Sporting Shorts – Brief Biographies of the Legendary Ladies in Sport. 1 Althea Gibson: Tennis

Retiring from the amateur circuit, she made a living for a while doing exhibition matches before Harlem Globetrotter basketball games. She also tried the Pro Golf tournament but wasn't as skilled in that sport. She made a record, acted in a movie, and wrote her autobiography! In 1965 she married, and in 1971 she was honoured by being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. From 1975-1985 she was the state commissioner for athletics, following which were posts with first the state athletics control board, and then the Governors council on physical fitness - which she left in 1992. In 1988 she presented her Wimbledon trophies to the National Museum of American History in Washington DC.

After being laid off from her job in 1992, both her health and finances failed. She isolated herself but in 1996 word of her problems resounded around the globe and funds started to arrive from people she'd helped and inspired over the years.

She co-created the Althea Gibson Foundation in 1978 in order to provide sports opportunities/scholarships to inner-city youth.

At the age of 76, she died in New Jersery from respiratory failure.

Katie-Anne Gustafsson

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