It was 10 years ago today that Arthur Ashe died at the age 49. Not only one of the great tennis players, but one the great humanitarians. Please take a moment to read about Arthur Ashe, a truly remarkable man.

From fighting apartheid and for rights of Haitian refugees to improving academic and athletic opportunities for minority youths, the man fought the good fight. Plus all the personal struggles he endured! He's one of those people that I remeber exactly where I was when I'd heard he died.

And please do not turn this into a political debate about whether you agreed with his stances. I want this to strictly be a tribute. you want to bash, start another thread.

[ February 06, 2003, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Ashe is by every standard an American hero and icon. I am always struck by how reverently John McEnroe speaks of Arthur. For Johnny Mac to speak so positively about a man, and consistently so!, you know that man must've been someone special.

Ashe's impact is clearly undervalued by the sports community at large. He was pure integrity on and off the court. How undervalued was he? Billie Jean King once said she was "blacker than ARthur Ashe". Basically calling him an Uncle Tom, in my opinion. Ashe, to his credit, ignored the comment. As a tennis player, he was one of the good ones, not one of the truly greats, but as a man, he was without peer.

Well said, All. I can't imagine anyone having something negative to say or "bashing" Arthur Ashe. I don't think human beings come any finer.

I live about a block from the Arthur Ashe monument in Richmond, in fact a fellow Alumni designed the thing...I think they could have done a much better job. It is quite hideous.

Arthur Ashe Monument

There is one more thing we can give at least partial credit to Arthur Ashe for - the federal law regarding the privacy of medical records. Ashe's HIV positive status was leaked by a hospital employee to the media without his permission, but he had no way to fight that, because state law gave the hospital ownership of the medical records. His case was cited when people argued for the need for national regulations regarding the confidentiality of such information.

I doubt that there are many finer human beings than Ashe, and it is so sad that he and so many others died just before the life-saving medications for HIV became available. He certainly followed his own path, and weathered a lot of criticism for it, but in the end the stances he took served to complement, not undermine, the more radical stances of others. I had to admit to a tear in my own eye when I read in the ESPN profile of his insistance on competing in front of an integrated audience in S. Africa. He took a tougher road on that issue than many others, but made a profound point nonetheless. The world could stand a lot more Arthur Ashe's.

You are exactly right, CPT. The reason Ashe went public with his HIV status was he knew a tabloid was going ahead with the story. He basically was trying to cut them off at the pass. Thanks for that reminder of another contribution AA made to the world at large.

The ATP have made a brilliant selection for the recipients for this year's Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award:
http://www.atptennis.com/en/newsandscores/...s/atpawards.asp

What a great way to commemorate the anniversary acknowledging his loss...moreover, what a deserving, and timely, pair of winners!