Johnson. Under the tutelage of Johnson, a one-armed tennis professional, Gibson played in the American Tennis Association (ATA), the oldest African American sports organization in the nation. The ATA was a counterpart to the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA), which denied black players entry in tournaments at the time. In 1942 Gibson entered and won her first ATA tournament at the age of 15. She went on to win the ATA’s women’s singles championship in 1947 and defended the title for 10 consecutive years.  

Gibson’s early success caught the attention of Dr. Robert Johnson and Dr. Hubert Eaton, two prominent members of the ATA. Johnson served as a mentor for Gibson, and Eaton urged her to pursue a tennis scholarship at a black college. Upon learning that Gibson did not have a high school diploma, Eaton arranged for her to live with him and his family in Wilmington, North Carolina. In Wilmington, Gibson attended Williston High School while training on the private tennis court at Eaton’s home. Despite struggling with academics earlier in her life, Gibson worked diligently at Williston and graduated in the top 10 of her class. She was awarded an athletic scholarship to Florida A&M, which she graduated from in 1955 at the age of 27. 

Championships and Wimbledon

Though Gibson was widely recognized as an elite athlete, she still experienced racial discrimination. She was banned from participating in all-white tournaments held by the USLTA, so she could only compete in the ATA, where she dominated. Despite having a claim to being one of the greatest tennis players in the country, Gibson was unable to participate in the United States National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open) because the qualifying tournaments were typically held at white-only clubs. In 1950 a movement for Gibson to be included in the USLTA began. The ATA and prominent white tennis players, including Alice Marble and Sarah Palfrey, lobbied on Gibson’s behalf.

Following these efforts, Gibson was the first black player to be invited to the U.S. Nationals. Although she lost, her participation in the tournament received international recognition, and many compared her trailblazing efforts to those of Jackie Robinson. This marked the start of the most acclaimed part of her tennis career. Six years later in 1956, Gibson won the French Championships, and in 1957 and 1958 she won the Wimbledon Women’s Singles and Doubles titles, becoming the first black athlete to do so. Months later, she won the U.S. Nationals in just 50 minutes. She went on to win a total of 11 grand slam titles, cementing herself as one of the greatest athletes in history. 

Retirement and Legacy

Gibson won a total of 56 championships over the course of her illustrious career. Following her retirement from professional tennis, she became the first black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour in 1964. She played professional golf for over a decade and continued to blaze a path for black athletes. In 1971 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In the years following, she was welcomed into the Black Athletes Hall of Fame and the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. Gibson died in 2003 at the age of 76 from respiratory failure.  

American Women Quarters

Althea Gibson’s inclusion in the American Women Quarters program honors her legacy as a pioneer whose talent, hard work, and fortitude forged a path for other black athletes and broke through barriers of discrimination. The design portrays Gibson with a racket in one hand and a ball in the other while standing confidently behind a tennis net, as if preparing to play a match. The inscription TRAILBLAZING CHAMPION and her name appear beside her. Don Everhart, a designer in the U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program, designed the reverse, which was sculpted by U.S. Mint medallic artist Renata Gordon. 

The obverse of the American Women Quarters bears Laura Gardin Fraser’s depiction of George Washington, designed as a candidate for the 1932 Washington quarter. Although John Flanagan’s design was chosen instead, Fraser’s was later used on the 1999 commemorative for the bicentennial of Washington’s death. It has been revived for use in the American Women Quarters.

A version of this article appears in the November 2025 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).