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 • Amy Macdonald • Andy McDonald (ice hockey) • Charles Richet • Conrad Black • Deanna Nolan • Des Renford • Henri Toivonen • Herbert Kroemer • James Rossiter • John Badham • Louis I of Spain • Mel Ferrer • Nikolay Zinin • Rodney Ferguson • Rollie Fingers • Taslima Nasrin • Thomas Bladen Capel • Tim Cain • Velimir Jovanović

Born in the same month (August 1927): Anjali Devi • Art Houtteman • Bill Daily • Daniel Keyes • David Ireland (author) • Dick Bruna • F. Ray Keyser Jr. • Geoffrey Beene • John H. Moore II • María Teresa López Boegeholz • Porter Wagoner • Raymond Leppard • Robert Shaw (actor) • Rocky Bridges • Sam Butera • Thomas S. Monson