Where it all began

Through the first 24 days of Black Tennis Month, a variety of players have been covered, from various different backgrounds and sets of circumstances. But I had the nagging feeling that something was missing, so rather than present another profile of an individual, I'm going to shake things up a bit for today's post. If you've been following me thus far, especially in the last few days, you are aware of the fact that I've mentioned that many of these players established themselves on the black-owned and operated American Tennis Association circuit due to the rampant segregation of the time. I felt as if it would be most appropriate to make a post dedicated to the establishing of the ATA itself. So without further ado, here we go!

I've mentioned it in a couple of these entries already, but the ATA is the oldest black-run sports organization in America. Way back in Althea Gibson's post, I kind of made a sardonic aside about how I'm sure that fact would surprise people, considering that the stereotypes about black folks and basketball, but it's true - the oldest black sports organization in this country is dedicated to a sport that I still feel like is not typically associated with minorities, despite all of the successes in the field (which you no doubt know about now, if you've been following me thus far). It was founded on Thanksgiving Day in 1916 by a large group of black middle class investors from various professions (businessmen, doctors, teachers, etc) that was dedicated to promoting the sport in inner city communities, with the goal of having tournaments on a national scale. This past December, one of my favorite tennis writers, Steve Tignor, wrote an excellent article about the formation and development of the ATA, which is well worth a read and probably better than anything I can come up with on my own; I bring it up because he quotes Robert Davis, the executive director of the Black Tennis Hall of Fame (and from my understanding, probably the person I owe the most to in terms of how much of this info I've been able to dig up), as saying how remarkable an achievement it was that a group of black people could do this a mere 50 years or so after the end of the Civil War. I agree wholeheartedly; it is one of numerous things from that time period that shows just how far black folks had come in a short time.

While the ATA was founded with black people in mind, anyone who was interested was and still is allowed to join; it's always been an all-inclusive organization from day one. For me, this fact can't help but remind me of all the hypocrisy regarding the strawman arguments people love to use when it comes to black or otherwise minority-related organizations, i.e., BET - "you'd never see WHITE Entertainment Television, would you?" So it's not enough that segregation was a thing - you ALSO have the unmitigated gall to denounce the affected groups of people when they start their own endeavors - uh huh. Anyway, I'm getting off on a political tangent here, but suffice it to say that the ATA is still kicking after a century's existence - the 100 year anniversary of its first national championship will be held this year in Baltimore, where it all began. According to Tignor's article and several other sources I've read, the culmination of the ATA's creation was no surprise; by the time the ATA was formed, there were 58 black tennis clubs in existence, mostly in the northeast part of the country. So clearly black interest in the sport had been budding for a while - who knows how different the history books would look if black competitors had been allowed to compete on the main USTA circuit from day one.

Tally Holmes, one of the ATA's founding members, was also the first men's champion (alongside Lucy Diggs Slowe, whom we already looked at, in the women's division) in 1917; he would go on to win the event four times. Other notable ATA players that were not profiled in full for various reasons, be it lack of biographical info or pictures, include Dr. Sylvester Smith, ATA singles champion in 1919 and a doubles partner of Tally Holmes; Bob Ryland, who was one of the first black NCAA players and one of the earliest paid professional black players, and George Stewart, who won multiple ATA championships in the 50s and, along with the already-profiled Dr. Reginald Weir, was one of the first two black men to play in the U.S. Open, in 1952. I don't believe I mentioned in his entry, but Arthur Ashe, probably the most successful black male player to date, also got his start with the organization - he won two ATA singles championships in the early 60s. In fact, many of the players I've profiled that had success on the ATP and WTA tours in the modern era also received training under the auspices of the ATA before starting their professional careers; according to the ATA's website, Zina Garrison, Lori McNeil, Katrina Adams, Chanda Rubin, and MaliVai Washington are among the many notable pros who were reared by the ATA before they hit the main tours.

Tignor's article mentions the lack of visibility afforded to the prior black champions in the sport of tennis; relative to a sport like baseball, where the Negro Leagues have become a cherished institution and players like Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson, among many others, are a celebrated part of baseball's past - all of them Hall of Famers, in fact - tennis' past black champions do not have nearly the same profile. This is something that will hopefully be rectified in the future. Of all the players I've profiled so far, the only one who seems to have been elected into the main tennis Hall of Fame is Oscar Johnson; despite the immense qualifications of players like Dr. Weir, Ora Washington, the Peters sisters, et al, none of them have been afforded the same honor that their baseball counterparts eventually received. The ATA is taking steps to rectify this - a new ATA facility, complete with a Black Tennis Hall of Fame museum, is scheduled to be completed sometime next year in Florida. The facility is designed to become both a central hub of the ATA's training and coaching, and serve as a permanent home to honor the great black players of yesteryear.

(The proposed design for the ATA's new facilities)

The ATA continues to this day to serve its original purpose in promoting the sport of tennis among black people in America (WHILE REMAINING ALL-INCLUSIVE, THANKS VERY MUCH). It has done a great deal to organize and shepherd the development of many of the most successful black tennis players, especially during the period of segregated estrangement from the USTA. For that, they deserve a hearty round of applause. Cheers to everyone involved in the ATA, and may the Force be with you, both in terms of future projects and continuing the ongoing commitment towards raising the profiles of all of the great past black champions in the sport!