European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 09, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday february 9, 1993 sports the stars and stripes b Page 29 Tennis the Leas of Ashe s gifts by Michael Wilbo the Washington Post there Are a lot of Nice people in sports people who make you laugh or smile people who make Vou think peo ple who startle you with the Way they run or jump or throw people who become larger than life for the Way the accomplish or persevere under pressure Phil anthropic people admirable people. But nobody Ever brought More dignity or Honor than Arthur Ash. His life will be largely defined by ten Nis and aids the sport that he used to become a Rich famous Champion athlete and the disease he lived with publicly the last 10 months before it took life from him and him from us saturday afternoon. If that s what you remember primarily commentary about Arthur Ash you missed the Point completely of one of god s Best creations. If you weren t paying attention you could have missed so much of what a thur Ashe was. He never broke rackets or cursed umpires or threw hysterical tantrums that hijacked the to cameras or put him at the top of the sports news. I became an Arthur Ashe watcher in 1968 when he won the first . Open. Not once did i Ever Sec him wave a Fin Ger to signify he was no. 1, not once Didi see him try an upstage an opponent. Not once do i recall him whining or Alib ing embarrassing himself or his family for any reason. As an athlete he won or lost congratulated an opponent and moved on. Always with dignity with his self re Spect and sense of self completely intact. It s funny How we now search Over Hill j and Dale for role models How we wonder whether Michael Jordan and magic Johnson and Mike Tyson and Pete Rose. Arc worthy of our adulation of our Chil. Drin s. It was like Arthur Ash was never really in our sights never properly appreciated when he was Young and healthy and Able to dismiss Jimmy Connors in four sets at Wimbledon in 1975. Who better defined what a role Model should be world class athlete Pioneer scholar author activist entrepreneur fund Raiser eloquent voice of reason handsome family Man member in Good standing of any and everything he Ever Arthur Ash shown in 1979 photo battled aids with the dignity that was his hallmark. Was part of. What else could society ask of a Man name somebody in sports or out who brought As much to the table then or now. Go ahead. It was actually in two extremely difficult moments times most of us never have to Deal with publicly that Ashe showed the Grace which was characteristic of everything he did. A heart attack and subsequent bypass procedure which ended his career Only launched the Energy previously directed toward Tennis into a do other worthy endeavours. And even after being forced to go Public with the fact that he had contracted aids Ashe kept up a frantic work schedule a Pace that would put most healthy men to shame. When i heard Arthur Ash had died worried about the next generation of kids Many of whom weren t yet born when he became the first Black Man to win Wimbledon. I worried that they did t know that what Ash did was Tcath All of us that limitations can be shaken if they weren t self imposed in the first place. I remember the time my senior year in High school when i did t want to go Park a notoriously racist neighbourhood in Chicago to play a Junior league Tennis match because i d be the Only Black kid in the Competition. My Mother bless her said i m glad Arthur Ashe did t quit the first time he was the she was right and i played. I worried that there arc too few Strong voices out there reasonable logical voices which Don t get sidetracked which Aren t afraid to take unpopular positions. I Don t want the loudest voices in Ameri Ca Black America in particular to come from athletes who think All that glitters is Gold and singers who think you can bleach away your legacy. I m searching my mind for someone to take the Baton and run with it the any Arthur Ash did and i m frightened cold at the moment because there Plain Ain t anybody out there at the present or if there is his or hers is a voice we Haven t heard a face we Haven t yet seen. I remember being at a Tennis clinic one summer when a Counselor was telling pupils about How important it was to get a College degree. And Ash without a Trace of irritation told the Counselor to also remind the kids the College education was More important than the degree. In my 13 years of being a sportswriter i had the privilege of being in Arthur s company two dozen or so times. And until the last two or three years i was too in Awe to do any More than Stum ble through a sentence or two. He was slight Man even when healthy. But his presence filled the room never More so than in the Days since april when he kept fighting Odds nobody has yet beaten. Arthur Ashe is dead and