Women's hall of fame - African American athletes - Blacks in Sports: 1947-1992: The Legacy

Ebony, August, 1992

ROM tennis legend Althea Gibson to track great Wilma Rudolph to figure skating champion Debi Thomas, Black women have mn, leaped, dribbled and rowed their way into sporting history.

Since Jackie Robinson's breakthrough, they have shattered Olympic and world records in track and field, devastated opponents in international Grand Slam tennis tournaments and extended the boundaries of basketball by scoring 105 points in a single game. Woven together, their achievements are threads in a tapestry of perseverance, competition and sweet victory.

The Black women athletes featured on these pages are recognized by sports authorities as hall of famers by any standard. Like so many of their athletic peers, they dreamed of winning Olympic medals and world titles. They nurtured those hopes as youngsters despite debilitating illnesses, cash-strapped families and boys-only sports and recreation programs. As they grew older, many of these women juggled full-time jobs or college studies, fledgling marriages and rigorous training programs.

Through the hard times and sacrifices, these athletic legends remained committed to their sport. Gibson, for example, bore the brunt of racism when she sought membership in all-White tennis clubs and tournaments in the 1950s. Sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner literally ran from her part-time job at a bank to track practice and then ran home again while training for the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. Thomas' mother drove the skater hundreds of miles a day between home, school and the ice rink in her quest to become a skating champion.

Their dedication paid off, however, when these uncommonly talented athletes climbed the victor's stand and took their rightful place in the sports legends hall of fame.

Legendary Althea Gibson became the first Black, male or female, to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament by winning the French Open singles championship in 1956. She continued to dominate women's tennis in the late 1950s, winning back-to-back Wimbledon singles championships in 1957 and 1958 and the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) national singles championship in 1957 and 1958 at Forest Hills, N.Y. She also won several doubles championships, including the Wimbledon women's doubles in 1957 and 1958 and USLTA mixed doubles 1957.

Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to collect three gold medals in track and field when she won the 100-and 200-meter dashes and helped win the 400-meter relay at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. The foflowing year she became the first Black woman to win the James E. Sullivan Award, the highest award in amateur athletics. Rudolph overcame childhood illnesses that left her disabled. Years of heat and water therapy and leg massages four times a day eventually helped her to walk and then to run.

Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she placed first in the high jump competition at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Coachman was the first in what would become a long line of Black women track and field champions. The Albany State College graduate now lives in Tuskegee, Ala., with her husband, Frank Davis.

Cheryl Miller, who has been called "the best women's player in the history of basketball," led her team to a gold-medal victory at the i984 Olympic Games Los Angeles. The 6-foot, 3-inch Miller once scored 105 points in a single game as a high school player in Riverside, Calif. She later helped win two NCAA championships at the University of Southern California. Today, Miller is a college basketball and football commentator with ABC-TV.

Lynette Woodard, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's basketball and the top scorer at the University of Kansas where her point totals topped Wilt Chamberlain's, became the first woman to join the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team in 1985. She signed the professional basketball contract a year after she starred on the gold medal-winning U. S. women's basketball team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Debi Thomas became the first Black to win the U. S. Figure Skating and the World Figure Skating championship senior titles in 1986. She later became the first Black to win a medal in the Winter Olympic Games when she captured the bronze at Calgary in 1988. Thomas announced in April 1992 that she would retire from professional skating to attend medical school.

Lyle (Toni) Stone became the first Black woman to play professional baseball when she joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in July 1953. Hailed as "an excellent fielder and accurate thrower," the St. Paul, Minn., native began playing with boys' teams in high school. At 22, she was spotted by Clowns talent scouts who signed the second baseman to a $12,000 single-season contract. Stone, now 70, recently was featured on television's This Week In Baseball during a Negro Leagues retrospective.

Florence Griffith Joyner, "the world's fastest woman," turned in gold medal performances in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 400-meter relay and won a silver medal in the 1600-meter relay at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. Flo Jo, as her fans call her, brought glamour to women's track and field with her multicolored painted fingernails and lacy, one-legged running outfits.