Althea Gibson
A pioneer who became the first Black player to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament.
Althea Gibson (1927–2003) was a player who rewrote history on the tennis court. In an era when it was not even easy for a Black player to enter major tournaments, she flung open a firmly shut door with her outstanding skill alone.
The reverse of the coin shows Althea Gibson holding a tennis racket, and around her is inscribed the phrase “Trailblazing Champion.” Her confident posture gripping the racket, combined with this phrase, shows well that she was not merely a champion but a pioneer who cut a new path.
Gibson was the first Black player to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament. By rising to the top on the world’s highest-level stage, she proved to the whole world the truth that “it is skill, not the color of one’s skin, that speaks for a player.” Her victory gave great courage to many people both within sports and beyond.
The path to the summit she reached was arduous. Barriers of discrimination that blocked her very entry into tournaments existed everywhere, but instead of giving in to despair, Gibson answered with her skill on the court. The path she thus made for herself became a great road that countless Black players would later walk with pride.
This quarter, depicting her holding a racket together with the phrase “Trailblazing Champion,” powerfully tells of how the challenge taken up by one person broadens the road for everyone.