Arthur Ashe

by Raymond Arsenault

  7 Willard Johnson and Beale ints; AA, 56 (q).

  8 AA, 53, 55–56 (qs).

  9 Pasarell int; Pasarell int, SSAA; OTC, 89–90 (qs), 101–3.

  10 AA, 53, 54–55 (qs), 56–57, 61, 84; AATC, 87–91; Pasarell int (second q).

  11 OTC, 54–55 (qs).

  12 Ibid., 55–56.

  13 Ibid., 53–54 (qs), 62; Pasarell int.

  14 Slaughter int; AA, 57–58 (qs), 59; Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis, 454.

  15 OTC, 59 (q).

  16 Ibid., 56–57 (qs); AA, 56.

  17 OTC, 60 (first q); AA, 58 (second q).

  18 Arthur Ashe: Citizen of the World (HBO Video/HBO Sports, directed by Julie Anderson, 1994); Edward Steichen, The Family of Man (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1955); Singleton int; OTC, 58 (qs).

  19 Singleton, Farrell, and McNichols ints.

  20 Smith, The Sons of Westwood, 36–38, 39 (qs), 40–42; Pasarell, Singleton, and Slaughter ints.

  21 AA, 59 (q), 115; OTC, 67; BCHT, 83–85, 99, 110, 117 (first q), 120 (second q), 121, 124–25, 581–82, 589, 597–98, 634–35. On Kramer and the professional tour from 1947 to 1962, see Kramer, The Game: My 40 Years in Tennis; and the Tennis Channel’s Signature Series television documentary Barnstormers (Tennis Channel, directed by Heath Woodlief, 2016).

  22 OTC, 63 (q); Pasarell int.

  23 NYT, December 15, 1961; AA, 55; Atlanta Daily World, April 28, 1962 (qs), clipping in AA File, UCLASIO; DB, January–April 1961; Nagler int.

  24 www.NCAA.com/history/tennis; John Hassan, ed., 1998 ESPN Sports Almanac (New York: Hyperion ESPN Books, 1997), 832; AA, 52, 70; OTC, 67; NYT, June 24, 1962; LAT, June 24, 1962; Fox and Nagler ints.

  25 AA, 78–79 (second q), 84, 93, 114, 121, 184 (first q); CD, July 14, 1962 (third q); Pasarell int; NYT, June 26, 28, July 15, 18, 20, 22, 24–26, 29–31, August 1–5, 7, 12, 14, 16 1962; CTN, 242; W, 106–7, notes the 1962 ATA national tournament was marred by a misunderstanding between Ashe and Ron Charity about a promise to defend their 1961 doubles title: “Though they agreed to defend their title for the next year, Ashe discovered that he had been teamed with Whirlwind instead of Charity, in the 1962 ATA national doubles competition. Whirlwind wanted only to enjoy the same sentimental trip that Charity took last year while playing with Ashe. He knew that Ashe probably would never play another ATA event after this year. He saw this as a last opportunity to play with the boy who had become as special as a son. But Charity didn’t see it that way. ‘I found Arthur and I said, “Hey man, what’s going on?” Charity said. “Mr. Charity—he never called me Ron—I don’t know; you’ll have to ask Dr. Johnson.” . . . I couldn’t blame Ashe; he was only a 17-year-old kid caught in the middle. I thought it was the worst thing in the world to happen. So I played with John Mudd, and as fate would have it, we played Johnson and Ashe in the first round and beat the hell out of them, 6–0, 6–1. I didn’t hit a single ball to Arthur.’ ”

  26 NYT, September 1–4 (q), 8, 1962; AA, 130–31; Newman int. On Emerson, see BCHT, 574–75.

  27 OTC, 64–65; AA, 55, 128, 148, 153.

  28 AA, 44 (second q), 45, 53 (third q), 57 (first q), 58–59 (fourth q), 77, 94 (fifth q); AATC, 125–26; Pasarell, Reed, and Sanderlin ints; “Arthur Ashe, Tennis Star,” Life (October 15, 1965): 61–66.

