Roberta Alison

Who was Roberta Alison?

Roberta Alison Baumgardner was a noted American female 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 in 1963, aged 19. Jason Morton, tennis coach at Alabama at the time, found Alison training on grass courts in Tuscaloosa in preparation for the U.S. National Championship. 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 of the NCAA.

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 of Missouri for the 1963 NCAA doubles title. Alison also was a four-time Blue Gray champion, and a three-time Southern tournament champion.