Arthur Ashe

     "Arthur Ashe was dying of AIDS. This was in the early 1990s. And he told an interviewer that being black was harder than having AIDS." This story is told by my pal the music critic and editor of the National Review, Jay Nordlinger: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-heaviest-burden/

 

 

     Mr Ashe called being black the heaviest burden he had, not his heart attack or contracting AIDs long before medicine caught up to it.

     When I used to watch Tennis on TV in the 1970s it was a sport played by gentlemen and women. They were required to wear white, though I now appreciate the current trends toward individual sports wear. They didn't try to "game" the refs by stopping a match to question calls, or like those who came after Arthur Ashe, to berate the refs with foul language. There wasn't as much money at stake and coincidentally there were far fewer commercials. Yes, the sport was largely segregated and the women earned less money than men. No era is perfect and this time I fondly recall was far from it. 

     In my mind what I liked about watching the tennis matches was the old school nature of the contest: Wooden rackets and quickly played matches. But I can also recall rooting for Arthur Ashe to win. Not that he needed my help, he was an extraordinary tennis player who matches up well with the all-time greats of any era. It felt appropriate to cheer for Arthur Ashe. He was playing for everyone and his victories meant one more nail in the coffin or racism in America. He didn't call it that though I imagine he thought it sometimes.