SUMMARY
Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player, broadcaster, author, and activist. Known for his on-court grace and low-key demeanor, he was the first black men’s tennis champion at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, the first African American to play for and captain the U.S. Davis Cup team, and the first black man inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Yet it was and remains Ashe’s legacy outside of professional tennis for which he is most noted. He was the first and only African American to have a statue of his likeness erected on Richmond‘s historic Monument Avenue and one of the most prominent athletes of any race to die from AIDS.