Roberta Alison Baumgardner (born December 13, 1943,

Alexander City, Alabama Alexander City, known to locals as "Alex City", is the largest city in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States, with a population of 14,843 as of the 2020 census. It has been the largest community in Tallapoosa County since 1910. It is know ...

– died March 20, 2009,

) was an American tennis player. She helped pave the way for women's varsity athletics when she joined the men's tennis team at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

in 1963, aged 19. Jason Morton, tennis coach at Alabama at the time, found Alison training on grass courts in

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

in preparation for the U.S. National Championship (now known as the U.S. Open). He convinced her to attend Alabama and play on the men's tennis team. This was the first official move toward allowing women to participate in varsity athletics in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. She played on the men's team for three years. She was in the No. 4 position her first year but played in either the No. 1 or No. 2 position in her second and third years. Some of the competing schools men's varsity teams would default to her rather than risk playing against a woman and losing. Alison won the women's collegiate singles title in 1962 and 1963, and paired with

Justina Bricka Justina Bricka (born February 14, 1943) is an American former tennis player from St. Louis, Missouri. In 1961 she was called up for the United States Wightman Cup team and had a win over Angela Mortimer. Bricka's best year of doubles came while ...

of Missouri for the 1963 NCAA doubles title. Alison also was a four-time Blue Gray champion, and a three-time Southern tournament champion. She was a member of the Southern Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame, the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame, and was in the first class enshrined into the University of Alabama’s Tennis Hall of Fame. The Roberta Alison Tennis Classic is held each year at the

. She also played the American tennis circuit. At the event in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, she was a singles finalist in 1962 and 1965, and won doubles titles in 1962 (with Mary Habicht), 1963 (with Linda Lou Crosby) and 1965 (with Stephanie DeFina). Roberta won the Southern Tennis Championship numerous times both as a junior and also in the Women's Division. She was also a member of the USA's Junior

Wightman Cup The Wightman Cup was an annual team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 (except during World War II) between teams from the United States and Great Britain. History U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate ...

Team. After her tennis career, Roberta spent her life in Alexander City, AL. As a lover of animals she helped start the Lake Martin Humane Society and was active in LMHS activities for many years. On April 28, 2012 the University of Alabama dedicated a new indoor tennis facility naming it the Roberta Alison Baumgardner tennis facility.

Death

Roberta Alison Baumgardner spent her life in her native Alabama, where she died on March 20, 2009, aged 65, from injuries she sustained in a fire at her home a week earlier. She was buried in Alexander City's cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alison, Roberta 1943 births 2009 deaths Accidental deaths in Alabama Alabama Crimson Tide women's tennis players American female tennis players Deaths from fire in the United States People from Alexander City, Alabama Tennis people from Alabama 20th-century American women