Arthur ashe tennis

Arthur Ashe became the first and remains the only African American male tennis player to win the U. Open and Wimbledon singles titles. He was also the first African American man to earn the No. Always an activist, when Ashe learned that he had contracted AIDS via a blood transfusion, he turned his efforts to raising awareness about the disease, before finally succumbing to it on February 6, Arthur Robert Ashe Jr.

The older of Arthur Ashe Sr. Ashe's childhood was marked by hardship and opportunity. Under his mother's direction, Ashe was reading by the age of four.

How old was arthur ashe when he died

But his life was turned upside down two years later, when Mattie passed away. Ashe's father, fearful of seeing his boys fall into trouble without their mother's discipline, began running a tighter ship at home. Ashe and his younger brother, Johnnie, went to church every Sunday, and after school they were required to come straight home, with Arthur Sr.

I had exactly 12 minutes to get home from school, and I kept to that rule through high school. About a year after his mother's death, Ashe discovered the game of tennis, picking up a racket for the first time at the age of seven at a park not far from his home. Sticking with the game, Ashe eventually caught the attention of Dr. Robert Walter Johnson Jr.

Under Johnson's direction, Ashe excelled. In his first tournament, Ashe reached the junior national championships.