The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton: How Two Outsiders--One Black, the Other Jewish--Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History [Hardcover]

Bruce Schoenfeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

Althea Gibson first met Angela Buxton at an exhibition match in India. On the surface, the two women could not have been more different. The daughter of sharecroppers, Gibson was born in the American South and grew up in Harlem. Angela Buxton, the granddaughter of Russian Jews, was raised in England, where her father ran a successful business. But both women encountered prejudice, particularly on the tennis circuit, where they were excluded from tournaments and clubs because of race and religion.

Despite their athletic prowess, both Gibson and Buxton were shunned by the other female players at Wimbledon in 1956 and found themselves without doubles partners. Undaunted, they chose to play together and ultimately triumphed. In "The Match, which has been hailed as an "important contribution in spreading the legacy of Gibson,"* Bruce Schoenfeld delivers not only the little-known history of Gibson's life but also the inspiring story of two underdogs who refused to let bigotry stop them -- on the court and off. Here, too, is an homage to a remarkable friendship.

*"Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Professional tennis players today can earn millions of dollars on the tour and off the court, but that was not the case 50 years ago when Gibson and Buxton were two of the top women's tennis players in the world. Coming from widely divergent backgrounds (Gibson from a poor black family in Harlem, Buxton from a well-to-do Jewish family in London), the two hooked up in the mid-1950s and became tennis partners and lifelong friends. While Gibson is certainly the better known of the two, Buxton led an interesting life in her own right, and Schoenfeld does a terrific job of capturing not only the individual personalities of Gibson and Buxton, but also the spirit of the time in which they played. Both were trailblazers, and although Gibson had the more difficult road to travel, fighting to overcome racism, sexism and financial concerns, Buxton was often snubbed in English tennis circles because of her religion. Still, it is Gibson, perhaps the best female athlete of her time, who is the star of Schoenfeld's often poignant work. Gibson worked hard to become a tennis champion, but her inability to earn a living from the sport plagued her throughout her life, forcing her to engage in some madcap business schemes. Schoenfeld's is an evenhanded portrait of Gibson (whose description is not always a flattering one), and his book is an important contribution in spreading the legacy of Gibson, a woman worth remembering.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

For an athlete whose accomplishments were comparable to those of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, it's surprising how little the sports world knows about Gibson, an African American who broke tennis' severe color barrier in 1950, then won singles titles at the French Open, the U.S. Open, and Wimbledon as well as several Grand Slam doubles championships. Where Robinson's gifts flourished through a stoic dignity, Gibson's were realized through the brashness of her personality. ("You guys aren't that good," she typically told one pair of doubles opponents at the umpire's chair.) But there was also Gibson's British alter ego: her Jewish doubles partner, Buxton, who was equally forthright in overcoming her own barriers but who brought to Gibson's superb game a much-needed sense of measure. Freelance sportswriter Schoenfeld perhaps tries a little too hard to conjoin Gibson and Buxton--their tennis partnership was relatively short lived--but still gives these two players, and their relationship, their due. Expect media attention, especially for the multicultural context. Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Amistad (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060526521
• ISBN-13: 978-0060526528
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,448,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton: How Two Outsiders--One Black, the Other Jewish--Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this well written, funny, touching and historically fascinating book. The Match brings alive the early days of women's tennis, the friendship of Angela and Althea, and most interestingly the lack of opportunity and challanges Jewish and black players faced. Schoenfeld engages the reader with a great balance of these women's personal history in fascinating places and times (post-war London for Angela and Harlem for Althea)with exciting tennis moments.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Succeeds On Many Levels, January 7, 2005

By 

Kate Kosta (Red Hook NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton: How Two Outsiders--One Black, the Other Jewish--Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History (Hardcover)

In this one book, we get a picture of life in the 50s, tennis as it was before everyone turned pro, what it was like to be an outsider in the "genteel" country club world and the enigmatic personality of Althea Gibson who overcame seemingly impossible odds. The friendship between Gibson and Buxton is both touching, amusing and sad. You'll remember this book long after you finish the last page.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite a book, October 16, 2005

By 

R. Tulman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton : How Two Outsiders--One Black, the Other Jewish--Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History (Hardcover)

It seemed a stretch to make the relationship between Gibson and Buxton the focal point of the book, since the relationship was spotty... It would have made (and perhaps did at one point) a good article.

At the same time, while the book displayed well Gibson's personality at certain points, I would have been interested in learning more about this elusive and thorny character throughout her life---A fuller biography of this important figure would have been welcome.