Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070161
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
TENNIS GREAT ARTHUR ASHE DEAD AT 49
Arthur Ashe, a groundbreaking black tennis player and crusader off the court for human rights and AIDS research, died Saturday of AIDS-related pneumonia. He was 49.Ashe died at 3:13 p.m. EST, said New York Hospital administrator Judith Lilavois. "An additional statement will come from his family and the hospital tomorrow," she said.
Ashe, the only black man ever to win the Wimbledon championship and the U.S. Open, revealed last April 8 that he had AIDS in an emotional news conference prompted by his fear that a newspaper was about to publish the story. He said he was infected by a blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery, probably in 1983.
He insisted that he should have the right to keep his illness private. But after going public, he became active in the fight against AIDS, forming a fund-raising foundation and joining the boards of the Harvard AIDS Institute and the UCLA AIDS Institute.
In an interview in November, Ashe said that his days were busier than ever, although he had his good ones and bad ones.
"I'm not sick," Ashe said. "My blood test numbers are holding steady, and I think a lot of it has to do with personal initiative, in addition to what my doctors tell me to do."
Ashe said having the disease made it difficult to plan things, but "that's not to say that I'm morbid about it."
"I'm not in the least," he said. "I've lived with this now for 4 1/2 years, so you see you come to some accommodation with it. But professionally I feel rather satisfied."
Ashe's career brought him the singles crowns of all the coveted tennis championships, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the World Championship Tennis Finals. He earned No. 1 ranking in 1968 and 1975.
He was born July 10, 1943 and grew up in Richmond, Va. He began to play tennis in a neighborhood park where his father was employed as a guard.
He got his start in tennis with the help of Dr. Walter Johnson, a general practitioner from Lynchburg, Va., whose home was a haven for young tennis hopefuls.
Under Johnson's tutelage, Ashe honed his style and went on to gain national stature with victories in 1960 and 1961 in the indoor junior championships. The titles helped him earn a scholarship to UCLA in 1961.
In 1968, Ashe, then 25, won the U.S. Open as an amateur, was ranked No. 1 in the world and helped the United States team overcome Australia for its first Davis Cup victory in five years.
Ashe won the 1970 Australian Open and teamed with Marty Riessen to capture the 1971 French Open doubles title. The same year, he began a string of four consecutive appearances in the World Championship Tennis Finals that reached its apex in 1975 when he triumphed over 19-year-old Bjorn Borg.
The WCT win set the stage for one of Ashe's proudest moments. Matched against the seemingly invincible Jimmy Connors in the 1975 Wimbledon final, Ashe summoned up the skills and the savvy needed to secure a 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 win. The victory helped Ashe earn No. 1 ranking in men's tennis and marked the 10th time in as many years that he was listed among the world's top five.
Ashe was forced to sit out most of 1977 because of a recurring heel injury and an eye inflammation problem. In the face of the injuries and a plummeting computer ranking that fell to No. 257, most observers concluded that a brilliant career was coming to a close.
But Ashe regained his health, put himself through rigorous training and exercises and returned to the tennis tour in 1978. He was back in the top 10 rankings within 11 months.
In 1979, Ashe was No. 8 in the computer rankings when he was felled by a heart attack. Though the resulting quadruple bypass surgery was successful, initial plans for a comeback were eventually set aside.
Ashe officially announced his retirement from competitive tennis on April 16, 1980. At the same time, at the age of 38 he assumed the captaincy of the U.S. Davis Cup team, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
Ashe led the United States Davis Cup team to victory in 1981 and 1982. He captained the U.S. squad for three more years before his retirement in 1985. In 1985, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
After the announcement that he had AIDS, Ashe, a member of Aetna Life & Casualty's board since 1982, was criticized by AIDS activists for failing to push the insurer to change its policy against selling new life insurance policies to people who test positive for the AIDS virus.
Ashe said he understood the company's position that selling such policies would be "too economically prohibitive."
He was named Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year in December for his work, the first athlete to win the award after his playing days were over. At the time, he said he had never been so busy in his life.