Merseyside For Sport - Angela Buxton

 

 

Angela Buxton was born in Liverpool on the 16th of August 1934 as one of two children born to Harry and Violet (Greenberg) Buxton. Harry was the Managing Director and Chairman of the Buxton Theatre Circuit in North West England, and was reputed to be 'the man who broke the bank' when winning the huge sum of 740,000 francs (£6000) at the Nice casino in 1928. In 1934 the family were living at 183 Queens Drive, Liverpool, before moving a few doors down the road to 209 and then moved to Birkdale. To avoid second world war bombing, Violet took her son and daughter to South Africa, where Angela took up tennis, spending her formative years (1940-1945) in Cape Town and then, Johannesburg, South Africa, where she was often reprimanded for playing with the children of the black servants, 'colour barriers had never crossed her mind', she once said. After their return in 1946 they could afford for her to attend boarding school at Gloddaeth Hall in Llandudno, North Wales. Whilst there a coach, Bob Mulligan, noticed her tennis ability and urged her to acquire more training. Having entered her into a junior tournament, he saw her then win under-14, under-15, and under-18 titles. The family then settled in Hampstead, where Angela trained under Bill Blake at the Cumberland Club, the best club in North London. Each time she stepped inside the club she would inquire about her application for membership. Finally, Bill Blake told her, "Look, Angela, please don’t keep asking me, you're not going to be able to join the club." When she asked why not, he replied, "No, you’re perfectly good, but you're Jewish." That was the first time Angela felt prejudice in her home country so she took herself off to another club and improved sufficiently to win the English Indoor Championships as well as the London Grass Court title. These victories did not give her the most satisfaction. She said, "I made a point of going back to the Cumberland club to win their bloody tournament – twice! Just to rub their noses in it. And they never gave me a cup of tea – not even that." A parallel experience of exclusion came when she and her mother went to Los Angeles in 1952 where the antisemitism made her more isolated but made her more determined, more detached. As a result she was often on her own and was instinctively sympathetic to the way the US player Althea Gibson was treated when they met in India at Christmas 1955. Gibson was so disenchanted with the struggles that she was facing as the only black player competing at the top echelon of American tennis that she was on the point of giving up the game when she got a call from President Dwight Eisenhower's office delegating her to show the flag on an official tour of south-east Asia. Angela, who was playing in the same Indian tournaments, noticed that Gibson was spending much of her time alone and befriended her: "We became pals and did everything together."

 

Althea and Angela hold the 1956 Wimbledon Ladies’ Doubles trophy

Having won the women's singles title at the 1953 Maccabiah games in Israel in 1954, Angela earned the British No. 4 ranking and then reached the 1955 Wimbledon singles quarter finals and climbed to World No. 9 in the rankings. She played in the Wightman Cup competition for the United Kingdom in 1954, 1955, and in 1956 when she had her most successful tennis year. She won the women's doubles title and reached the singles final at Wimbledon, the first Briton to do so in 17 years. She won the English Indoor and London Grass Court singles championships and the English Hard Court doubles crown with Darlene Hard. At the French Championships, she reached the singles semi-finals and won the women's doubles title with Althea Gibson, who was the first African-American champion. Angela was ranked World No. 5 by World Tennis and World No. 6 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. However, after suffering a serious hand condition in late 1956, Tenosynovitis, Angela was forced to retire following the 1957 season at the age of 22.

Although she had kept in touch with Althea Gibson and long retired from tennis, yet still living a very busy life at her holiday home in Florida, she had not spoken to her friend for a while when, in 1995, Angela suddenly got a phone call from Althea in the US. "Angie, baby, I can't last much longer. I don't have any money for the rent, for food and my medicines." Despite playing pro golf and being appointed sports commissioner of New Jersey, Gibson had fallen on hard times as medical bills piled up after she suffered two aneurysms and a stroke in the early 1990s, and it was Angela who saved her. Despite getting little reaction from her initial pleas, a letter in Tennis Week magazine in 1996 increased awareness of Gibson’s plight and donations flowed in. At first Althea was bewildered but then realised it was her old doubles partner she had to thank. Nearly a million dollars was raised, enabling Gibson to live another eight years in comfort. An author of several books on tennis, Angela was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, located in Netanya, Israel, in 1981 and New York’s National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, on Long Island, N.Y., in 2014. A year later, she was also included in the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in honor of what she helped Anthea Gibson achieve.

Angela died on the 15th of August 2020 (age 85 years), at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Billie Jean King and Katrina Adams, who have also championed equal rights through tennis, paid tribute to Angela on social media. "Saddened to hear of the passing of British tennis player Angela Buxton, friend and doubles partner of Althea Gibson," King wrote. "It was wonderful to spend time with her and hear her words about Althea at the unveiling of her statue (at the US Open) last year. Rest In Peace to a true champion." Kartina Adams wrote: "My condolences to the family and friends of Angela Buxton after her passing August 14, 2020. She was laid to rest today. 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 1950s. Rest in peace."

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2026/08/merseyside-for-sport-alan-acourt.html