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WFAE: The life of legendary tennis player Althea Gibson explored in new book
“[Author] Sally Jacobs had not heard of her when it was suggested Gibson become her next subject for a book.… ‘So for me, it was a long journey and a fascinating one learning about who [Althea Gibson] was and what she did.’”
Gwendolyn Glenn, “The life of legendary tennis player Althea Gibson explored in new book,” WFAE 90.7, October 5, 2023.
Post & Courier: Q&A with Sally Jacobs
“Many Americans are unaware of Althea Gibson and think Arthur Ashe was the first Black player to win a grand slam. In fact, Althea was not only the first, she also won a total of 11 grand slams in her 8-year tennis career, five of them in singles….
But Althea wasn’t done. In 1964 she broke a second racial barrier when she became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She went on to cut a record, appear in a movie with John Wayne and serve as the New Jersey Athletic Commissioner, the first woman to do so. ”
Adam Parker, “Q&A with Sally Jacobs, author of ‘Althea,’ a biography of the trailblazing Black athlete,” Post and Courier, Aug 13, 2023.
Boston Globe: Sally H. Jacobs traces the arc of tennis star Althea Gibson, for whom fighting was a mode of survival
“For decades, Althea Gibson’s fame was inescapable.…
But by her death, alone and nearly destitute, at the age of 76 in 2003, she had been eclipsed by newer stars as well as by later groundbreakers like Arthur Ashe. Even Sally H. Jacobs, a former Globe reporter and the author of the new “Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson,” hadn’t heard of her.”
Clea Simon, “Sally H. Jacobs, in her biography ‘Althea,’ traces the arc of tennis star Althea Gibson, for whom fighting was a mode of survival,” The Story Behind the Book, Boston Globe, August 10, 2023.