On July 10, 1943, a legend was born: Arthur Ashe Jr. in Richmond, Virginia, who would later break racial barriers for African American tennis players worldwide. Growing up, Ashe trained with the best, Walter Johnson and Richard Hudlin, who helped prepare him to attend UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) on an athletic scholarship.
Winning was very familiar to Ashe. Ashe took home the US hard-court singles championship in 1963. He did not shy from greatness in 1965, either winning intercollegiate singles and doubles titles. All throughout his time at UCLA, he kept achieving greatness, winning the US clay-court singles, US amateur singles, and even the first US Open in the modern open era. He even played on the US Davis Cup team, winning three consecutive years (1968-1970).
His professional career was not too different from his college career in the sense that winning was a consistent outcome of his matches. Ashe won the Wimbledon singles and World Championship singles in 1975. Ashe was ranked first in world tennis.
After entering retirement in 1980, Ashe became the captain of the US Davis Cup team, which he was until 1985. Ashe’s success was not overlooked as he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985. Shortly after passing away in 1993, Ashe was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ashe was honored by the US Open as they opened a court named Arthur Ashe Stadium.
