The signature long, dark, braided pigtails and straight cropped bangs framing her delicate features have long given way to a soft, silver crown. Her once youthful yet determined gaze, now wise and touched by years in the Florida sun. Unchanged however, even a half-century later at age 78, is the fiery spirit of a determined champion shaped by the competitive athletics of her youth.
Born in 1938 and growing up poor and black on Chicago’s South Side during the tumultuous, racially charged times of America’s mid century, nobody would have suspected a 4’11, 80 pound girl would make sports history in a game that was far from being diverse or inclusive. However, before the formidable Althea Gibson or Arthur Ashe stepped into clay court notoriety, little Lorraine Williams would become the first African American to win a national tennis title at the age of 14.