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Althea Gibson Foundation Awards

Tues, September 8, 2004

Flushing Meadows Stadium, Corona, NY

The Althea Gibson Foundation event was a great celebration honoring one of the most daring an inspiring women of all time. According to C. Virginia Fields, Manhattan Borough President, Althea lived in her own time because despite many obstacles and difficulties, she strived to succeed, thus opening the door to opportunity among not only Black women, but women all over. This night was to commemorate her, not only for her vast achievements in sports (tennis and golf), but for the milestone she laid for aspiring women everywhere in sports.

There were several people being honored that night, the first was Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields. In her efforts to improve the lives of New Yorkers, she draws on her rich personal history as a civil rights pioneer, social worker and political leader.

C. Virginia Fields’ story is one of courage and determination. Virginia came of age at a time when a commitment to social justice could be dangerous. In 1963, as a teenager she marche3d with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. braving the fire hoses and police dogs of Birmingham, Alabama and taking her stand in the civil rights struggle that transformed our nation.

In 1989, Virginia became the first African American woman elected to the City Council of Manhattan, where she served two four-year term. Elected Manhattan Borough President in 1997, she is the chief executive for the 1.5 million residents of Manhattan. An elected board member of the National League of Cities, Virginia serves on its Homeland Security Working Group. She also serves on the boards of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History, The Museum of the City of New York, el Museo del Barrio and the Museum of Art and Design

The next person to be honored was broadcaster and journalist Bud Collins. Bud has ranked as one of America’s foremost sports journalist for almost fifty years. He gave up working for a living in 1955 to become a sportswriter in Boston and since has seen no reason to rejoin the labor force. I 1963, he stumbled onto another form of pleasant retirement called television, and so combines scribbling and babbling.

Bud is best known for his tennis commentary on NBC and his sports column in the Boston Globe. He has commentated for CBS, ESPN, USA, CBN, MSG, SKY and HBO. He has also contributed to Sports Illustrated, New York Times, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Washington Post, Family Circle, Sunday Times of London, International Herald Tribune, Sports Business Journal and Tennis Magazine. He has covered events in various sports on all continents and a variety of non-sports activities. Bud Collins is the author of Bud Collins Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia and The Best American Sports Stories among others.

He is the 1961 U.S. Indoor Mixed Doubles Champion with Janet Hopps and 1975 French Open Senior Doubles Finalist with Jack Crawford.

The final honoree was Billie Jean Kings, World Class Tennis Champion

Billie Jean King is currently the Director and Official Spokesperson of World Team Tennis which have attracted more than 400,000 participants to its recreational leagues and features seven times in the 1999 DuPont World Team Tennis Professional Season.

Billie Jean was ranked number one in the world five times and number one in the U.S. seven times. The holder of a record 20 Wimbledon titles, she was ranked in the top 10 in the world for 17 years. her match with Bobby Riggs still hold the record for the most people to ever attend a single tennis match. Billie Jean is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 1990 issue of Life Magazine, she was named one of the 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century.

Billie Jean has devoted her life to creating opportunities in the sports of tennis and has been involved in every aspect of the game, including athlete, promoter, businesswoman and coach.

This was a great event, with lots of great food, live entertainment, and festivities. A little about the Althea Gibson Foundation. The Althea Gibson Foundation was founded for the primary purpose of identifying, encouraging and providing financial support for urban youth who wish to develop their skills and talents in the sports of tennis or golf, and have decided to pursue a career as a student athlete at the post-secondary level.

Althea was quoted as saying “I always wanted to be somebody. If I made it, it’s half because I was game enough to take a lot of punishment along the way and half because there were a lot of people who cared enough to help me.”

The Foundation also exists to perpetuate the legacy of the great American champion, Althea Gibson, who is the first African-American champion, Althea Gibson, who is the first African-American to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships.

The publicist for the event was Ms. Liz Derenger. We at Liberty News Online Magazine would like to thank Ms. Frances Clayton Gray, the Executive Director of the Althea Gibson Foundation, for inviting us to attend this event.

Ms. Gibson has served throughout her life as an ambassador of sports. The Foundation will continue her work to encourage young people to utilize sports to help improve upon the social condition of urban America and to promote global unity. Anyone interested in reaching the Althea Gibson foundation may visit their website at www.altheagibson.org.

Abbey H. Muneer is the Executive Director of H.A.D. Organization of New York City, Inc., a world-famous athlete, author and, above all, a humanitarian. Abbey will write articles about charity events, benefits, fundraisers and galas which are raising money for humantiarian causes. If you are interested in having Abbey and one his staff members cover one of your charity events, benefits, fundraisers or galas, feel free to notify us one week in advance, at LNEvents@hadofnyc.org, or telephone us at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. and ask to speak to Abbey or Maria. If you would like more information, or would like to have Liberty News Online Magazine consult your next charitable event, please feel free to visit our website, at http://www.hadofnyc.org/store/success.html, email us at humanitarians@hadofnyc.org, or telephone our hotline, at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. (U.S.A.)