Althea Gibson

“In sports, you simply aren't considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best.”

“Being champion is all well and good, but you can't eat a crown.”

“Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina.”

“I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I just want to be reasonably successful and live a normal life with all the conveniences to make it so.”

“I think I have done enough for sports and made enough of a name for myself to deserve some sort of backing - most of the other girls have it.”

“In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do rather than what you are.”

“Most of us who aspire to be tops in our fields don't really consider the amount of work required to stay tops.”

“No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.”

“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.”