Arthur Ashe Takes On The World

On April 8, 1992 one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen announced that he had AIDs. No, I’m not talking about Magic Johnson, that was HIV, and the year before, on November 7, 1991. But remember that date because it’ll be important later. The man I’m talking about, is Arthur Ashe, one of the greatest tennis players that ever lived. 

Let’s go back in time, way back. In 1943 Arthur Ashe Jr is born to Arthur Ashe Sr and Mattie Cordell Cunningham Ashe, shortly after, his parents bring home his little brother Johnnie. Unfortunately, Mattie died during a third pregnancy due to pre-eclampsia, an issue that many pregnant women face. It causes high blood pressure and can lead to seizures, strokes and all kinds of other bad stuff. Even today, Black American women are still almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with pre-eclampsia as white women. 

After Mattie’s passing Arthur Sr took on three jobs and raised the boys as a single father. One of those jobs was as caretaker-policeman for Brook Field Park. It was the largest park for Black people in the state of Virginia and a place he cared for with pride. Because of his role as caretaker the family was provided with a small home on the edge of the park. This allowed the boys to be introduced to all kinds of different sports, except football. Arthur Sr did not allow his kids to play football. He considered his children too frail and the game far too dangerous. Now, Arthur Sr was a man who didn’t play around. Arthur Jr is quoted as saying: 

“There was no gray in Daddy’s world. His rules were black or white, without regard to race and there was a time when I feared him. He was very strict, almost overprotective and it was understandable. He had lost a father and a wife in less than 12 months. He did not want to lose his children to any failure to follow orders.” 

One thing Arthur Sr really didn’t play about was littering. In fact, it was so notable that Richmond Magazine ran an article in 2018 about the history and revitalization of Brook Field Park. Sure, they mentioned the legendary tennis player Arthur Ashe Jr; how could they not? But do you know who got the bigger section? Arthur Ashe Sr.  

Back to Arthur Jr, at the age of 7 he spots some people playing tennis and becomes obsessed with the game. One day he’s noticed by Ron Charity; a college student, but also a tennis instructor. Arthur already had the passion, but Charity helped him to build the skills required. He’s also the person who introduced Arthur to tournament play. 

At age 10, Charity takes Arthur to meet a man named Robert Johnson, no not the BET Robert Johnson and not the blues singer either. This Robert Johnson was a standout college football player who went on to coach. Then attended medical school and became the first Black person to earn the right to practice medicine in Lynchburg, Virginia where he would practice until retirement. Johnson found a love for Tennis and would become a coach. He’d also go on to found the American Tennis Association Junior Development Program for African American Youths.” That is an incredible trajectory, and it doesn’t sound like it, but he was a pretty good coach. One of his first students was Althea Gibson, who is credited with not only breaking down segregation in the sport but being a hero to Venus and Serena Williams. 

Back to Arthur, he worked hard at whatever he did and was rewarded for it. In 1958, the community rallied around Arthur and Maggie L Walker High School so that the boy’s tennis team would be the 1st Black team to play in the Maryland Championships. They came through and crushed the building, taking 1st place. When 1960 rolls around, the state is actively trying to find ways to keep him out of tournaments, because the fact is he’s just too good. Robert Johnson makes a phone call to Richard Hudlin, a 62-year-old teacher and former tennis coach. He extends an offer to house Arthur in St. Louis, Missouri where the sport has been fully integrated.  

Each day, Arthur practices at The National Guard Armory and just dominates tournament after tournament after tournament. In 1960 he makes the cover of Sports Illustrated, and again in 1963 before he even leaves high school.  

For college, Ashe attends UCLA where he’s a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. You know, red, striped canes, Divine 9 and all of that. Despite the fact that he’s already a national champion at this point, he’s told there are no scholarships available. He does what a lot of people do, he joins the ROTC to guarantee free tuition, as long as he completes 4 years of service after graduation. The best part of college for Arthur was meeting his hero, Ricardo Gonzalez. For now, let’s pause and talk about Ricardo Gonzales.  

