Althea Gibson, Tennis Great & Daughter Of Harlem, Gets Her Own Street

HARLEM, NY — On what would have been her 95th birthday, Althea Gibson received an accolade on Thursday that she never received during her life or her storied tennis career: a Harlem block of her own.

Neighbors and officials gathered Thursday to "co-name" a block of West 143rd Street as "Althea Gibson Way" for the pioneering athlete, who grew up on the block and went on to become the first Black player to win a Grand Slam singles title. (She won five in total, plus six more in doubles.)

The block, between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. boulevards, played more than just an incidental role in Gibson's life after her parents — sharecroppers from South Carolina — moved the family there in 1930.

By chance, the block was a designated "play street" that the city had closed to traffic. Volunteers from the Police Athletic League set up recreation equipment along the street — including a paddle tennis court in front of the Gibsons' stoop at 135 West 143rd St., as the New York Times reported years later.

Gibson took to the sport and won a citywide women's paddle tennis championship by the time she was 12. Two years later, in 1941, the Harlem bandleader Buddy Walker bought Gibson a pair of tennis rackets and helped her join the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in Sugar Hill, where she honed her game, as the Times reported.

Gibson went on to win the French Open in 1956, followed by back-to-back wins in both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1957 and 1958.

On her return home following the first Wimbledon win, Gibson got a ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan and a hero's welcome at her old Harlem play street, where a crowd of kids and neighbors greeted her as she made her way up to her parents' third-floor apartment.

"My victory was your victory," Gibson told them, as newspapers reported that day.

During her playing career, Gibson endured racist taunts and segregated hotels, and she remained bitter years later about earning paltry prize money despite her success, the Times reported this week.

After stints in professional golf, acting and music, and even local government in New Jersey, Gibson's health declined by the early 2000s and medical expenses left her penniless — though a longtime friend helped raise funds by appealing to the public for help. Gibson died in 2003 at age 76.

"Althea Gibson never got rich from her triumphs, and later she was too frail to face the multitudes who would have loved to meet her," Times sports columnist George Vecsey wrote upon Gibson's death.

The street co-naming was approved by the City Council last year, following a push by Gibson's relatives that began as far back as 2019 and won support from Harlem's community board.

"Once given the chance, she became a champion, a role model – and an icon," Community Board 10 wrote in a 2020 memo supporting the co-naming. "Through her talents and tenacity, Althea Gibson opened doors and opened minds."