Arthur Ashe:
While many may not remember, this amazing American Tennis player, his impact on and off the courts are extremely impressive. Despite the odds that were against him, he rose above his circumstances and became a role model for the black community.
Image: Wikipedia
Childhood
He was an African-American who grew up in the 1940s, where there was immense racial segregation of the Blacks and the Whites. He was raised by his dad when his mum passed away when he was just 7. He was thin as a kid and his childhood nicknames were "Skinny" or "Bones".
Career
Yet at just 15 years, he Ashe became the first African-American to play in the Maryland boys' championships. It was also his first integrated tennis competition. Then in 1963, he became first African-American to win the National Junior Indoor Tennis and was awarded a scholarship to UCLA. In same year, Arthur Ashe became the first black player ever selected for the United States Davis Cup team.
Despite his busy schedule, he graduated from UCLA with Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.
His tennis career was an illustrious one that span all the way till 1980 where he officially retire from tennis after his heart surgery.
Advocacy
Ashe was much more than a decorated tennis player; he was an activist, author, educator, and a tireless campaigner for civil rights and racial equality, not only in the United States but worldwide, particularly against the apartheid systems of South Africa
He was arrested in 1985, for protesting outside the Embassy of South Africa, Washington, D.C. protesting the South African Apartheid. He was arrested again in 1992, outside the White House for protesting on the recent crackdown on Haitian refugees.
He was deeply interested in the history of the black athlete in America. When he found no such definitive history, he decided to write one. The result was the three-volume “A Hard Road to Glory", published in 1988. It then went on to be produced as an Emmy-winning documentary.
After Nelson Mandela was released from prison, he came to New York to address the United Nations and launch a multi-city American tour. And when asked which American he would like to meet, almost without hesitation, Mandela said, “How about that man, Arthur Ashe?”
He was a member of a delegation of 31 prominent African-Americans who visited South Africa to observe political change in the country as it approached racial integration.
Legacy
Image: https://wtvr.com/2015/07/05/arthur-ashe-wimbledon-win-40-anniversary/
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ashe#Awards_and_Honors
- In 1975, Ashe was awarded the inaugural ATP Player of the Year Award.
- In 1977, Ashe received the ATP Sportsmanship Award, voted for by other ATP-tour players.
- In 1979, Ashe was awarded ATP Comeback Player of the Year. He was also inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. In commenting on his induction, the Hall noted that, "Arthur Ashe was certainly a hero to people of all ages and races, and his legacy continues to touch the lives of many today. For Arthur Ashe, tennis was a means to an end. Although he had a lucrative tennis career, it was always more than personal glory and individual accolades. He used his status as an elite tennis player to speak out against the moral inequalities that existed both in and out of the tennis world. Ashe sincerely wanted to bring about change in the world. What made him stand out was that he became a world champion along the way."[41]
- In 1982, The Arthur Ashe Athletic Center, a 6,000 seat multi-purpose arena was built in Richmond, Virginia. It hosts local sporting events and concerts.
- Ashe is humorously referenced to in the 1982 Only Fools and Horses episode 'Ashes to Ashes' when Del, Grandad and Rodney discover Grandad's friend Arthur's cremated remains inside one of a pair of urns. Del typically mishears Rodders when he tells him it's Arthurs ashes and responds: 'Arthurs ashes? He's the black bloke who won Wimbledon, inn'ee?'[]
- He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame in 1983.[42]
- In 1985, Ashe was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
- In 1986, Ashe won a Sports Emmy for co-writing the documentary "A Hard Road to Glory," co-written with Bryan Polivka.[43][44]
- On December 3, 1992, Ashe was presented with the "Sports Legend" Award by the American Sportscasters Association at their Eighth annual Hall of Fame Awards Dinner in New York City.
- On June 20, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.[45]
- In 1993, Ashe was also awarded posthumously the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award by the ATP, in honour of his career-long contributions to humanitarianism.
- In 1993, Ashe received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.[46]
- In 1993, Dream Theater dedicated their song "Surrounded" off of Images And Words to the memory and legacy of Ashe after he had died from AIDS.
- In 1996 the city of Richmond posthumously honored Ashe's life with a statue on Monument Avenue, a place traditionally reserved for statues of key figures of the Confederacy. This decision led to some controversy in a city that was the capital of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.[47]
- The main stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, where the US Open is played, is named Arthur Ashe Stadium in his honor. This is also the home of the annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day.
- In 2002, Ashe winning Wimbledon in 1975 was voted 95th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.[]
- In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Arthur Ashe on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
- In 2005, the United States Postal Service announced the release of an Arthur Ashe commemorative postal stamp, the first stamp ever to feature the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine.
- Also in 2005, TENNIS Magazine put him in 30th place in their list of the 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era.
- ESPN's annual sports awards, the ESPY Awards, hands out the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award to a member of the sports world who best exhibits courage in the face of adversity.
- Philadelphia's Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center (now named Legacy Youth Tennis and Education Center) and Richmond's Arthur Ashe Athletic Center have been named for Ashe.
- The Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center at Ashe's alma mater, UCLA, is named for him. The center opened in 1997.
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