anybody who Ever cared about fairness and enlighten ment and the betterment of humanity is worse off. There must be some Way to mourn his passing while celebrating the Many gifts he left us. Final column continues Ashe s crusade Arthur Ashe had been a columnist forthe Washington Post since 1978, this is his last column for the Post written about five . By Arthur Ashe special to the Washington Post apocryphal or not there is an often told tale that Joseph Stalin was advised that the Pope did t approve of his inhumane and brutal governance. To which Stalin dismissively retorted How Many military divisions does he have that is the Challenge for the revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton As they Wade into the racial Battles in sports. Unless Jackson and Sharpton can synthesize and maintain a weighty credible focused and steady presence the major league baseball owners and others will listen politely and go about their business. Jackson also May be concentrating his attention at the wrong end of the athletic food Chain. Challenging professional team owners at their preseason meetings to hire More minorities and chastising baseball for Marge Schott s race related problems certainly guarantee publicity but it is not the area of greatest need. The woeful cynical mind set that afflicts so Many minority High school Stu Dent athletes is much More serious. In the 16,000 High school districts in Ameri Ca about a third of their student athletes graduate As functional illiterates. In the two Glamour Revenue producing sports of High school basketball and foot Ball participation of Blacks alone totals nearly 650,000 out of about 1.5 million. I would suggest Jackson and Sharpton also address the next convention of the National federation of state High school associations. Strategically baseball May be the wrong initial target. The National pastime May have More racial Fence mending to do than football or basketball but there is undoubtedly less interest among Blacks in this sport that jus takes too Long to finish. Reared to seek peer status through their skills at Nintendo or god forbid with a saturday night special revolve the typical Black male with a Remote control in his hand would much rather see Bobby Brown on bet than Bobby boil la on lbs. So if Jackson and Sharpton could marshal some foot soldiers to picket or protest it would not be because the troops love baseball. As has been embarrassingly pointed out help May not eve be forthcoming from the Black players Al ready playing professionally. The Specter of pickets on opening Day also deserves a rethinking. Coming a recession and possibly still jobless Many traditional fans Black and White can hardly wait till the Umpire says play unless the commitment to see this thing through is As Strong As it was during the South african embassy protests then a better ploy May have been to urge to viewers not to watch the opening Day game. Women s sports inequities did not come up at All. To the extent that give them a Chance has been the rallying cry for More College scholarship opportunities for minorities one might As Well have rephrased it As. Give Black males a overqualified minority female coaches Are practically begging for inter views for coaching positions that seem to go to White males. Five years ago prompted by the racially insensitive remarks of los Angeles dodger vice president Al Campanis baseball asked consultants Clifford Alex Ander and Harry Edwards to examine the Issue of racism in baseball. One lesson they Learned is that local solutions work Best in ensuring any set of desired outcomes. An affirmative action plan for the Florida marlins would certainly not work for the red sox at Fen Way Park in Boston. So what to do Don t reinvent the wheel. Form a consortium with a nucleus from the Black coaches association and the athletic directors arid or presidents of the colleges in the four major Black col lege conferences Central intercollegiate athletic association mid Eastern athletic conference southwestern ath Letic conference Southeastern athletic conference. Anita Defrantz of the . Olympic committee Charles Grantham of the Aba Eugene Upshaw of the nil play ers association Don Fehr from baseball and former . Rep. Tom Mcmillen add a fairly balanced and Broad perspective to what should be a carefully worded mis Sion the first principle of any Battle plan. This should be a ground War if it comes to that with continuing and Earnest discussions with the of Shea the Mcaa the National association of intercollegiate athletics the soc and other interested parties. There Are injustices aplenty worthy of a frontal assault. However it will take a while to see it through. And like the Pope Jackson and Sharpton cannot rely on sound bites and Good intentions to carry the Day. Their involvement is Welcome in any Case but will be effective Only if they Are around
