Roberta Alison

Roberta Alison Baumgardner (born December 13, 1944 in Alexander City, Alabama), was a pioneering figure in women's tennis.

She paved the way for women's varsity athletics when she joined the men's tennis team at the University of Alabama in 1963 at the age of 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 (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 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. I know. I played for Southern Mississippi and lost to her and was razzed by my teammates afterword. But she was good; she could take my heat and rarely mis-hit the ball.)

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.

She is a member of the Southern Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame, the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame, the Women’s Intercollegiate 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 University of Alabama.

Alison also played the American tennis circuit. At the event in Cincinnati, she was a singles finalist in 1962 and 1965, and won doubles titles in 1962 (with Mary Habicht of Brazil), 1963 (with Linda Lou Crosby) and 1965 (with Stephanie DeFina).