Today in Herstory - Althea Gibson

On August 22, 1950, Althea Gibson made history simply by walking out onto a tennis court.

But it really wasn't that simple. Nothing really ever is, right? Prior to 1950, the national championship events were for whites only. Which meant that young tennis genius Althea Gibson could not compete on a national level, and could not progress in the sport she was so very talented at.

"I knew that I was an unusual, talented girl, through the grace of God. I didn't need to prove that to myself. I only wanted to prove it to my opponents."

Althea Gibson came to tennis later than most who pursued a professional career. But she was a natural, and quickly rose in the ranks of her local tennis circle. In fact, she was so good and so well loved by her community that in 1940 they took up a collection to pay for a junior membership and lessons at the prestigious Cosmopolitan Tennis Club.

With their support and the excellent training she received, she continued to advance, winning tournament after tournament.

In 1941 she entered — and won — her first tournament, the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship. She won the ATA national championship in the girls' division in 1944 and 1945, and after losing in the women's final in 1946, she won her first of ten straight national ATA women's titles in 1947.
(Source: wikipedia)

And she went on winning. And getting more attention from people in the position to help her. Dr. Walter Johnson, a Virginia physician and patron of the African American tennis community, took her under his wing and mentored her as she continued to excel. Dr. Hubert A. Eaton, another physician and tennis aficionado, sponsored her move to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she attended Williston High School and continued to play tennis and improve her skill. In fact, her skill was so impressive that while she was only ever a mediocre student, she was awarded a full athletic scholarship at Florida A&M.

In 1949, she became the first black woman to play in the USTA's National Indoor Championships. While this was an exciting event, it was also one of the few high level events she was able to enter. Because of the color barrier, her options for advancement in her sport were becoming ever fewer. That same year, she petitioned to enter the USLTA's National Grass Court Championships at Forest Hills and was denied. It was still a white-only event, and while she had the skill to compete, she did not have the privilege.

The next step proved harder. Even after she had won the 1950 Eastern Indoor Championship and a clamor had begun to let her play in the National Grass Court Championships at Forest Hills, the precursor of the United States Open, the powers of tennis seemed to close ranks to keep her out.

To qualify for an invitation to the 1950 nationals, she was required to first make a name for herself at one of the major preliminary grass-court events. But no invitations were forthcoming.
(Source: New York Times)

And here's where something remarkable happened. Alice Marble, a former tennis champion herself, wrote an open letter in the American Lawn Tennis magazine, calling out the powers that be that were keeping Althea Gibson and other African Americans off their courts.

"Miss Gibson is over a very cunningly wrought barrel, and I can only hope to loosen a few of its staves with one lone opinion. If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentle-people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites... If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts."

Marble said that, if Gibson were not given the opportunity to compete, "then there is an ineradicable mark against a game to which I have devoted most of my life, and I would be bitterly ashamed."
(Source: wikipedia)

Althea Gibson and Alice Marble walking to the outer court where Gibson's first match was scheduled. (Source: tennisforum.com)

In response to the attention this letter garnered, Althea finally received an invitation to compete in the United States National Championships (now the U.S. Open) at Forest Hills. On August 22, 1950, Althea became the first African American to be named on a National Grass Court Championship roster. Her first match was on her 23rd birthday, August 25.

She did not win the championship. She lost in the second round to Louise Brough, the reigning Wimbledon champion, but her presence on the court brought national, and international, coverage.

But it was Gibson's second-round match against three-time Wimbledon champion Louise Brough that showed everyone Gibson was a future champion. Gibson led Brough 1-6, 6-3, 7-6, needing just one game to win the match, when along came a storm so severe lightning knocked a cement eagle from atop the stadium. Brough won the match upon its conclusion the next day.

But, Gibson said later of that day, "When lightning put down that eagle, maybe it was an omen that times was changing."
(Source: USAT)

And the times were changing.

"No Negro player, man or woman, has ever set foot on one of these courts," wrote journalist Lester Rodney at the time. "In many ways, it [was] even a tougher personal Jim Crow-busting assignment than was Jackie Robinson's when he first stepped out of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout."
(Source: wikipedia)

Althea Gibson's full career deserves a longer, more in-depth telling. But I wanted to give a little more attention to this one moment in time in her career. It should get more than a just quick paragraph in her longer biology. It cannot have been as simple as having one famous tennis star stand up for her. While that one act played an important role in her professional advancement, it was Althea herself who put in the work and applied her talents to place herself in the position of gaining the attention of her mentors, her sponsors and patrons, and eventually Alice Marble.

