Althea Gibson (1927-2003) used this racquet when winning the woman's singles title at Wimbeldon in 1958. Gibson was the first African-American to play in, and win, Wimbledon. She hoisted the prestigous event's silver trophy twice (1957 and 1958.) She was also the first black woman to play in the U.S. Tennis Championships (1950) to win the U.S. Open, and to complete a Grand-Slam.
Gibson also broke the color barrier in professional golf when she joined the LPGA in 1964.
This is a round football button with a white background, blue text that says, "Dallas Cowboys-National Conference Champs-Super Bowl XII-New Orleans, LA-January 15, 1978" and a Dallas Cowboy helmet in the center of the button. The button was created to commemorate and celebrate the Cowboys 23-6 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship game. The game propelled the Cowboys to Super Bowl XII which they would win 27-10. Super Bowl XII was played against the Denver Broncos however the Cowboys would prove too much behind the strength of quarterback Roger Staubach and running back Tony Dorsett (one of the Cowboys four draft selections that year, Dorsett would win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and be an All-Pro Selection). The Cowboys' head coach that year was Tom Landry. Randy White, one of Dallas’ defensive tackles, would receive the honor of being the Most Valuable Player during the Super Bowl.
Color photograph of Suzy Hotrod of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby taken by Andreanna Seymore the official photographer for USA Roller Derby at the First World Cup in Toronto, Canada, 2011. Seymore is a freelance photographer who joined the Hellions of Troy in 2008 and became a member of the close knit, roller derby community.
Modern roller derby began in 2001 after four teams were formed and founded under the Bad Girls Good Women Productions (BGGW) name. In 2002, the flat track derby, Texas Rollergirls was formed from 65 members of the first BGGW teams after a disagreement over management practices caused a permanent split. BGGW took the remaining 15 skaters and became the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls forming a banked track league. A truly grass roots movement, the flat track derby uses a not-for-profit organizational model with female identifying skaters running the leagues and using their own money to buy rink time, produce tournaments, and print programs, putting any money earned, back into the organization.
Hand made posters made by the donors, Tom Blonkowski and Nicole Svajlenka for use at the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup Parade held in Washington, DC on June 12, 2018. One of two posters held together by a red and white striped string. The poster is made from white foam core and has magazine cut outs of Braden Holtby's game winning save during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals with the words "HOLD [/] IT [/] HERE" printed in red. The reverse depicts a magazine cut out of the team right after winning the series with "SHOTS VODKA" printed in red. According to the donors, "'Hold It Here' includes a drawing and a photo of Braden Holtby making "The Save," an incredible stop against the Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. "Hold it here" is often said by NBC Sports Washington commentator (and former Cap) Craig Laughlin when reviewing intermission footage. 'Shots Vodka' includes a photo of the Caps players and coaches the moment after time elapsed and they became Stanley Cup Champions! The reference of the ensuing celebration with "shots vodka" is to a video of a young Alexander Ovechkin. In the March 2009 he starred in a commercial for the Eastern Motors, a local used car seller famous for having DC sports stars sing their jingle. In Ovi's rendition, he asked for 'shots vodka.'"
Curators often attend events in order to collect objects that pertain to a particular event. In this case, fan paraphernalia was collected from the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup Parade celebration in 2019 to document the whole sports experience. Fan objects can tell quite a story about the fan, the team, the sport and what’s happening in society at a particular time. It also speaks to what the user or maker of that object was feeling at the time. Why did they carry that particular object on that particular day. These posters conveyed the messages of these two fans in pictures and phrases that meant something special to each other as they watched the games together. Looking at them without the donor's context and explanation their meaning is lost but that is what makes each fan creation so unique and special.
The Washington Capitals were founded in 1974 as an expansion team and are a member of the Metropolitan Division of the eastern Conference in the National Hockey League. They played at the Capitals Center in Landover, Maryland until 1997 when they made the move to the Verizon Center located in the heart of Washington, DC. Ted Leonsis bought the team in 1999, drafted high profile players and began winning. Since 2009 the Capitals have won eleven division titles, three President’s trophies and in 2018, finally won the elusive Stanley Cup Championship.
Derby Famous roller derby sticker. As in skateboarding, stickers are an inexpensive and productive way to spread the roller derby culture throughout the world.
Modern roller derby began in 2001 after four teams were formed and founded under the Bad Girls Good Women Productions (BGGW) name. In 2002, the flat track derby, Texas Rollergirls was formed from 65 members of the first BGGW teams after a disagreement over management practices caused a permanent split. BGGW took the remaining 15 skaters and became the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls forming a banked track league. A truly grass roots movement, the flat track derby uses a not-for-profit organizational model with female identifying skaters running the leagues and using their own money to buy rink time, produce tournaments, and print programs, putting any money earned, back into the organization.
Old North State Award presented to Leonard W. Miller. This was presented to Leonard W. Miller in concert with the Association for Diversity in Motorsports (AFDIM) induction of Miller into their Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC on October 11, 2005. A North Carolina State representative presented this award to Miller for his development of the Miller Racing Group (MRG) as a channel for African American NASCAR drivers. North Carolina also acknowledged Miller's fortitude in garnering General Motors, Dr. Pepper, Sunoco and Lincoln Electric and Wittnauer Watches as sponsors to sustain this pioneering African American NASCAR endeavor based in Concord, North Carolina, the heart of America's stock car racing industry.
Miller Racing Group was an African American racing team owned by father and son Leonard W. and Leonard T. Miller. Miller Racing Group was an African American racing team owned by father and son Leonard W. and Leonard T. Miller. MRG was sponsored by Dr. Pepper from 2001-2003 and delivered Dr. Pepper its first corporate win in the brand's history. The team competed in the NASCAR Late Model Stock Weekly Racing Series throughout the southeast. After the 2003 season, the Millers did not have a corporate sponsor for MRG and sustained the team with their personal funds and resources.
Roller derby DVD entitled, "A.Z.R.D. Arizona Roller Derby." This 2004 DVD documents the Arizona Roller Derby teams - the Bruisers vs Smashsquad.
Modern roller derby began in 2001 after four teams were formed and founded under the Bad Girls Good Women Productions (BGGW) name. In 2002, the flat track derby, Texas Rollergirls was formed from 65 members of the first BGGW teams after a disagreement over management practices caused a permanent split. BGGW took the remaining 15 skaters and became the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls forming a banked track league. A truly grass roots movement, the flat track derby uses a not-for-profit organizational model with female identifying skaters running the leagues and using their own money to buy rink time, produce tournaments, and print programs, putting any money earned, back into the organization.
Black nylon dog collar with a metal ring to attach the lead line and a plastic buckle worn by Ken Anderson's dog team during the 2013 Iditarod race. Ken Anderson began mushing at age 3 in his native Minnesota. He moved to Alaska in 1993 to attend the University of Alaska and began running the Iditarod in 1999. The Coast Guard has sponsored Anderson’s Iditarod runs from 2011 through 2013. He owns and operates Windy Creek Kennels with his wife, Gwen, also an Iditarod musher and they compete in sprint and marathon races in the lower ‘48’ and Europe. The Andersons are the first husband and wife to race in the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest.
The Iditarod Sled Dog Race is an extreme sports challenge that tests the skill and endurance of competitors while celebrating Alaska’s sled dog culture and history. Teams of 12 to 16 dogs, primarily Alaskan Huskies, and their musher experience harsh terrain and weather conditions during the 1,150 mile run from Anchorage to Nome. In its modern iteration as an extreme sport, the Iditarod takes an intense physical toll not only on the human competitors but also on the sled dogs. The race follows a large network of Native trade and travel routes which travelers used when gold was discovered in the isolated town of Iditarod. This discovery led to a “rush” of miners and settlers from across the country, transforming the trail into the region’s main mail and supply route. The area’s harsh winter conditions made sled dog teams the main source of transportation along the Iditarod Trail and it is this rich history which the Iditarod race celebrates today. In 1978 Congress designated the 2300 mile Iditarod Trail as a National Historic Trail recognizing its importance in the shaping of America. Through its beginnings as a regional story, the Iditarod provides us the opportunity to explore the American Experience through the origins of the Iditarod National Historic Trail and the transformation of the Alaskan sled dog culture into an international sport. The Iditarod is now the largest and most prominent sled dog race in the world, attracting international competitors and world-wide media attention.
Plain white, short sleeve Nike t-shirt is visibly stained and dirty and worn by Lacey Baker. Baker began skating at an early age, winning bronze at the 2006 X-Games at 15. It took 8 years to finally win gold but when they did, it was on their own terms, as a queer skater. Baker went on to win the Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship in 2016 but it was 2017 that proved to be a pivotal year for Baker. Earning a spot on the Nike team, creating the first women’s skate shoe for Nike SB, quitting their day job as a graphic designer and moving to New York City whose ‘melting pot of communities feels like the right fit,’ are just a few changes they made once they dedicated themself, full time, to skate. They are sponsored by Meow Skateboards, a company owned by women, representing women skaters which Baker hopes is a growing entity in the sport.
Baker is also involved with Brian Anderson and his Cave Homo zine which they say, “helped me feel validated and seen for who I am beyond my skateboarding identity. That’s really important for me, because for a long time the industry wanted to shape me in a way that wasn’t me.” Wanting to keeptheir long blonde hair and be ‘more feminine’ were the stereotypes Baker could not represent as a queer skater and while leaving sponsors could be devastating to skaters, they refused to compromise their integrity and it has paid off immensely. Baker relates, “To be unapologetic about my image and who I am and then to have people acknowledge how important that is in the skate industry… I can’t even describe how that feels. To bring together girls who skate, queers who skate… and let those worlds collide. I’m lucky to be here.”
Skate is still working on its acceptance of gay or queer skaters but many of the girls who Baker skates with are queer or gay and her guy friends didn’t care if they were gay, so they felt accepted although their male counterparts deal with a “toxic masculinity” where there is a greater need to be masculine. Their hope for inclusion is contagious, “I would love to just carve out a bigger space for women who skate, and queer people who skate and gender non-conforming people… and just like, really open up that space for people like me, and people that understand what it’s like to experience life this way.”
Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championship Texas Shootout Official Event program, September 29 & 30, 2007.
Modern roller derby began in 2001 after four teams were formed and founded under the Bad Girls Good Women Productions (BGGW) name. In 2002, the flat track derby, Texas Rollergirls was formed from 65 members of the first BGGW teams after a disagreement over management practices caused a permanent split. BGGW took the remaining 15 skaters and became the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls forming a banked track league. A truly grass roots movement, the flat track derby uses a not-for-profit organizational model with female identifying skaters running the leagues and using their own money to buy rink time, produce tournaments, and print programs, putting any money earned, back into the organization.