Career
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 United States. National Championship (now known as the United States 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association. She played on the men"s team for three years.
She was in the Number. 4 position her first year but played in either the Number. 1 or Number. 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. The Roberta Alison Tennis Classic is held each year at the University of Alabama.
She also played the American tennis circuit.
After her tennis career, Roberta spent her life in Alexander City, Alabama. As a lover of animals she helped start the Lake Martin Humane Society and was active in LMHS activities for many years. On April 28, 2012 the University of Alabama dedicated a new indoor tennis facility naming it the Roberta Alison Baumgardner tennis facility. Roberta Alison Baumgardner spent her life in her native Alabama, where she died on March 20, 2009, aged 65, from injuries she sustained in a fire at her home a week earlier.
She was buried in Alexander City"s cemetery.