It was Althea who had to show up on the court and play excellent tennis. There is no record of how she was received at Forest Hills, but I cannot help but wonder how one would prepare for that moment. Especially after having seen the reception Jackie Robinson was given.

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Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week - Brooke Raboutou

I don't know a lot about climbing. I'm terribly afraid of falling, and think it's a great personal achievement to make it halfway up the easy routes at the local climbing wall (but I'm working on going higher!). But I'm pretty sure Brooke Raboutou is as freakin' awesome as she seems in these photos! And she's only 11 years old!

I train mostly in the winter in the indoor climbing gyms. I train with my team three/four days per week. They encourage me and I encourage them. We push each other to climb harder. I also do gymnastics and I think that helps my climbing too.

I just like to climb and have fun with my family, my team, and myself.

I think what I do is more fun than most of the other things I could be doing. My best friends do gymnastics and or climbing.

I look up to my family for a lot of different reasons. Mostly because they are good climbers, like my Mom, who won 4 world cups in a row. My Dad was a French champion and was the first person to onsight an 8b. My brother helps me because he encourages me, and we work together. He is also very very strong. I'm also lucky to have my mom as my coach. Another climber that inspires me is Alex Puccio, because she is so strong.

(Quotes Source: DPMClimbing;  Photo Sources: Team ABC Boulder and DPMClimbing)

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KickStart this!

Cary Cooper's new album Zuzu's Petals. The video is told from the point of view of her daughter, but features some of her lovely music. And I love the idea of her stretching herself outside her comfort zone.

Learning and becoming competent on an instrument, and learning how to carry whole shows by myself were among the things that terrified me the most. But because I love doing what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else, I made the brave commitment to stretch and see just how far stretching would take me. As it turns out, I’ve stretched pretty far!

Heroine is a role playing game with an adventurous young woman protagonist, by Josh Jordan. I've heard so many great things about this project from my various gamer friends. We don't do a lot of story-telling around here, but I might have to get a copy anyway.

Heroine is a storytelling game inspired by books and movies like Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth, Alice in Wonderland, and The Chronicles of Narnia. I love these stories about a girl who has serious problems to deal with in her regular life, but who gets whisked away to the Other World, where she has an unusual chance to be heroic.

Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II -- will tell the stories of African American working during World War II -- fighting the war and fighting for their own civil rights. This looks like a great project and well worth funding for the historical value alone!

Keeper of the Stars, by Aubrey Jewel - "A tale of the magic found in the night sky in the form of an animated story." This looks like a lovely book for kids, young and old alike.

Fabulous artist Therese Obergottsberger is looking for some help getting her her work scanned and ready for a showing in New York in December. She's an amazing talent!

Diary of a Champion -- Looks like the kind of sports story I'd love to see. And the cast list is impressive.

When your passion and talent don't seem to be enough, the lengths one will go are detrimental. Following the story of Track & Field star Tahja Dupree, “Diary of a Champion” explores the politics and scandal behind the doors of competition between prominent track athletes and coaches preparing for the 2016 games.

And finally, just in time for the holi-daze, check out Heather "Cloe" Bloss' Spoonful of Cats Holiday Cards. I mean, who doesn't like cute cats in holiday scenes?

What KickStarter projects are you following?

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Is archery making a come back?

In the 18th century, archery was one of the few sports open to young English ladies. Archery societies were popular, and many of the young elite women found an outlet for their competitiveness while still appearing feminine and proper.

Winona Ryder as Mae Welland in The Age of Innocence

While many 20th century schools offered archery, its popularity has waned over the years. But with so many really awesome archers in pop culture these days, archery appears to be making a come-back. And many young girls getting involved.

The Hunger Games book trilogy and movie, featuring a futuristic, bow-wielding heroine named Katniss Everdeen, hooked Elizabeth Kinson, 13, on archery. For Mia Smith, 7, it was the archer Merida in the animated movie Brave.

Top: Merida in Brave; Bottom: Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games
Photo source: Fresno Bee

New archery clubs are popping up all over, and established clubs are seeing a dramatic increase in inquiries and new memberships.

Bruce Cull, president of the National Field Archery Assocation, says membership is up about 5% this year, largely driven by younger archers. "Hollywood has had a huge impact on archery," he says. "Young girls see the appeal because they see somebody cool doing it."

