Wilma Rudolph. Photo credit: Telegraph.co.uk
The First, But Not The Last:
Trailblazing Women in Sports There are so many trailblazing women in sports that there is no way we could list them all here. A few notable names that belong alongside Toni Stone’s as women who broke the glass ceiling in the world of sports. Ryneldi Becenti - In 1997,
Becenti became the first American Indian woman to play in the WNBA. Becenti was also the first woman inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.
Ryneldi Becenti. Photo Credit: Associated Press
Serena Williams - One of the most formidable athletes of all-time, Serena Williams has won numerous championships, come back to the tennis court as a mother, continued playing into her late 30s, and been an activist and advocate for women of color in sports. Kathryn Smith - Hired in 2016 by the Buffalo Bills, Smith was the first full-time female coach in the NFL.
Janet Guthrie - Guthrie was the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 in 1977.
Althea Gibson - The first Black player to play at Wimbledon in 1956, Gibson won the tournament the following year. Manon Rhéume - In 1992, she became the first woman to play in any of the major four American sports leagues when she played an NHL pre-season game for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Alice Coachman - Coachman was the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the high jump in 1948.
12
Florence Griffith Joyner - Considered
the fastest woman of all-time, “FloJo” set records and won medals as a sports icon in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.
Florence Griffith Joyner. Photo Credit: Essence.
Billie Jean King - King fought for equal pay for women in tennis, but is most famously known for owning Bobby Riggs in the infamous “Battle of the Sexes,” disproving his claim that women’s tennis was subpar to men’s tennis.
Wilma Rudolph - Her successes at the 1956 and 1960
Olympics made her an international icon and raised the clout of track and field in the United States.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - In 1938,
she was the first woman to appear in a PGA event. She was also an accomplished athlete in baseball, Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Photo boxing, track, tennis, swimming, credit: Olympic.org. and basketball. Didrikson Zaharias was selected the best female athlete of the first half of the 20th century by the Associated Press.
Victoria Roche - Roche was the first girl to play in the Little League World Series in 1984.
Victoria Roche. Photo credit: Little League Baseball.
Toni Stone – PlayGuide
