When director Vicky Wight set out to make a documentary about tennis star Zina Garrison, she asked Garrison if she knew anyone who might want to take part. The Olympic gold medalist ticked off a few names: Billie Jean King, Carl Lewis, Clyde Drexler, Martina Navratilova.
“She was like, ‘You know, you can call them and ask them. I’m not sure they’ll do it,’” Wight recalled. “Every single one of them, within seconds, was like, ‘Of course, yes. When do you want to meet?’ Everyone. There was no no.”
Wight told the story Sunday night at a Museum of Fine Arts Houston screening of her short documentary “Zina,” which recounts Garrison’s rise from the public courts of Houston’s MacGregor Park to become one of the earliest Black women to excel in the predominantly white world of professional tennis.
The doc recounts how Garrison became the runner-up in singles at Wimbledon in 1990, a three-time major mixed doubles champion, and gold and bronze medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, while battling outside pressure, self doubt, and an eating disorder.
As the film explains, she represented a bridge between Althea Gibson and Venus and Serena Williams, the latter of whom produced Zina.
Wight and Garrison were joined onstage Sunday by two of Garrison’s fellow Houston sports icons and participants in the doc: track and field star Lewis, and Drexler, an NBA Hall of Famer and champion in his time with the Houston Rockets. Moderator Michael Robinson, the lead programmer of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, which hosted the event, shared his awe at sharing a stage with three Gold medalists.
Zina Garrison, Carl Lewis and Clyde Drexler on Houston Sports
Lewis, Drexler and Garrison go back decades: Drexler was a senior at Ross Sterling High School, outside Houston, when Garrison was a sophomore, and remembered seeing her on long runs with her friend and fellow tennis star, Lori McNeil.
“I remember the days when we’re running the bayou and Zina and Lori were just out there in that hot sun, putting that work in, right?” he recalled. “And then when you see them have success on the court, you know where that came from. It’s not because they want it; it’s because they deserve it. They earned the right.”
He added wryly: “Unlike today, when people are special because they want to be.”
Drexler said a sports announcer once asked him, “What are they putting in the water in Houston?,” pointing to the success of him, Garrison and Lewis.
But for Garrison, it wasn’t about the water — it was the park.
She praised coach John Wilkerson, a Black tennis champ was hired by the city of Houston to lead the tennis program at MacArthur Park in the 1970s. Though the park is in Houston’s Third Ward, which was predominantly Black, most of his clients were white. So he decided to start a free program focused on children.
Garrison noted that participants in the program went on to become doctors, lawyers, and business owners, as well as athletes.
“MacGregor Park was everything, because that’s where I had the opportunity to meet John Wilkerson,” Garrison said Sunday. “He just felt tennis was a way to change lives. John used to always tell us that for him, tennis was about giving kids the opportunity. It didn’t matter if you were rich or you were poor. Everybody could play this game together.
“We could get along together, but we also could make a better world. He always wanted everybody to be a good citizen. That was his big thing. When you came through those gates, everybody was the same, and that’s what I always loved about MacGregor Park.”
She carries on that idea with her own Zina Garrison Tennis Academy, which has taught more than 25,00 children to play.
Houston tried to repay her Sunday: City councilwoman Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz appeared at the end of the panel to tell a tearful Garrison that Sunday, October 4, had been designated as Zina Garrison Day. And Justin Schultz, president and CEO of the Houston Parks Board, announced a new mural at MacGregor park honoring her legacy.
Garrison had the last word.
“I really want to thank everybody that has helped me, not just one person, because you can’t do it by yourself,” she said. “”It’s a team, it’s a community, and the community makes and shapes the person that you are. So, thank you, Houston. Love you.”
You can read more about the Houston Cinema Arts Festival here, and read more of our festival coverage here.
Main image: Zina Garrison, Carl Lewis and Clyde Drexler in the post-screening Q&A for Zina.