And not only are they taking it up as a hobby, but they're competing. Like Christiana-Marie Wilburn, of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Christiana-Marie Wilburn, 17 and fab. Photo source: Las Vegas Sun

Right now Wilburn just hopes to make it to 2012 National Archery in the Schools Program’s Nationals in Louisville, Ky. Though winning the tournament has secured her an invite, she’s actively looking for sponsors since archery is just a club at Las Vegas Academy and not funded like other high school sports around the valley.

Everyone expects this increased interest will only continue to grow during the 2012 Olympics, with the best archers in the world competing in London. The archery competitions began today, with the US women's team already in second place.

Miranda Leek, 19 and awesome. Photo source: USAToday

I don't know about you, but I think it is pretty awesome. Or, as Elizabeth Kinson said, "It's fun, and it makes me feel really powerful."

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Olympics Preview

I don't know about you, but the Olympics are a Big Deal™ around my house. I've been looking forward to this year's games for months! Years ago, when I first moved in with my partner, we didn't have cable television. We went a couple of years without it, in fact. But we broke down and got it for the 2004 Olympics. Going to a sports bar for all the events we wanted to watch just wasn't practical. I mean, there's just so many chicken wings one person can eat, right?

This year seems to be the Year of the Women. There are so many great women and girls from around the world showing up to compete in London. I'm going to try to watch as many events as I can, but I have to be a bit pragmatic. Just in case life gets hectic, as it's wont to do, I've made a short list of events that will take priority.

I can't wait to see the women's cycling team. My favorite event is the road race, and I usually check out the mountain bike race, but I'm also excited to see the BMX event. I mean, seriously, what's not to love about women's BMX?!

On the road racing side of cycling, I really hope Kristin Armstrong does well again. She's one of my favorites, and after winning gold in 2008, I think she's done a lot for improving the attention given to women's cycling in the US.

I'll also be watching the women's triathlon (and probably the men's too). Laura Bennett is representing the US, and she's pretty awesome. But I'm intrigued by Sarah Groff's story.

She clinched her spot on the Olympic team back in 2011, while competing in the London ITU World Championship Series, which was run on the same course the Olympics will use. Which means she's had almost an entire year to train for it.

"It's fast, it's furious and it's exciting. Those two hours go by so quickly. You make a small mistake, and it could cost you your entire race."

And, like many people, I'm already watching the women's soccer events, which started earlier this week.

And I'm always amazing at the women weightlifters! I hope by now you've heard of Sarah Robles. But what about Holley Mangold? If her last name sounds familiar, it might be that you know of her brother, Nick Mangold, who plays for the NY Giants.

I'm also very interested in the outcome of the women's boxing events, since this is the first Olympics where there will be women participating. While boxing isn't a sport I usually like to watch, I might have to check it out just to see these women who I've been hearing so much about for the last several months. The US will be represented by Claressa Shields, Marlen Esparza, and Queen Underwood.

I'm sure I'll also be watching swimming, gymnastics, rowing, fencing, and all kinds of other sports I wouldn't normally watch. And don't think I'm only watching the US athletes. There are women coming from nearly every country. I'm especially eager to see the woman from Saudi Arabia and other muslim countries who will be the first women to ever represent their country.

Also, I sincerely hope there's another sighting of these two "olympians."

Who are you most excited to watch? What events capture your fancy?

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SRPS Shout Out - Nadia Comăneci

"I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet."

On this day in 1976, Nadia Comăneci was the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10 in an Olympic event. Her story was something I grew up with just knowing. I was six that year, and probably watched the Olympics, although I don't really have any clear memories of it.

Rewatching the video now, I'm struck by her grace, her poise, her calm confidence. While I have never been a gymnast myself, I have always admired the sheer athleticism required.



Throughout the 1976 Olympic, Nadia earned seven perfect 10 scores, and her opponent Nellie Kim earned two.

Although retired from competing, she has remained active in the world of gymnastics. While she was living in Romania, she worked with their national junior gymnastics program. Romania at this time was  run by an oppressive regime, and there were many defections during the 80s. Nadia was closely guarded, and it wasn't until the late-80s that she was able to escape. She made her way to the U.S. and then to Canada. There was some drama around her relationship with the man who helped her escape, and some concerns that he was controlling and possibly abusing her. With the help of her former coach, the infamous Bela Károlyi, she was able to get away from him.