  29 OTC, 78, 82–83 (qs); Pasarell int.

  30 OTC, 83–84 (qs); Pasarell int.

  31 OTC, 63 (third q), 64 (second q), 65, 90 (first q); AATC, 76; Pasarell int; Pasarell int, SSAA; BCHT, 581–82, 597–98, 615, 644.

  32 NYT, April 14, December 29, 1963; DB, February–April 1963; LAT, April 17, 25–27, May 4, 8, 11, 18–19, 31, 1963; AA, 61, 116; Martin, Arthur Ashe, 68–69; Pasarell, Reed, Sanderlin, and Ralston ints; “1963 UCLA Tennis,” UCLA Athletic News Bureau, typescript, April 1963, 5 (qs), Arthur Ashe File, UCLASIO.

  33 NYT, May 8, 14, 1963; WP, May 8, 1963; CD, May 9, 13, 20, 1963; AA, 62–63 (qs); Richard Evans, The Davis Cup: Celebrating 100 Years of International Tennis (New York: Universe, 1998), 172. On the history of the Davis Cup competition, see Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis, 28–45; Evans, The Davis Cup; and Alan Trengrove, The Story of the Davis Cup (London: David & Charles, 1986).

  34 NYT, June 18–21, 22 (qs), 1963; LAT, June 18, 20, 22, 1963; AA, 63; Pasarell, Reed, and Sanderlin ints. On Allison “Al” Danzig (1898–1987), who covered tennis for The New York Times from 1923 to 1968, see BCHT, 568; NYT, January 28, 1987 (obituary); and Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis.

  35 OTC, 70–71 (qs); LAT, June 9, 1963.

  36 Ibid., 68 (first and second qs), 69 (third and fourth qs).

  37 OTC, 69, 70–71 (qs); Pasarell int; Deborah Haber, “Hollywood Tennis Does Socko Business,” SI (March 2, 1971).

  CHAPTER 7: TRAVELING MAN

  1 AA, 116 (qs); Bob Funesti, “Area Tennis Players Give Ashe Boost,” WP, June 23, 1963, copy in folder 1, box 35, AAP.

  2 OTC, 76; WT (November 1963); Pasarell and Ralston ints.

  3 OTC, 72–73 (qs).

  4 Ibid., 73–74 (qs); AA, 117 (final q).

  5 AA, 116–17 (qs).

  6 Ibid., 118 (qs); OTC, 75.

  7 NYT, June 26 (first q), 27–28, 1963; AA, 118–19; OTC, 74–75 (second q). For full coverage of the 1963 Wimbledon tournament, see the voluminous clippings in the “AELTC, The Championships, 1963” scrapbook, KRWL.

  8 AA, 119; NYT, May 8 (first q), June 28, 1963 (third q); CD, July 3, 1963; OTC, 75 (second q).

  9 See Wimbledon.com/archive/1963 draw; NYT, July 3–5, 1963; Fox int.

  10 OTC, 72 (second q), 75 (first q).

  11 AA, 120 (qs); NYT, July 14, 1963.

  12 NYT, July 17–18, 21, 23–28 (qs), 1963; AATC, 95.

  13 AA, 104, 113 (qs); Donald Dell int, SSAA.

  14 Ibid., 115–16 (qs)

  15 Ibid., 120–21(first q); 123 (second q).

  16 NYT, August 2, 1963; CD, May 9, 13, 20, August 14, September 4, 1963; Shirley Povich, “This Morning,” unidentified clipping, in folder 1, box 35, AAP; E. Culpepper Clark, The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at the University of Alabama (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 168; Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), 738, 821–22, 888–901; Dan T. Carter, The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 108–9 (q),133–55; John Dittmer, Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 163–69; Michael Vinson Williams, Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2011), 3–4, 267–304. On the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, see Spike Lee’s documentary Four Little Girls (DVD, HBO Studios, 2004).

