Althea Gibson

Althea Neale Gibson was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam event. The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals, then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived", said Bob Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina [Navratilova] couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters." Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. In the early 1960s, she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women's Professional Golf Tour.

25 August 1927

Born on the same birth date (25 August 1927): Des Renford

Born on the same birth day (25 August): Allan Pinkerton • Elvis Costello • Gene Simmons • Louis Antoine de Saint-Just • Marvin Harrison • Masumi Asano • Saburō Sakai • Stepas Butautas • Wilhelm von Homburg

Born in the same month (August 1927): Daniel Keyes • David Ireland (author) • Dick Bruna • Eddie Leadbeater • F. Ray Keyser Jr. • Geoffrey Beene • Harry Markowitz • Lois Nettleton • Martial Solal • Porter Wagoner • Robert Shaw (actor) • Rocky Bridges • Sam Butera • Stuart Rosenberg • Thomas S. Monson • Vernon Washington