She was a tennis player who teamed up with Althea Gibson to win the women's doubles titles at the French and Wimbledon tennis championships in 1956. They had met in 1955 while on tour in India. In 1957, a serious wrist injury forced Buxton to retire from competition. Gibson went on to win both the Wimbledon and US singles championships, the first Black person to win either title; she did it again in 1958.