  17 NYT, August 2, 1963 (q); AA, 165–66; “First Negro Davis Cupper,” Ebony (October 1963): 151–52; Sanderlin int.

  18 AA, 166 (first q); 167 (second q); 1962 Davis Cup “Draws and Results,” in www.daviscup.com.

  19 BCHT, 128, 495–501; AATC, 96–100; NYT, August 15 (qs), September 4, 1963.

  20 NYT, August 20–24, 31, September 1–2, 4 (q), 1963.

  21 Riessen int; AA, 123, 168–69; OTC, 91–92; NYT, September 13, 15–16, 1963; Branch, Parting the Waters, 846–901.

  22 AA, 120 (first q), 124, 169; OTC, 76 (second q); LAT, September 16, 1963; NYT, September 4, 9, 16, 21–23, 1963.

  23 AA, 60–61 (qs); Pasarell (fourth q); and Nagler ints. Ashe bought both of his motorcycles from Nagler. Baker later became one of Haiti’s most prominent businessmen and sports officials, serving as president of the Haitian Association of Industrialists (ADIH) and as the president of the Haitian National Olympic Committee from 1982 to 2013. “Jean-Edouard Baker Elected as Head of COH,” IciHaiti.com, November 21, 2012; Baker’s term as COH president ended in August 2013 when the COH executive committee removed him from office on charges of corruption. See touthaiti.com, December 11, 2013. See also William Over, Human Rights
in the International Public Sphere: Civic Discourse for the 21st Century (New York: Praeger, 1999), 148.

  24 AA, 63–64 (qs).

  25 “1964 UCLA Tennis Press Booklet,” “1964 Singles Record of Arthur Ashe, UCLA (As of May 21),” and “Thumbnail Sketches of UCLA’s 1964 Varsity Tennis Players,” typescripts in Arthur Ashe File, UCLASIO; NYT, February 16–17, 20–23, 1964; LAT, February 7–10, 20–23, 28, March 12, 15–16,1964; DB, February–March, 1964.

  26 Smith, Sons of Westwood, 1–48 (first q), 49 (second q), 50–54 (third q); DB, January–March 1964.

  27 “1964 UCLA Tennis Press Booklet”; LAT, March 21–22, 29, April 2–3, 10, 12, 18, 23, 25, May 2–3, 5–7, 9–11, 14–17, 22–24, June 16–21, 1964; NYT, June 16, 19–21, 1963; Ralston and Pasarell ints.

  28 AA, 125 (qs); NYT, June 18, 22–23, 25–29; LAT, June 26–27, 1964.

  29 AA, 98–99 (qs); LAT, June 27, 1964.

  30 AA, 120, 125 (first q), 126–27 (qs); OTC, 76.

  31 NYT, June 28, July 16, 21–31 (q), August 1–3, 1964; LAT, July 16, 22, 28, 30–31, August 2–3, 1964; WT (September 1964): 23.

  32 NYT, August 3 (first q), 5, 25–29, 1964; OTC, 102 (second q); DB, September 1961–October 1964; LAT, August 5–8, 29 1964; Singleton, Carson, and Farrell ints; Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), 343–509; Dittmer, Local People, 242–302; Nick Kotz, Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005), 156–222. On Hamer, see Kate Mills, This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Philadelphia: E. P. Dutton, 1993); Chana Kai Lee, For Freedom’s Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999); and Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (New York: Vintage, 2011), 191–95, 201, 210–11.

  33 NYT, August 30, September 2, 6–10, 14 (qs), 1964; LAT, September 8–9, 1964; AA, 133; AATC, 104; WT (November 1964): 31 (last q).

  34 NYT, September 16, 23, 25–28, 1964; BCHT, 130; LAT, August 19, September 16, 24, 1964.

  35 AA, 60, 76 (q), 101–2, 130; and Pasarell int; Smith, Sons of Westwood, 64–67; Wendy Soderburg, “Al Scates: 50 Years of Bruin Volleyball,” UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2012, available online at magazine.ucla.edu. On the popularity of the Ford Mustang, see Donald Farr, Mustang: Fifty Years: Celebrating America’s Only True Pony Car (Concord, NC: Motorsports, 2013).

