LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A new mural, decades in the making, honors tennis trailblazer Jimmie McDaniel.

Before there were the Williams sisters, Arthur Asher or Althea Gibson, there was Jimmie McDaniel.

He was the first Black tennis player at his high school, Manual Arts, in Los Angeles, leading them to a league championship.

His family, in attendance at the ceremony, was proud to watch the unveiling of his mural on his old stomping grounds.

“Hopefully, it means his legacy will last forever,” said Steve King, Jimmie McDaniel’s son-in-law. “That’s all we can do is tell the story and let the young people understand the story, because it’s a very deep story. So, it’s something that I think everybody can take something from.”

“I am feeling overjoyed, overwhelmed and as you can see now it’s caught in my voice,” said Audrey King, McDaniel’s daughter. “But it is the thing that I think the family has been waiting for because he never got a chance.”

McDaniel would go on to play for Xavier University of Louisiana.

Despite being banned from NCAA Championships due to segregation, he claimed several national championships in the 1930s.

For current Manual Arts tennis players who told me they’re new to the sport, they said learning about McDaniel’s legacy is inspiring.

“I tried it out and I made the tryouts. It was really nice,” Leslie Valero said about starting tennis last year. “I’m kind of following in his steps. We were on the same ground, we touched the same floor, you know. Definitely made me want to research about him more.”

“He really shows us that we can really carry on with our passions and really make it happen,” said Jerson Calderon, an athlete on the Manual Arts Boys Tennis Team. “Back in the day, it was really hard to chase our dreams, and he still made it possible again and again. He tried and he made it possible, and that shows us today that we can also do the same.”

At Manual Arts, they said the mural isn’t just about tennis. It’s about honoring, preserving and celebrating our history.

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