The word “iconic” is usually more than sufficient to describe exceptional contributors to African-American and world history but in the case of tennis great and philanthropist Arthur Ashe it barely seems to scratch the surface. The term fits his status as one of the great men of his time well enough that in 2005 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor.
The stamp bears the same image of Ashe that was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine in 1992 when he was named “Sportsman of the Year.” That singular tribute reveals something of the magnitude of his positive impact upon the world before his death––and even afterwards–– at the relatively young age of forty-nine. However, the man himself provided a deeper sense of who and what he was in the memoir Days of Grace.
One Man’s Amazing Life
Ashe was born on July 10, 1943, in Richmond, Virginia. That he died a victim of AIDS on February 6, 1993, is an undeniable tragedy. The fact that while he lived, he did so with consummate integrity, intelligence, and courage, remains his enduring legacy. Written with literary biographer Arnold Rampersad, Ashe's Days of Grace provides readers with a powerful portrait of an exceptional individual entrenched in the issues and passions of his life and times, a man who was one of the most dynamic athletes and humanitarians of his or any other generation.
In his invitingly intimate and yet stoically objective memoir, Ashe grapples with the issues of sports, racism, and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) which he contracted while receiving a blood transfusion after his second heart bypass operation in 1983. The book reveals different sides to a man many described as "cold" while he lived. The view from within, however, does not support this description. Some very warm snapshots are provided of Ashe as a man who never stopped being an obedient son, and of him as a fervent patriot, lover of art, serious intellectual, mystical seeker, generous philanthropist, devoted husband, and loving father.
One measure of his character may be seen in his description of himself as “a fortunate, blessed man” even while battling both AIDS and heart disease. He drew much solace during this struggle from the writings of Dr. Howard Thurman, whom he described as “The supreme example of the black American’s capacity for achieving spiritual growth and maturity despite the incessant blows of racism.” One of the most empowering concepts he adopted from Thurman (whose works also inspired Martin Luther KingJr.) was this belief:
“Death is but one of many occurrences in life, ‘none of which exhausts life nor determines it.’… So I go calmly on with my life. Keeping as busy as my health allows, I press on with my modest efforts at striving and achieving.”
His tendency to gloss over such “modest” feats as writing the landmark three-volume A Hard Road to Glory history of black athletes, his historic victory at Wimbledon, or his association with people like Nelson Mandela and Jesse Jackson, rings true to an exceptional character whose many parts add up to a truly noble and memorable sum.
NEXT: Notebook on Black History Month 2012 Part 3 Langston Hughes Celebrated
by Aberjhani, National African-American Art Examiner
author of The Wisdom Of W.E.B. Du Bois (Wisdom Library)
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)
Notebook on African-American History for the Year 2009
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