Arthur Ashe was an accomplished tennis professional who broke down
many of the color barriers in the sport. He became the first Black
person named to the American Davis Cup team; became the first Black
athelete to win the USLTA junior indoor title as well as the first
Black junior on the American Junior Davis Cup team. In 1968, he
became the first Black male to win a major tennis title, winning the
men's singles in the US Lawn Tennis Association Open. He won both the
Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles and earned the world's No. 1 ranking in
both 1968 and 1975. He became the first Black male inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.
Ashe was also an outspoken activist, speaking out against
South Africa's apartheid system as well as more local outrages against
civil rights. He produced Hard Road to Glory, the first
"complete" book on Blacks in sports.
In 1993, Ashe died from complications due to AIDS, which he apparently
contracted from a blood transfusion during open heart surgery. He was
posthusmously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
Clinton.