Hubert A. Eaton

Hubert Arthur Eaton (1916–1991) was an American physician, civil rights activist, and tennis player in North Carolina.

The son of a Winston-Salem physician, Eaton attended Johnson C. Smith University on a tennis scholarship after winning the 1933 national junior championship of the American Tennis Association (ATA), the African-American counterpart to the United States Tennis Association. He would go on to win the ATA national doubles championship, and served as the coach and mentor of Althea Gibson, the first black Wimbledon champion. He also played in the 1954 U.S. Championships, losing his match to top seed Tony Trabert. After he prevailed in court, Eaton remarked, "If you don't know what to do, go to court; that is the only way we know of in Wilmington, North Carolina." Eaton later worked to desegregate patient wards, stating that the black community "[did not] want a partially integrated hospital where everything will be integrated except patients".

In 1964, Eaton was charged with second-degree murder in the death of a patient. A trial was held, but the judge ordered a directed verdict of not guilty by reason of insufficient evidence before the jury began deliberations.