The match : Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton : how two outsiders--one Black, the other Jewish--forged a friendship and made sports history / Bruce Schoenfeld.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schoenfeld, Bruce.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gibson, Althea, 1927-2003.

Gibson, Althea.

Buxton, Angela, 1934-.

Buxton, Angela.

Tennis players--United States--Biography.

Tennis players.

United States.

Great Britain.

Tennis players--Great Britain--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 304 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Amistad, [2004]

Summary:

Althea Gibson first met Angela Buxton at an exhibition match in India. On the surface, the two women could not have been more different. The daughter of share-croppers, Gibson was born in the American South and grew up in Harlem. Angela Buxton, the granddaughter of Russian Jews, was raised in England, where her father ran a successful business. But both women encountered prejudice, particularly on the tennis circuit, where they were excluded from tournaments and clubs because of race and religion.

Despite their athletic prowess, both Gibson and Buxton were shunned by the other female players at Wimbledon in 1956 and found themselves without doubles partners. Undaunted, they chose to play together and ultimately triumphed. In The Match, which has been hailed as an "important contribution in spreading the legacy of Gibson," Bruce Schoenfeld delivers not only the little-known history of Gibson's life but also the inspiring story of two underdogs who refused to let bigotry stop them -- on the court and off. Here, too, is an homage to a remarkable friendship.

Contents:

Prologue: Angela 1

1 Althea 13

2 "Put Her in Tournaments" 27

3 Help from Her Friends 41

4 Breaking Through 57

5 From Forest Hills to Wimbledon 73

6 Angela Goes to Hollywood 89

7 Patterned Dresses and Pattern Tennis 103

8 She Didn't Have a Name 119

9 Rendezvous in Asia 133

10 Doubles Partners 147

11 Making History 163

12 Flatmates 181

13 Wimbledon 195

14 Angela's Ashes 211

15 A Black from Harlem, a Jew from North London 225

16 Althea's Championship Seasons 241

17 Second Careers 257

18 Together Again 271

Epilogue: Althea 287.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0060526521

OCLC:

53315292