  36 “UCLA Tennis Schedule and Results 1965,” folder, box 74, Intercollegiate Sports Information Office Files, UCLASIO; and various 1965 typescripts, all in the Arthur Ashe File, UCLASIO; LAT, March 2, 7–8, 15, 17, 20–22, 24, April 4, 10–11, 15, 21–25, May 1–2, 4–8, 10, 12–16, 21, 24, 1965.

  37 AA, 60, 62; DG, 171; Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis, 453; Flink int, SSAA.

  38 NYT, June 16, August 19, September 16, 23–28, 1964, March 9, 17, April 25, May 14, 16, 19, 23–24, 29, 1965; LAT, March 17, April 28, May 8, 29, June 1, 4–6, 1965; USTA Yearbook—Davis Cup, 5, available at www.usta.com; DG, 44, 61(first q)–62; AA, 129 (third q), 168 (second q), 169–71; AATC, 99; Gordon, “Arthur Ashe Has to Be Aware”; Ralston and Dell ints. On Seixas, see BCHT, 645. MacCall and Ralston eventually reconciled, and the former USC star rejoined the team in July. On MacCall, see Collins, My Life with the Pros, 179–81; and BCHT, 141. See also the George MacCall Papers (1946–2005), Special Collections Library, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania.

  39 NYT, June 3–6, 1965; AA, 170. Bakersfield was Ralston’s hometown.

  40 NYT, June 17, 20, 1965; AA, 129; Crookenden, Reed, and Sanderlin ints. There are numerous documents on the 1965 NCAA Tennis Championships, including the official program, in “1965 NCAA Tennis Championships” folder, box 57, Athletic Department, Administrative Files of Robert A. Fischer, UCLAUA; and J. D. Morgan’s “Year-end Report—University Division Tennis” (Morgan to G. David Price, September 7, 1965), Arthur Ashe File, UCLASIO.

  CHAPTER 8: FROM DIXIE TO DOWN UNDER

  1 BCHT, 421, 623–24; AA, 129; NYT, June 17, 20–22, 23 (q), 24–26, 1966; Pasarell, Fox, and Ralston ints.

  2 NYT, July 10, 12, 14–16, 1965; AA, 129 (q).

  3 Kotz, Judgment Days, 329–37; NYT, July 29–31, August 1–7, 1965; “The Ace,” Time (August 13, 1965)(first and third qs); Frank Deford, “An Understudy Takes Charge,” SI (August 9, 1965): 18 (second q); Hall, Arthur Ashe, 70–71 (fourth q); AA, 86 (fifth and sixth qs); OTC, 99; AATC, 109–16; Ralston, Morris, and Mayfield ints. On the ultraconservative political climate in Dallas during the 1960s, see Edward H. Miller, Nut Country: Right-Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015).

  4 AA, 129 (first q), 174 (third q), 175 (fourth q); Deford, “An Understudy Takes Charge,” 19 (second q); AATC, 117; NYT, August 4, 15–18, 20, 1965; Froehling and Ralston ints.

  5 See David J. Garrow, Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978); Taylor Branch, At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), Parts 1 and 2; Robert E. Conot, Rivers of Blood, Years of Darkness (New York: Bantam, 1967); and Gerald Horne, Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995).

  6 NYT, September 3, 5, 1965; AA, 129–30 (q).

  7 NYT, September 7–10, 1965; Emerson int. On Emerson, see BCHT, 129–34, 574–75.

  8 AA, 130–31 (qs); NYT, September 11, 1965; BCHT, 133.

  9 AA, 132–33 (q).

  10 NYT, September 12–13, 1965; AA, 129–33. Santana was the first Spaniard to win the U.S. National singles title.

  11 AA, 133 (qs).

  12 AA, 86–88 (qs); NYT, September 21, 1965; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 15–21, 1965.

  13 Scherman int; Eye on the 60s: The Iconic Photography of Rowland Scherman (documentary produced and directed by Chris Szwedo, 2013); “Arthur Ashe: Negro Tennis Star,” Life (October 15, 1965): 61–66.

