Nationality United States Name Robert Johnson | Role Physician | |
 | ||
Institutions Lynchburg General Hospital Fields Internal medicine, Sports medicine | ||
Robert Walter Johnson (April 16, 1899 – June 28, 1971) was an American physician and founder of the American Tennis Association Junior Development Program for African-American youths, where he coached and fostered the careers of tennis greats, Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson.
Contents
Biography
Johnson graduated in 1924 from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, a historically black college. He was a classmate of Melvin B. Tolson.
Johnson was the first African-American physician to receive practice rights at Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. Johnson continued his medical practice in Lynchburg for his entire career.
Known as the "godfather" of black tennis, Johnson founded an all-expenses-paid tennis camp for African-American children and hired instructors. In these years in the segregated South, they had no public courts where they could learn tennis, and many did not have money for lessons. Johnson was instrumental in encouraging the athletic careers of both Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, whom he personally coached.