ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996                   TAG: 9607080106
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

ASHE STATUE STILL CONTROVERSIAL OPINIONS DIFFER AS MONUMENT PUT INTO PLACE FOR WEDNESDAY UNVEILING

Arthur Ashe's statue is in place on Richmond's Monument Avenue, but both the size and location of the late tennis star's memorial are drawing comment.

According to tourists, passers-by and neighbors, the Ashe statue appears to be too small for its tall, circular base. Ashe's 12-foot-tall figure stands on a 44-ton stone column.

Some said it just doesn't measure up to the massive - and international - controversy surrounding the monument's placement on a tree-lined avenue famous for statues of Confederate war heroes.

Even strong supporters of the Monument Avenue site were a little surprised at the proportion of Paul Di Pasquale's creation, whose figures are partially covered by blue tarps until Wednesday's unveiling.

``He's too small. The base is twice as big as the statue,'' said Allison Oakes, who works at Macy's in New York. She had heard about the controversy in New York.

``It's not as big as I thought it would be,'' Amy Shiflet said.

But some people were pleased with the size of the statue, saying it was properly proportioned for a humble hero.

``I like the size of the monument,'' said the Rev. Sylvester Turner, who knew Ashe's father. ``I probably would like to see a larger statue. But Arthur Ashe never presented himself as larger than life. This monument exemplifies that fact.''

Ashe, the first black man to win Wimbledon, spent his early years in a segregated Richmond where he was denied permission to play on the city's whites-only tennis courts. He later became an advocate for human rights and research into AIDS, the fatal disease he contracted from a transfusion during surgery. He died in 1993.

The statue was placed on Monument Avenue despite the bitter protests of some Virginians who thought that Ashe didn't belong in the Confederate pantheon.

Whatever the size, Medical College of Virginia graduate student Matthew Craig liked the statue. To him, Ashe is the only one who really belongs on Monument Avenue.

``He's a champion,'' he said. ``Don't put him on a street full of losers. These guys can't win a war.''

AP-DS-07-07-96 1451E

LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines