ASHE, Arthur (1943 – 93)
Price: Original price was: $295.00.$235.00Current price is: $235.00.
Description:American World No. 1 professional tennis player. Winner of three Grand Slam titles, ranking him among the best tennis players from the United States.
SIG – Signature display. On a 3″x5″ card Ashe has penned Peace and his name. Professionally double – matted with a sheet of US Postal commemorative stamps as well as a black/white action shot of Ashe. Encased in museum conservation glass and black metallic frame.
Arthur Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, or the Australian Open. Retired in 1980. He was ranked World No. 1 by Harry Hopman in 1968 and by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and World Tennis Magazine in 1975. In the ATP computer rankings, he peaked at No. 2 in May 1976.
In the early 1980s, Ashe is believed to have contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery. Ashe publicly announced his illness in April 1992 and began working to educate others about HIV and AIDS. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health before his death from AIDS – related pneumonia on February 6, 1993. On June 20, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then United States President Bill Clinton.