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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Arthur Robert Ashe
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release June 22, 1993
PRESIDENT PRESENTS MEDAL OF FREEDOM TO ASHE
(Washington, DC) President Clinton awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to tennis great Arthur Ashe at the National Sports Awards Ceremony at Constitution Hall Sunday night.
Presenting the medal to Ashe's widow, Jeanne, the President noted that Ashe, "battled his way to the top rung of international tennis -- and he did it with an inner strength and outward dignity that marked his game every bit as much as that dazzling crosscourt backhand."
Speaking earlier Sunday at the White House, the President called Ashe, "An extraordinary man who lived by the words, `Thou shalt not close a door behind you.'"
The National Sports Awards will be telecast tonight on NBC.
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White House Statement on the Posthumous Award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Arthur Ashe June 22, 1993 The President awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, to tennis great Arthur Ashe at the National Sports Awards ceremony at Constitution Hall Sunday night. Presenting the medal to Ashe's widow, Jeanne, the President noted that Ashe "battled his way to the top rung of international tennis, and he did it with an inner strength and outward dignity that marked his game every bit as much as that dazzling crosscourt backhand.''
Biography
Ashe holding up his trophy after winning the singles title at Wimbledon, 1975 (b. July 10, 1943, Richmond, Va., U.S.--d. Feb. 6, 1993, New York, N.Y.), American tennis player, the first black winner of a major men's singles championship.
Ashe began to play tennis at the age of seven in a neighbourhood park. He was coached by Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, Va., who had coached tennis champion Althea Gibson. Ashe moved to St. Louis, Mo., where he was coached by Richard Hudlin, before he entered the University of California at Los Angeles on a tennis scholarship. In 1963 Ashe won the U.S. hard-court singles championship; in 1965 he took the intercollegiate singles and doubles titles; and in 1967 he won the U.S. clay-court singles championship. In 1968 he captured the U.S. (amateur) singles and open singles championships. He played on the U.S. Davis Cup team (1963-70, 1975, 1977-78) and helped the U.S. team to win the Davis Cup challenge (final) round in 1968, 1969, and 1970. In the latter year he became a professional.
His criticism of South African apartheid racial policy led to denial of permission to play in that country's open tournament, and, as a consequence, on March 23, 1970, South Africa was excluded from Davis Cup competition. In 1975, when he won the Wimbledon singles and the World Championship singles, he was ranked first in world tennis. After retiring from play in 1980, he became captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, a position he held from 1981 to 1985.
Ashe underwent coronary bypass operations in 1979 and 1983. In April 1992 he revealed that he had become infected with the virus that causes AIDS, probably through a tainted blood transfusion received during one of those operations. For the remainder of his life, Ashe devoted considerable time to efforts to educate the public about the disease.
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Medal History
