THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110419
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 69 lines
The city that barred young Arthur Ashe from its whites-only tennis courts dedicated a monument to him Wednesday on a tree-lined boulevard that had been reserved for Confederate heroes.
The bronze, 12-foot statue of Ashe - the first black man to win Wimbledon - was unveiled on Monument Avenue after more than a year of racially divisive bickering in the former Confederate capital.
``Arthur Ashe Jr. is a true Virginia hero, and he belongs,'' Ashe's brother, Johnnie Ashe of Atlanta, told about 1,500 people gathered for the ceremony.
Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, said dedicating the monument to Ashe means the street that features statues of Robert E. Lee and other Confederates ``is now an avenue for all people.''
Ashe left his segregated hometown as a teenager. He died in 1993 of complications from AIDS, contracted from a blood transfusion he received during heart surgery.
Plans to honor Ashe with a statue on Monument Avenue drew bitter opposition from people who said the street should be reserved for leaders of the Confederacy. Some residents of the mostly white neighborhood also objected.
Demonstrators protesting what they felt was a slap at the Old South were on hand at the dedication.
``We're not going to allow this to happen without some sort of protest,'' said Ron Doggett of Henrico County, who held one end of a large banner that said the statue's location amounted to a hate crime.
Richard Hines of Alexandria held a Confederate battle flag.
``The intent of the placement of the statue was to debunk our heritage,'' said Hines, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Doggett and Hines said they had no problem with honoring Ashe with a statue, but felt Monument Avenue was the wrong place.
The statue's creator, Paul DiPasquale, argued that Monument is the perfect location.
``Isn't it for monuments? Isn't it for heroes? No one questions that Arthur Ashe was a hero,'' DiPasquale said.
Ashe's statue is the westernmost along the east-west street running through a gentrified, older part of the city.
Huge monuments to Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Thomas J. ``Stonewall'' Jackson stand about a quarter of a mile apart from one another.
Ashe's likeness sits on a circular, 44-ton granite base. It depicts the bespectacled Ashe, clad in a warmup suit and tennis shoes, holding books high above his head in his right hand.
He holds a tennis racket a little lower in his left hand. At his feet are four children.
Ashe's dedication to children was a theme not only of the statue, but also of the ceremony. Children who participate in the mentoring program of Virginia Heroes Inc., which he founded and which raised the $400,000 to pay for the memorial, tugged at ropes to unveil the statue. Music was provided by the Boys Choir of Harlem.
Johnnie Ashe said that had Arthur lived to see the statue unveiled, he would have used the occasion to give advice to children, including: ``Treat every man as your brother.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photos
Arthur Ashe's dedication to children was not only a theme of Paul
DiPasquale's statue, but of the ceremony Wednesday on Richmond's
Monument Avenue. Children who participate in the mentoring program
of Virginia Heroes Inc., which he founded and which raised the
$400,000 to pay for the memorial, tugged at ropes to unveil the
statue. ``Arthur Ashe Jr. is a true Virginia hero, and he belongs,''
Ashe's brother, Johnnie Ashe of Atlanta, told the crowd. by CNB