In 1996, she married American gymnast Bart Conner, and the couple now has a son. Since the fall of communism, she has returned to Romania several times, and has set up several charity organizations, as well as taking a leadership role in the national gymnastics program.

"I believe that you should gravitate to people who are doing productive and positive things with their lives."

In the U.S., she was invited to be a speaker at the U.N., and is the current president of the Special Olympics. In the past, she has been hired as a color commentator for gymnastic events, and I sincerely hope she is invited to the 2012 Olympics in London next month.

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SRPS - Blog Around

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." Nora Ephram

I just love that quote. And I love this essay Tom Hanks wrote for Time magazine.

Women 2.0 has a great list of female founders they saw at the Google I/O developers conference that wrapped up last week.

I love this RedBubble t-shirt design!

The Gameologicial Society has a fantastic interview with game writer Rhianna Pratchett.

There isn’t a great deal of understanding about what writers actually do, how they do it, and why. At the moment, we don’t have enough experienced storytellers calling the shots in the industry. Consequently, our narrative literacy is still low. Writers are treated as typists of other people’s ideas, rather than professionals with a specific set of skills, gained over many years of living and breathing stories. In fairness, this is a two-way street, and writers themselves need to be more proactive about the best way to utilize their skills and experience. They need to be prepared to fight for the space and agency they need to do their job.

I think the Emily Windsnap series, written by Liz Kessler and beautifully illustrated by Sarah Gibb, will be my next ink on paper book purchase. It comes highly recommended by a children's librarian friend, so it has to be good!

Marie Brennan has an interesting post up on the SFnovelists.com Science Fiction and Fantasy Novelists blog about how just because history may not remember all the exceptional women doesn't mean they didn't exist.

When we talk about people like this — the exceptions to the rule — we aren’t scrounging through the dust-bin, trying desperately to find tokens we can hold up as a sop for women and minorities. We’re taking off the filters that make us dismiss those people as tokens.

I could not help but laugh very much out loud while reading Amanda LaPergola's review of Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman. I saw them both on the same night as well, and while I thought about blogging my review, I decided I really didn't want to. Her review pretty much sums up my thoughts on both movies.

While I know I still owe you all a more comprehensive review of Brave, please accept this post about the interactive comic instead.

Speaking of Brave, Ms. Magazine says, "If you like Brave, you'll love Korra." OK, then. I'll have to check it out.

The Frisky quotes Geena Davis on how we're not done creating gender equality:

If we’re not showing boys and girls that they share the sandbox equally when they are young, that girls have the same value as boys, then it’s never going to change.

BetaBeat has super slideshow on the tales of eight young women who learned computer science in high school.

OMG OMG OMG! Her Universe is adding lots and lots of new shirts (Star Trek, Dr. Who, and so much more! to their line up! Including this Uhura tee:

I've been reading a lot of posts over on Women Talk Sports, what with the Olympics coming up and all. This one about Emily Geraghty, an Irish Karate champion, was quite inspirational.

Conversely, this article on BuzzFeed about how Sarah Robles, the likely gold-medal champion and strongest women in America, lives in poverty because she isn't getting the same level of endorsements other more conventionally attractive female athletes receive.

I have been watching lots of TV over the last month or so. And while I may not be writing about it all, I'm certainly doing a lot of critiquing in my head. Which is why this Racialicious post about how criticizing a women-centric show's lack of diversity isn't the same thing as women-hate. Hear hear!


What are you reading/blogging/posting these days?

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She's Crafty!

So many geeky crafters were busy this last week or so, gearing up for Sunday's premier of season 2 of Game of Thrones.

The folks over at Inn at the Crossroads had great recipes and craft ideas for a kick-off party. I love these DIY house banner placemats:

And black-lupin over on DeviantArt has lots of seriously awesomely geeky cross-stitch patterns (like these Star Trek:TNG mini cross stitch figures:). I think these Game of Thrones bookmarks are going into several Christmas stockings this year!

Speaking of Star Trek cross stitch, I adore this hand towel from starrley on the sprite stitch forums:

My blog-friend over at Sincerely Emily shared some beautiful beaded eggs she made:

I found these super cute peg math wizards on Julie Blanchette's esty page:

Another fabulous find from etsy (I love robots!) comes from calliecalliejumpjump:

And, to celebrate the beginning of baseball season, Oops! I craft my pants made this fantastic baseball wreath:

What are you crafting these days?

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Another Double Hitter: SRPS Movie Review and Shout-out.

I just love this movie so much! 20 years later, and it still holds up. I loved baseball when I was growing up in Louisiana and East Texas, and enjoyed spending a rare quite Saturday afternoon with my dad watching the Astros on TV. We even went to a game when we visited Houston. When we moved to Michigan, I changed my allegiance to the Tigers, naturally. In Kansas City, I followed the Royals. And now that I'm in Northern California, I'm a Giants fan.

But, really, I'm a baseball fan. I love the sound of a baseball game being broadcast on the radio or TV. I love the sounds of the crowd and the game. I love the suspense. I love the slow, meditative pace of a game, with short bursts of excitement, and lots of strategy. 

Even at a young age, I was pretty aware that things were different for girls and boys. I don't think I ever harbored any unrealistic ambition of being a professional baseball player, like I'm sure many boys my age did. I remember asking my mom why there weren't any baseball players who were women. In fact, in the 1970s, it was pretty rare to find girls playing Little League.  She didn't really have a good answer. I don't remember what it was exactly, but I'm sure it was yet another lesson in gender expectations and inequality.

I never heard anything about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. I don't know if she had ever heard of them either. 

When the movie A League of Their Own came out in 1992, I went to see it and fell in love. It was the first time I had ever heard of women playing professional sports other than the ones we see in the Olympics (tennis, figure skating, etc.). Which is surprising to me now, seeing as how the AAGPBL was active for a decade (1943 to 1954). How could something that was, according to all the stories I read about it now, so popular be completely missing from our collective memory in the 1970s and 80s? Or was it just not known in my little corner of the world?

The movie is a fictionalized account of the first season, and seems to hold true to the general story. Although it's a movie about baseball players, it's not necessarily about baseball so much as about the story of how the league came into being and the experiences of the individual women in the story, especially the sisters Dottie Hinson (played by Geena Davis, whom I adore) and Kit Keller (played by Lori Petty), who have a strong bond but also a healthy dose of sibling rivalry. Originally placed on the same team, because of an argument that makes Dottie consider leaving the league, Kit is traded to a rival team. Of course, the movie puts both teams in the World Series game, and the last at bat brings Kit to the plate where Dottie is catcher. It's a suspenseful scene.

There are some remarkable performances in this film. Tom Hanks as the coach, screaming, "There's no crying in baseball!" Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell as two feisty friends. John Lovitz as the scout. So many great scenes. So many great lines. It's not a perfect movie, but it's a fun story. And I love these ensemble casts of women. The characters are complex and whole people, not props. 

This is a movie I make it a point to watch at least once a year. Usually when I get Spring Training Fever in early February, when I pull out all my baseball movies, getting excited about the coming season. And I see something new each time I watch it.

So, when I learned that February 2 is Doris Sams' birthday, I had to move up the re-viewing to make it happen for a shout-out for her.

I don't claim to have known anything about her, or her record, before this week when I saw her listed on a Wikipedia page for birthdays.

According to the Baseball Almanac biography, written by Jim Sargent:

Following the circuit's 1947 season, Sammye's second year, she was selected as the AAGPBL's Player of the Year. A pitcher turned outfielder, she was named to the league's all-star team at both positions. No other player in the history of the AAGPBL accomplished that unique feat.

The Society for American Baseball Research biography, also written by Jim Sargent (actually, it looks like a longer version of the article on BaseballAlmanac.com):

When fans, readers, and baseball enthusiasts consider the fine All-Americans who performed in consistently excellent fashion year in and year out, Doris Sams will be remembered among the best in the league's storied history. Considering her all-around athletic skills, including her accomplishments at the plate and on the mound as well as her down-home personality and widespread popularity, the Knoxville great deserved to be selected among Total Baseball's top twenty players. Indeed, Sammye's popularity in her adopted hometowns of Muskegon and Kalamazoo helps illustrate the glory of hundreds of All-American women who played a high level of baseball on their own fields of dreams in the 1940s and early 1950s.

I would have loved to have known about Doris Sams and the other professional womens baseball players when I was a girl! No telling how I would have used that info. I wasn't especially athletically inclined, but it certainly would have been inspirational anyway. I'm sure I would have devoured biographies about women ball players if I had found any, the same way I read through every book I could find on Amelia Earhart.

I just hope there are lots of little girls out there who ARE learning about professional women's baseball, and other professional women's sports, and are inspired to pursue their dreams. Of course, it's up to us adults to make sure they know about them, and to support them in their goals.

Happy Birthday Doris "Sammye" Sams!

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