Wimbledon doubles winner, equal rights pioneer Buxton dies
Tennis legend Angela Buxton, a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion and equal rights pioneer, died at age 85 in her Fort Lauderdale home Aug. 14.
Buxton, a Jewish native of England, fought antiSemitism during her career and was best known for being the doubles partner of Althea Gibson, the black American trailblazer from Harlem who also faced discrimination. Buxton and Gibson, an unconventional pair at the time, won the 1956 women’s doubles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon and became lifelong friends.
Buxton was also a Wimbledon singles finalist that year and lost to American Shirley Fry.
A passionate advocate for racial, gender and religious equality, Buxton was proud to team with Gibson when others wouldn’t. She helped raise money for Gibson when Gibson fell on hard times. In 2019, Buxton attended the U.S. Open unveiling of a sculpture for Gibson, who won five Grand Slam singles titles, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1957 and 1958.
Buxton was a fixture in the Miami Open press box, regaling young reporters and tournament workers with her historic tales.
“They were pictured dining together in a magazine snapshot, a white and a black sitting at a table in the clubhouse at De Coubertin Stadium in Paris, laughing as if they were in on a joke that the rest of the world didn’t understand,” author Bruce Schoenfeld wrote in his book, “The Match: Althea Gibson and A Portrait of a Friendship.”
Buxton retired at age 22 after suffering a hand injury.
As news of Buxton’s passing reached across the world Monday, she was memorialized by the tennis world.
“She spent her life standing up to discrimination and injustice,” wrote the WTA. The Lawn Tennis Association in England called her “a champion for inclusion on and off the court.”
Former player and USTA past president Katrina Adams wrote on Twitter: “Angela was a British tennis player who championed the friendship and support of Althea Gibson when no one else would, in a racist era in our sport in the ‘50s. #RIP”
“Audacious to the end, on and off the court: the remarkable Angela Buxton,” was the headline in The Guardian.
“Saddened to hear of the passing of British tennis player Angela Buxton, friend and doubles partner of Althea Gibson,” Billie Jean King wrote on Twitter. “It was wonderful to spend time with her and hear her words about Althea at the unveiling of her statue last year. Rest in Peace to a true champion.”