Timing is everything: cf Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe

As the nation celebrates the federal holiday honoring the accomplishments of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. consider the careers of African-American tennis greats Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe. Chances are that the under-40 set may remember Ashe for his courage in battling the Acquired Immune Deficiency (AIDs) disease that he contracted while receiving a blood transfusion while undergoing heart surgery. Odds are that many don't recognize Ashe as a Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion. And betting money says that few in the under-50 set know the name Althea Gibson, much-less appreciate her tennis feats as a U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion.

Referenced as the "Jackie Robinson of tennis", Gibson (1927-2003) became the first African-American in 1956 to win a Grand-Slam title when she defeated Australian Angela Mortimer Barnett (6-0, 12-10) in the French Open. Gibson joined the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) only six years earlier. While Gibson dominated her opponents while competing in the American Tennis Association (ATA), an African-American tennis circuit, and attending Florida A&M College. Gibson became the first African-American athlete to play at Forrest Hills in New York and in Wimbledon.

From 1956 to 1958 Gibson was ranked amongst the Top 10 women tennis players. After capturing the Wimbledon single and doubles titles in 1957, New York City treated the athlete to a ticker-tape parade through downtown Manhattan. Gibson won the WImbledon and U.S. Open singles titles in 1958. At age 31, Gibson retired from amateur tennis and competed in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She appeared in The Horse Soldiers - 1959 Civil War film starring John Wayne and William Holden - and recorded an album called Althea Sings. Born two decades before professional women's tennis pioneer Billie Jean King, Gibson would see the riches that King, Chris Evert, Martina Navaratilova, Steffi Graf, Venus and Serena Williams. In the 1950s and 1960s, few female professional athletes would get rich off their athletic feats. The obstacles were greater for an African-American female professional athlete.

Ashe (1943-1993) received a tennis scholarship from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and was the first African-American chosen to represent the United States in the Davis Cup tournament. Ashe won the NCAA men's single title in 1965 and led UCLA to the team championship. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), and served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968.

In 1968, Ashe won the US Amateur Championships and the U.S. Open. He would earn two more Grand Slam titles winning the French Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975 against a white-hot JImmy Connors.

Ashe would distinguish himself for advances he brought about in professional sports and civil rights. Concerned that professional tennis players weren't fairly compensated for their endeavors, Ashe formed the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). When South Africa denied him a visa so he could play in the South African Open, Ashe used the occasion to publicized the country's apartheid policies. Ashe spent $300,000 of his own funds to write and publish A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete. The sports tome covered three periods (1619-1918, 1919-1945, 1946-present) of the saga of African-Americans in sport.

Take a moment this weekend to give due props to these pros.