Fredia Gibbs
Mixed Martial Arts
MMA and Martial Arts Champion
In 1964, Cassius Clay
famously declared, “I
shook up the world.”
This was after beating Sonny Liston
for the world heavyweight boxing
championship (and a few weeks before
changing his name to Muhammed Ali).
Three decades later, Delaware
County’s Fredia Gibbs echoed those
same words when she captured the
world super-lightweight kickboxing
title in 1994. Gibbs’ upset of French
superstar Valerie Wiet-Henin was seen
by millions on pay per view and with
the victory, Gibbs became the first
African-American female to win a world
kickboxing championship.
Nicknamed “The
Cheetah,” Gibbs had
ascended to become
“The Most Dangerous
Woman in the World.”
Many people in the
county feel that Fredia
Gibbs is arguably the
greatest all-around
female athlete in
Delaware County
history.
Before winning the
World Championship
Kickboxing title,
Gibbs was credited
with completely
turning around a
winless Chester High
School girls’ basketball program, leading
the 1981 Clippers to the Delaware Valley
title, district championship, and state
semi-finalist, as a senior, for which she
earned All-Delco, All-State, and All-
American honors.
In track, Gibbs won an individual gold
medal and helped lead Chester to
the 1981 state team
championship. After
graduation,
she received
a scholarship
to play
basketball
at Temple University. After
a year, she transferred to
Cabrini University, where
she played basketball for
three seasons and was selected to the
Division III All-American team.
At Cabrini, her 2,395 career points, 680
career assists, and 318 career steals
smashed every women’s basketball
record. Cabrini is now the site of a sixfoot
bronze statue of Gibbs dedicated
on September 28,2022. Award winning
Jennifer Frudakis-Perry sculpted the sixfoot
bronze statue.
“Fredia deserves
the honor,” said
Frudakis-Petry, “and
I am honored to be
the one to do it. It
will be the first statue of a female athlete
in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s long
overdue. What’s better than a woman
sculpting a statue of a world-class
woman athlete?”
“I am in awe of being
the first female
athlete in the state of
Pennsylvania to have
a statue,” stated Gibbs.
“Having a woman do
the sculpture makes
it even more special.
It’s about the she.”
Gibbs went on to say,
“Cabrini is home to
me., The togetherness
that I experienced
there and the tools
that the school provided helped me to
achieve greatness in my career. Cabrini is
the best place this statue could be.”
After her collegiate career, Gibbs played
pro basketball in the European Women’s
Professional League for team Etzella,
based in Luxembourg, where she led
her team in scoring and rebounding
while leading Etzella to their first
European Cup.
In 1997, she accepted her next challenge
and competed in women’s professional
boxing where she became a top
contender with several ESPN televised
bouts. After achieving
a 9-2 record, Fredia,
also known as “Lady
Jack Johnson,” was
forced to retire due
to an injury.
The former threetime
world champion
in Tae Kwon Do has
also received the
American martial
Arts Alliance’s
highest honor, The
AMAA Who’s Who
Legends Award,
honored along with actor Chuck Norris,
star of TV’s Walker: Texas Ranger. She
was nominated for this award by another
martial arts legend, actor Bob Wall,
star of Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee.
Gibbs has also worked as an actress and
a model.
In retirement, Fredia was the subject
of a biographical documentary titled
The Most Dangerous Woman, which is
scheduled to be released this fall.
“The Most Dangerous Woman in the
World” started out as a bullied young
schoolgirl. “I was tormented by bullies,”
Gibbs once recalled. “They would taunt
me and chase me home from school.
“It was my uncle who introduced me to
karate to help me defend myself. These
early karate lessons taught me the
important concepts of self-confidence
and self-esteem as well as the skills to protect myself.”
Fredia is widely considered to be among the top ten greatest African American female athletes of all time, alongside such legends as Serena Williams, FloJo and Wilma Rudolph.
In 2019, Fredia was inducted into the Cabrini University Athletic Hall of Fame; recognized by Cabrini officials as the school’s greatest athlete, male or female, of all time. That same year, she was also inducted into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Hall of Fame, Delaware County Chapter. Tonight she joins the other great contributors to the world of sports in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.
By Rich Pagano
