Renowned FAMU tennis star Althea Gibson gets street dedication for 'groundbreaking achievements'
Althea Gibson is the most revered athlete to ever step foot on Florida A&M’s campus.
And now, the former Rattler tennis star who broke the color barrier and became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title will share her name with the thoroughfare running through FAMU’s campus.
On Tuesday, the City of Tallahassee gathered at the Al Lawson Center to dedicate the distance between FAMU Way to Bragg Drive to Gibson, as the road now dons the name Althea Gibson Way, replacing Wahnish Way.
“By honoring her in this way, we intend to make her legacy and contributions to both athletics and civil rights even more prominent within our community and help introduce future generations to her groundbreaking achievements,” Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey said in his ceremonial remarks.
“By naming the street in her honor, we are shining a light on her profound accomplishments, our community’s unique character, and highlighting the exemplary work done by the Florida A&M University.”
Tuesday’s ceremony concluded a back-and-forth drama between the Leon County and Tallahassee City Commissioners over the responsibilities of road renaming.
Born in Clarendon County, South Carolina, Gibson arrived at FAMU in 1949 on an athletic scholarship to play tennis and basketball for the Rattlers. She graduated in 1953.
While at FAMU, she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s Beta Alpha Chapter, whose members were heavily in attendance at Tuesday’s ceremony.
Gibson, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s 1971 class, passed away in 2003 at 76.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to acknowledge what a significant day today is and how so many things are possible because of the way Althea Gibson showed up, showed out, and paved the way for black women, particularly in sport at FAMU,” said FAMU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tiffani Dawn Sykes, the first woman to hold that title at the institution.
Gibson has honors across the country for what she did for tennis and minorities.
She has a statue at the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York.
On FAMU’s campus, the tennis complex is named after Gibson. Furthermore, FAMU plans to invest $200,000 from an ongoing $1 million fundraiser for athletics by the 220 Quarterback Club to build a Gibson statue.
Gibson’s “determination and success opened doors around the world for other people,” said FAMU tennis player Rebekkah Gaines, who helped the Rattlers to a Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship to clinch the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023.
“It’s an honor to follow her. Having a chance to play at Althea Gibson Tennis Court Facility every day inspires me to work hard on and off the court. Florida A&M University’s women’s tennis team could not be prouder of this monumental event of naming Wahnish Way to Althea Gibson Way.
“It is a long time coming for the world to truly see how magnificent Ms. Gibson was on and off the tennis court.”
The politics before Althea Gibson Way replaced Wahnish Way
FAMU approached the city last October with the idea of renaming a portion of Wahnish Way, from FAMU Way to Orange Avenue, and the city voted unanimously to initiate the renaming process. The portion was soon shortened to include Bragg Memorial Stadium to Orange Avenue when the county administrator received it.
At their March 19 meeting, the county commission was presented the resolution to rename the road, which had changed once more to span the entirety of Wahnish Way. Staff explained to commissioners that county law requires renaming “the entire street.”
Commissioners, led by Commissioner Bill Proctor, voted against the renaming, with Proctor saying he was comfortable with a section but not the whole.
At the city commission’s March 27 meeting, Mayor Dailey pointed the finger at Proctor as the reason the road renaming did not pass but said the city would make it happen. He even sent a letter to FAMU President Larry Robinson to assure him the road renaming would go through.
Proctor, meanwhile, argued in a Tallahassee Democrat column that at least some of the roadway should retain the name of Sam Wahnish, arguing that Tallahassee's first Jewish mayor shouldn't have his name removed from "the public domain." Last week, after a motion by Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, the city commission unanimously voted to explore other ways to honor Wahnish.
The renaming of Althea Gibson Way hasn't yet been formalized and comes ahead of the city commission meeting on May 8, where they look to vote to allow the city to take back city road renaming responsibility which rested with the county.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee dedicates street to FAMU tennis star Althea Gibson