Despite having a reign as the top ranked tennis player in the world you will get no results searching Ricardo Gonzales or even “Ricardo Gonzales Tennis.” That is because Ricardo is Mexican American so the media chose to constantly refer to him as Pancho Gonzales and tell stories about him getting in knife fights as a child which is why he had a scar on his face. In reality, he got the scar as a kid from crashing his scooter. Despite 4 grand slams, a #1 ranking, over 1000 wins and numerous tournaments won he still died poor without being recognized by his real name. I wonder if Arthur knew that one day, the media would treat him with the same disrespect they did Gonzales. 

Throughout college Arthur stacks up wins, eventually playing in The Australian Open. He loses, but now he wants to win on the big stage. After graduation Arthur begins his service in the army. He continues winning tournaments, but to maintain amateur status he must turn down prize money. In 1968 alone, he wins 10 of the 22 tournaments he entered, goes 72 and 10 on the year. He’s ranked 3rd in the world. Still, when he applies to play in The South African Open, he’s denied a VISA. He uses this to call out apartheid and despite tennis officials meeting with South African Prime Minister John Vorster, they didn’t back down and Ashe had to sit out.  

The cherry on top of all that is that he’s drafted for a 2-year tour of Vietnam. Remember his little brother Johnnie? Well, Johnnie was already in Vietnam finishing up his tour of duty. He spots the paperwork with his brother’s information and signs up to serve his term because he didn’t feel Arthur needed to go to war. Johnnie does this without telling anyone but their father. As far as Arthur knows, they saw his tennis skills and chose not to take him. They kept that secret between the two of them for 18 years. In an interview with UCLA Johnnie stated: 

“If I had come back when I was supposed to, Arthur would have had 14 to 15 months left on his enlistment, which was enough time for him to go to Vietnam. This was my idea, totally my idea. I didn’t talk to anyone about it. I told The Marine Corps I would do it because of the possibilities Arthur represented […] You have to realize Arthur represented a lot of firsts in tennis. He was the first African-American male to play in the nationals, the first African-American to play at Wimbledon and the sport was actually bursting wide open at the time. […] I just felt that there were too many possibilities for his life to be deterred by a tour in Vietnam. He didn’t need to go to war. Arthur was a very strong-willed man, but he was also a gentle sprit. And I didn’t want the experience of war to change that.” 

In 1973 Arthur finally gets an invite to South Africa becoming the first Black person to play in their national tournament. He demanded that the crowds not be segregated, or he would refuse to play. So, the crowds weren’t segregated. But when he wants to spectate games that he isn’t playing in, he’s forced to buy tickets for them, at the Africans Only counter. The experiences in the country lead him to struggle through the tournament and he goes home upset after losing in the finals. Back home, after years of speaking out, he officially joins the boycott of South Africa. 

In 1976 at a benefit dinner for the United Negro College Fund, Arthur meets and falls in love with Jeanne Moutoussamy, an award-winning photographer and artist. She had been inspired to pursue photography by Gordon Parks, who had been impressed by her work for news stations. She’s had photos and art published in Jet, Ebony, Essence, The Smithsonian and so on. Today she’s won countless awards and has permanent collections on display around the country. One private display is the possession of Oprah Winfrey who is never shy about being a fan. A fun fact is that her father was John Moutoussamy, an architect, and as I record this, he is still the only Black person to design a high rise building in Chicago’s downtown. 

At age 35, Arthur has a foot injury and is ranked much lower than he’s ever been ranked. How low? Number 800. The talk is that he should just retire, he doesn’t have it anymore, and has nothing left to prove. Hold up wait a minute, they thought he was finished. He returns from injury and goes on a winning streak raising his rank from 800 to 13 the biggest jump in rank ever seen at that point. But there isn’t a storybook ending here, his career wasn’t destined to continue. 

