Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.

Arthur Ashe was an African-American tennis player who had a very successful career. He was also an activist for civil rights. Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was born on July 10th, 1943 and perished on February 6, 1993. To this day, he remains one of the greatest players of all time. Although many people have dominated a sport Arthur Ashe is my hero due to his kindness, character, dedication and his courage to stand up for social equality.

Arthur faced several challenges and a terrible loss while growing up in the segregated society of Richmond, Virginia and throughout his professional career. Skinny, small and uncoordinated it was very unlikely that he could become a professional tennis player. During his childhood he suffered a great loss when his mother died. This profoundly impacted his life. In 1968 Ashe was denied a visa by the South African government and this kept him out of the South African Open. At the time there was racial conflict between the white and the black population of the country that resulted in the creation of apartheid. In this system people were awarded rights and liberties based on their racial classification. Non-white people were prevented from voting and experienced lower incomes, substandard education and inferior housing. Ashe creatively used the denial to publicize the dreadful realities of apartheid. He courageously took part in an anti-apartheid protest outside the South African embassy in Washington D.C and was arrested on January 11th 1985 for his involvement.

Unfortunately, Ashe contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received from either his first heart surgery in 1979 or the second in 1983 that ended his career. Before he died on February 6th, 1993 Ashe became an activist for AIDS in order to raise awareness about the terrible epidemic that has killed millions of people. Arthur Ashe never questioned his success and therefore found it unfair to question the bad things in his life. He said “If I were to say, 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said, 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life."

In his illustrious career he won an unprecedented 33 singles titles of which 3 were Grand Slams. He became the first and only African-American to win the U.S. Open in 1968 defeating Tom Okker in a tough five set match. Two years later he added a second Grand Slam to his collection defeating Dick Crealy in the finals of the Australian Open 6-4, 9-7, 6-2. His final Grand Slam victory came against Jimmy Connors at the prestigious grass-court tournament Wimbledon.

Arthur Ashe was a great tennis player and is my hero. Although many people have dominated a sport, Arthur Ashe is my hero due to the conflicts and adversities he surmounted and for being a pioneer that led the way for minorities to become involved.