| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blazing the trail for black sport
By Don Riddell, CNN World Sport
(CNN) -- "You haven't walked a mile in my shoes." Those are the bitter and painful words of one of baseball's most celebrated stars. Hank Aaron is rightly proud of his 755 home runs -- a record that stands to this day. But the racial prejudice Aaron endured means he's just as sad as he is proud when he recalls his glittering career. Stars like Aaron remind us that being a black athlete isn't easy. This week, tributes poured in for Althea Gibson who died at the age of 76. Gibson made history simply by gaining entry to the U.S. National Tennis Championships in 1950. Never before had a black person played the event. She later won the title there and by the time she finished playing, Gibson had won 11 grand slam trophies. "I had to fight for what I achieved, but it was worth it," she said. Gibson blazed a trail in tennis, just as Arthur Ashe did a decade later. Both were playing a traditionally white man's game, and her achievements weren't lost on the Williams sisters. "I am grateful to Althea Gibson for having the strength and courage to break through the racial barriers in tennis," Venus said this week. Fifty years on, Venus and Serena are building on Gibson's platform. Their domination of the women's game is bringing tennis to a whole new audience, in the same way that Tiger Woods is pushing back the boundaries of golf. Until 1990, blacks weren't even allowed as members at the Augusta National Golf Club, home of The Masters. In 1997, Woods emphatically announced himself as the first black owner of the green jacket, having destroyed the field with a winning margin of 12 strokes. Days later, baseball celebrated the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's integration into the major league, the first black player to do so. But like Robinson then, Woods has had to suffer prejudice from fans and fellow professionals. Arthur Ashe once said he'd consider himself a failure if he was only remembered for tennis. Ashe, Gibson, Robinson and Woods are all pioneers who transcended their sports for the benefit of others. Their legacies will not be the trophies, the rings or the medals, but the humanitarian improvement their bravery influenced, that also changed the color of their sports forever. Don Riddell presents World Sport on CNN International at 0930 GMT, 1230 GMT, 1430 GMT, and 2130 GMT daily (also 0030 GMT at weekends and daily in Asia.)
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