In December of 1979 while out on a jog, Arthur suffers a heart attack. Just 5 days prior, Arthur Sr had survived his own heart attack. In April, Arthur retires from the sport of tennis, but he doesn’t just walk into the sunset. Arthur places a focus on the importance of heart health, because if a peak athlete could suffer a heart attack, nobody is immune. He’s doing advertisements, late night TV shows and attacking with the same focus and dedication he did Tennis.  

In 1983, he has a second heart attack. During the surgery he requires a blood transfusion, but everything else goes fine. Without taking a break, he’s back fighting for Civil Rights. In 1985 he’s arrested for protesting outside the South African Embassy because rightfully, he’s not letting that Apartheid thing go. 

In 1988 he’s admitted to the hospital because his arm has become paralyzed. They run tests and it’s revealed that he’s got toxoplasmosis; the most common nervous system infection for those suffering AIDS who aren’t receiving medication. They run another test; it comes back positive for AIDs. It’s traced back to the blood transfusion he received in 1983. At the time, AIDs was a death sentence. Arthur and Jeanne choose to keep the diagnosis a secret. Not because they’re afraid of public backlash or rumors. But because they’ve got a daughter, and they don’t want her to suffer because of the stigma placed on people with HIV and AIDs as well as their loved ones. 

He fights the disease in silence while finishing two books. “A Hard Road To Glory: The African American Athlete,” and “Days of Grace,” a memoir of his life. He’s still marching for civil rights and promoting heart health. As the kids say, he’s booked and busy. 

In early 1992, Arthur gets a call from a friend who worked for USA Today. The friend heard a rumor and looked into himself. The rumor turned out to be true. After the story of Magic Johnson’s HIV diagnosis in November of 91’ they went on the hunt, because they were eager to break a story too. USA Today had somehow learned of Arthur’s AIDs diagnosis and planned to release it as front-page news. For the next several days Arthur lives in a state of chaos and panic that he had never known before. He and Jeanne are rapidly calling family and friends, explaining what happened and how. Then he and Jeanne make a decision that will change the world. They decided to call a press conference before the USA Today story can run. 

In a heartfelt speech, flanked by family and friends including Jeanne, New York City Mayor David Dinkins, and his doctor Henry W. Murray. Arthur announced to the world that he has AIDs. He didn’t have to do this, but he didn’t want his family and friends to quote “hear about it on the radio and TV.” He goes on to thank the medical community that kept his diagnosis secret for years. He also expresses some optimism for getting on with his life.  

But he wasn’t without strong words for the media: 

“I’m angry that I was put in the unenviable position of having to lie if I wanted to protect my privacy. […] Still, I didn’t commit any crimes and I’m not running for public office. I should be able to reserve the right to keep things like that private.” He would go on to say, “Up until this time, I sleep every night. No problem. Last night, was difficult.” 

USA Today didn’t deny they intended to run the story and this was a time when poor journalism got you shamed, not a job on TV. They were shunned by other media outlets, the public, politicians, celebrities, and athletes all refused to do interviews with them for some time after.  

Despite what he had been through, it didn’t stop him. Later that year in September, Arthur is arrested outside The White House for demanding that deportation of Haitian immigrants be stopped. He has a third heart attack, but still goes on to speak to the United Nations about the HIV and AIDs crisis. Two months before his death he founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Healthcare to help fight the lack of health clinics in Black neighborhoods. When he died on February 6, 1993 between 6 and 8 thousand people traveled to Virginia to mourn him. 

3 grand slams, 76 titles, 1188 singles wins, 323 doubles wins, 18 doubles titles, and a 4 time Davis Cup winner. I think we should all remember Arthur Ashe, not because he won a lot. But, because it takes a community for a person to be great. He never turned his back on the people that helped him, and he kept fighting for others like him until the end. That’s nothing short of admirable.