My, My, What A Day It Has Been

I had surgery on my knee earlier today. Fun times. I'm at home now, attempting to recover, and it's no fun.

What was fun (at least, enjoyable to watch) was the tribute to Althea Gibson last night at the U.S. Open. This year marks the 50th year that Gibson won the U.S. Championships (now the U.S. Open). Althea Gibson was the first Black, male or female, to win one both Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.

Born in South Carolina, but raised in Harlem, NY, Althea initially showed interests in horsemanship, basketball, golf and tennis. She eventually found her true love in tennis, and trained with some pretty fly tennis players in Harlem. Later, she would attend Florida A&M University on a tennis and basketball scholarship and graduate with a degree in Education. Afterwards, she worked as the athletic instructor at Lincoln University in Missouri.

It wasn't until Althea was almost 25 when she competed in her first Grand Slam tournament in 1950. Five years later, she had captured both the French and Italian Championships.

Monday evening, was the special tribute (and clearly long overdue, but very special). Not only did the U.S. Open honor her in being the first African-American woman champion in tennis, but they honored many other African-American female firsts. Some women they brought out were Dr. Mae Jemison, Phylicia Rashad, Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun (D-IL), Robert Flack, Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly (Washington, DC), and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings to name a few.

The tribute was capped off with a performance by the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin (and praise GOD she was dressed appropriately) singing "R-E-S-P-E-C-T".

Unfortunately, Althea Gibson never lived to see such a wonderful tribute to her, having passed away in 2003. However, she was there in spirit, and watching it from heaven (which probably has the best view anyway!). After watching that, it makes me wanna hit the courts and work on my lackluster tennis game!