All happened. 15th and pierce street, lynchburg dr. Johnson set up a Junior Development. In 1951 to train the best and brightest kids, mostly africanamericans in the sport of tennis. He would mentor them work on strategy and tactics and have kids come and stay for the summer. About a dozen kids per year and this is the color line in the sport of tennis was broken back in 1950 when Althea Gibson first Junior Development Program Player played the us and thats what stahis entire quickly behind. Althea arthur ashe came in 1953 and spent sen summers under dr. Tutelage and. The court behind you is where it all took place. This is where they spent hours and hours and hours of time honing their considerable skills and working on their disposition and talent. Dr. Was my grandfather. He was a Lincoln University graduate, a football player, student athlete, and ended up going to medical school at Meharry Medical School in nashville, tennessee. He did his residency texas prairie view, texas and was recruited in the mid 1930s to become the lynchburg. There were a handful of africanamerican physicians who were getting ready to retire and they were looking for very comparable and, qualified physicians to come in and replace them in dr. J was approached to move to lynchburg and he raised his hand and said, do it. He came here and established his practice and worked very diligently between the midnight thirties until 1971, when he passed, it just so happens that dr. J was the first africanamerica can receive privileges at lynchburg general hospital. So he broke a lot barriers not only in the sport of tennis, but also in the field of medicine as well. When dr. Johnson moved here, it was not easy. It was certainly a challenging effort to move away from his family to set up shop in lynchburg and deal with all the changes that were going on at the time. But he was one of these movers shakers and he really took on things as as problems, more of challenges. And so he set up his practice and he he was looking for to keep busy outside of the office and keep active. And so he started playing tennis, which he had learned in high school and played some in college. He started playing tennis again and really fell in love. The sport, i believe the court went in some time in the late 1930s, early 1940. So i think before the end of the the 1930 he had the court installed and he started slowly working on his game. But more importantly, bringing, bringing the sport to many others in the community as well as around the country. You know, he was definitely a civil rights leader, someone who was looking at the social status of where things were and felt like it was a sport that needed integration. And so he started very small. He started with trying to get kids into the National Interscholastic tournament that was held in charlottesville. The boys were and he started there, but he looked to a much broader stage and said, know whats going on in . The world of tennis, the professional sport. So once the american tennis association, which was established in 1899, once that developed enough talent, he decided to launch a Junior Development program here, which which would be a stepping stone for players to move up. And through the eight and into the the tour the program was really developed as a model based t dr. Had done with Althea Gibson from 1946 to 1950. She spent winters and wilmington, carolina with dr. Hubert eaton and would train here in the summers for 12 to 16 weeks with my grandfather. And so that was very intense training, very intense competition on a daily basis. And then every there were tournaments, so there wasnt a week that she was here in the summer that she wasnt playing a tournament, the weekend and training with some of the best male tennis players that the Africanamerican Community had to offer. So that set the stage for what he developed in 1951 where he started bringing kids for 20 years to lynchburg, virginia and this se to train and practice with the best and brightest kids across the country. Some would stais house, but often kids would stay throughout the community with other relatives of dr. Johnson as well, with coworkers, nurses and people who were part of his medical. These were mostly africanamericans but there were also some ki came, trained that werent africanamericans, who also benefited from program and goodwill. I spent several summers here and shortly before my father, grandfather passed away in 71, i actually was part of the traveling team and it was it was just surreal . I mean, he was a larger than individual who impact so many peoples lives. And when he would walk into a room or when we go to a tournament, it was like the red carpet would be rolled out. He was definitely highly respected and he had managed to deliver the first two africanamerican as who broke color barrier in the sport, and they were the two first African Americans to win major singl Althea Gibson, by winning the french open in 56 and arthur ashe by winning us open in 68. So once that happened and once people realized that thoseho players had grown up here and they had flourished here and flourished beyond, lynchburg that created this cavalcade of interest in my grandfather and s ability. Me, phenomenal physician, but somehow he managed to be a student of the tennis game and transform that learning into program that for decades in, you knovidplayers an opportunity for africanamericans to integrate the sport just because you were for a couple of summers or in the case of althea and arthur for multiple summers he, still stayed in touch with both of beyond their time here. In fact, sent a lovely Western Union telegram to my after she won wimbledon in 57 and she wanted in 57 and 58 along with the u. S. Open. But she sent a lovely telegram that said know thank youhi victory is much yours as it is mine because without your confidence and your willingness to support me and mentor me and sponsor me, i would have never made it to the world stage. We established a foundation, the whirlwind Johnson Foundation back in 2015 and whats going on with the site today is that were in the middle of a restoration. The tennis court that you can see behind me was restored last year in large part through the help, the usta and a number of others. And the plan that in 2018 we will focus the home and the shed and both of those sites restored. Well, in addition to the garden, which was a pretty prominent area in the house back in the day. So we will focus on the rest the property and make sure its restored its natural, its original. And were also going to install a Museum Inside the house to capture a lot of history that took place here. So there will be memorabilia and photographs and and video shows of historic moments and players o played here. And were going to share all of that with the general public now, not only locally but internationally, for folks who want to come and visit and take this and the immediate is very proud of what took place here. This is a historic and lynchburg and people are very proud what happened here for althea and arthur ashe for lightning, the twice on this property is almost impossible to imagine. So theres a lot of of pride and, you know, local community. My graer passed in 1971 and after he passed away, the was left to one of his nurses from his medical practice. She was here for many years, some 71 until pretty much 2000, at which point the house came back to the family. And so during that time where she was here and during that time, that gap between, the family coming back to the property and today there is a lot of downturn, if you will and the overall property and now were squarely focused on addressing that we with the court because it was a launching for a lot of what took place here. But more importantly the home in the shed where a lot of the activity place off of the court were also addressed. Those this coming year and hopefully be up and running by the end of 2018 and have those available people togood eveningd gentlemen. My name is jeremy collins. Im the director of conferences and some pose here here at the National World war two museums. Jenny Craig Institute for the study of war and democracy. Its great to see you all here this evening. We have a tradition here where we acknowledge whether theyre in with us or at home watching on our online
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