Arthur Ashe ’66

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Although Arthur Ashe first gained recognition as a world-class tennis player, in the years since his undergraduate days at UCLA (when he led UCLA to the NCAA tennis championship while winning the singles and doubles titles), he further distinguished himself as a humanitarian and involved alumnus. Using his stature as a consummate sportsman and gentleman, he had an impact upon the world around him far beyond the courts of tennis competition.

Ashe won numerous professional titles including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open and the World Championship Tennis Finals. As player and captain, he represented the United States with distinction in the Davis Cup competitions. In 1985, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

In 1992, Ashe was named “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated. He was author of “A Hard Road to Glory,” a three-volume book which chronicles the history of the African-American athlete. He was president of The Sage Passage Foundation and chairman of the African American Athletic Association. Ashe was also a member of the Board of Directors of AETNA life of Casualty Company. Co-Founder of the National Junior Tennis League, he served on the U.S. Tennis Association Committee on Player Development and is past president of the Association of Tennis Professionals. He was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees as well.

Giving of his time and talents to UCLA, Ashe was on the Dean’s Council of the Anderson Graduate School of Management, a member of the Bruin Racqueteers and the Committee of 50, honorary chair of the Black Alumni Association and a founder of both the Wooden Center and the James West Alumni Center. He was strongly supportive of the NCAA’s Proposition 42, which required specific scholastic requirements for potential collegiate athletes, believing that these standards were culturally unbiased and indicating that they should be even higher.

In August, 1992, Ashe established the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, Inc. The mission of the foundation is to educate the public about AIDS and to raise money to be distributed worldwide to establish AIDS organizations involved in research, clinical trials, patient support services and education. In 1992, he received the AIDS Leadership Award from the Harvard AIDS Institute for his work raising public awareness of the disease and inspiring the athletic community to mobilize around AIDS research and treatment.