One could reasonably argue that had Lenny Simpson not returned to his roots in Wilmington, NC, there still may not be a monument honoring Althea Gibson, who did as much as anyone past or present to break down the barriers preventing Blacks from competing in major professional tennis tournaments.
Simpson, the first Black to play World Team Tennis, was present at the 2019 unveiling of the Althea Gibson bust outside Arthur Ashe Stadium at the home of the US Open in Flushing Meadows, NY. So were a group of his students whose letters jump-started what had been a lethargic effort to recognize Gibson, the first Black player to win the French and US Opens and Wimbledon.
It seems only fitting that Simpson would be a catalyst for the tribute, for it was Althea who helped ignite Simpson’s tennis career by handing him his first racquet when he was 5 years old.
On that day, Lendward Simpson entered a world that would take him far away from the racial segregation he experienced in Wilmington only to bring him back some decades later where he began to do for underprivileged kids what Althea and others had done for him.
Simpson’s journey is chronicled in a self-published autobiography, “In the Shadow of Tennis Legends: The Lenny Simpson Story,” written with Bethany Bradsher. The 172-page hardbound book released at the start of 2023 is being sold for $35 on Amazon and eBay. It should be on the shelves of anyone who cares about Black tennis history.
I found the book to be a wonderful tale of perseverance and triumph, enduring interracial love and courage amid Jim Crow indignities. It is written in such a conversational tone, I felt I was sitting in Simpson’s living room listening to him tell his story.
But near the end, I sadly discovered that after overcoming so many barriers to achieve so much success Simpson is grappling with the biggest challenge of his life. Since the Pandemic, a series of strokes while battling prostate cancer, has slowed him down. The last one suffered in March 2021 hospitalized him for three weeks.
During a recent telephone interview, he told me he has had to cancel three book signings because of his health. He said he has lacked the strength and energy to negotiate a publishing deal that would give his book more exposure.
He believes he is still alive because his work is not done.
“The good Lord is obviously keeping me here for some reason,” he told me. “I should have been dead two years ago.”
The book is the story of how a young Black boy grew up in the Jim Crow era to become an elite player, coach, mentor and event promoter after becoming fascinated by the game he discovered upon crawling on his belly to peek under the hedges in his backyard to see what was going on at the house behind his parents’ home.
There, he saw Black people, including his next-door neighbor Mr. Nathaniel Jackson, playing tennis on a clay court. It was the only place where Blacks could play in Wilmington, and it was the home of Dr. Hubert Eaton, who along with Dr. Robert Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, VA, led a movement to integrate tennis in America.
Simpson recounts being captivated by the sight of these Black folks playing in their white outfits with a “thingamajig” in one hand and the fun they were having. But his more immediate thought as a five-year-old was how could he get one of the coca-colas they were all drinking.
At the time, Simpson thought he was spying discreetly. He learned otherwise when after being introduced to Althea, she reached out her hand and said, “Hello, champ. What took you so long?” She then handed him his first racquet.
Simpson spent two years hitting against a backboard under the scrupulous watch of Althea and Mr. Jackson before he got a chance to step onto the court to play. By the time, he was 8, he was winning doubles tournaments on the American Tennis Association circuit.
At age 9, Simpson began training with Dr. Johnson, known as the Godfather of Black Tennis, who had created a junior development program at his home in Lynchburg. There, Simpson came under the care and guidance of Arthur Ashe, five years his senior, with whom he would form a lifetime bond.
In many ways, the story of Lenny Simpson is the story of Black tennis. It is the story of Althea Gibson, Nathaniel Jackson, Dr. Hubert Eaton, Dr. Robert Walter Johnson, Arthur Ashe and the American Tennis Association, the oldest black sports organization in the nation.
“I can’t conceive of how diminished my life would have been if I had not crossed paths with Althea Gibson, Dr. Hubert Eaton, Dr. R. Walter Johnson and Arthur Ashe,” Simpson wrote in the book’s introduction.
As a young player, he won numerous ATA titles in singles and doubles. He and Bonnie Logan were undefeated as a mixed doubles team. He was a standout prep school player, winning the National Prep School championship, and teaming with teaming with the future renowned film director Oliver Stone at the Hill School in Pennsylvania.
At 15, he was the youngest male player invited to compete at the US National Championships until Michael Chang came along decades later. He was the No. 1 singles and doubles player at East Tennessee State University, 1968-72.
Despite an early setback in Michigan, Simpson finally fulfilled his dream of running his own tennis academy in Knoxville, TN. He now lives in and operates One Love Tennis from the Eaton property in Wilmington that he and his wife purchased and restored. And One Love Tennis has succeeded far beyond his imagination.
When we spoke, Simpson gave credit for his accomplishments to his wife, Jo Ann, whom he met while a sophomore at East Tennessee State and married in 1973. He said she has had his back every step of the way.
“You’ve got to have the right woman in your life,” he told me. “It took me 26 years to get my own place in Knoxville. She stayed with me through all the ups and downs.”
Simpson,75, has received much recognition for his contributions to and achievements in tennis. He’s been inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame, the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame and the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame. His One Love program has been cited by the United States Tennis Association for its phenomenal success.
Simpson’s book ends with a chapter of testimonials from friends and family members. After reading them, you realize his legacy is more about what he has given back to the sport of tennis than what he has got from it.
Former Wilmington teacher Cindy Ducharme best sums up the sentiments of those who shared their fondness for Simpson.
“I have never met someone with such passion to make a difference in the lives of kids,” she wrote. “I know he had huge success in the tennis world but honestly what he has done for kids with character building and academics far surpasses that in my eyes. He is one of a kind!!”
When the final chapter of Lenny Simpson’s life story is written, he will be regarded alongside those tennis legends on whose shoulders he rose, not in their shadows.
Katrina Adams, a legend herself as the first Black and former player to have served as president and chief executive officer of the USTA, emphasizes the notion in a Foreward to the book.
“If Lenny had just retired quietly from his career as a tennis pro and stayed in Tennessee, he still would have represented a powerful legacy in tennis,” Adams wrote. “But because he has dedicated most of the past decade to the kids of his hometown and they are out making their own change in the world, that legacy will keep sending out ripples long after all of us are gone.”
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TennisintheHood 