  14 AA, 176–77 (qs); OTC, 94; NYT, September 16, October 25, 1965.

  15 NYT, September 16, 23–24, 27–28, 30, October 25, 1965; BCHT, 123–33 (q); Hall, Arthur Ashe, 72–73; AATC, 129. See also Allison Danzig, “Our Friends the ‘Aussies,’ ” in Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis, 38–43; Bodo, Courts of Babylon, 29–36; and Laver, with Collins, The Education of a Tennis Player, 67–89.

  16 DB, November–December 1965; LAT, November 1965, January 1966; AA, 124, 133–34, 140.

  17 Frank Deford, “Arthur Ashe,” in Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis, 449, 451–52 (q),; IRAA, 92.

  18 OTC, 94 (qs), AA, 135; Frank Deford int, SSAA. On the Maori of New Zealand, see Michael King, The Penguin History of New Zealand (New York: Penguin, 2007); Cleve Barlow, Tikanga Whakaaro: Key Concepts in Maori (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); and Christina Thompson, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story (New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2009).

  19 AA, 134 (first q), 135; OTC, 94–95 (second q). On the racial and ethnic makeup of Fiji, see Rajendra Prasad, Tears in Paradise: Suffering and Struggle of Indians in Fiji, 1879–2004 (Windsor, Ontario: Glade Publishing, 2014); and Leonard Webberley, Fiji: Islands of Dawn (New York: Ives Washburn, 1964).

  20 AA, 97 (first q), 98–99 (second q); OTC, 96–97; Arsenault, Freedom Riders, 511. On the history of Australian Aborigines, see Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australia: A History Since 1788 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2010); Josephine Flood, The Original Australians: Story of the Aboriginal People (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2007); and Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2013).

  21 NYT, October 31, November 1, 3–8, 1965; Brisbane Courier-Mail, October 30–November 8, 1965; AA, 135 (qs). On the Australians’ passion for sports, see Wray Yamplew and Brian Stoddart, eds.,
Sport in Australia: A Social History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). For a sample of the Australians’ reaction to Ashe in 1965–1966, see the sports coverage in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Herald Sun, and the Brisbane Courier-Mail.

  22 AA, 135–36 (qs).

  23 AA, 136 (qs); Danzig and Schwed, eds., Fireside Book of Tennis, 453; NYT, November 13–17, 19–22, 1965; Sydney Morning Herald, November 13–22, 1965; Newcombe int.

  24 AA, 136–37 (q); Newcombe int.

  25 AA, 137 (q); OTC, 95–96; NYT, November 27–30, December 2–4, 8–12, 17, 19–20, 31, 1965, January 3, 5–10, 12–17, 1966; Emerson int.

  26 Gordon, “Arthur Ashe Has to Be Aware,” 7, 25, 27–28 (qs).

  27 Ibid., 28 (first q); AA, 10 (second q); Hall, Arthur Ashe, 41, 76–77, 103–6, 139–40, 239; Bodo, Courts of Babylon, 251. On the complicated nature of the goodwill tours involving black celebrities, see Peggy M. von Eschen, Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004); Damion L. Thomas, Globetrotting: African American Athletes and Cold War Politics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012); and Thomas Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena (Cambridge: Havard University Press, 2003).

  28 BCHT, 135–37, 360–61; AA, 138; NYT, January 23–30, 1966; Sydney Morning Herald, January 22–30, 1966.

  29 AA, 138–39 (qs); NYT, February 1, 1966 (final q).

  30 AA, 139 (first q); OTC, 95–96 (second q).

  31 AA, 99 (first q), 139 (second q).

  32 Ibid., 139; OTC, 91 (qs).

  33 AA, 67, 70, 72–75, 77; Pasarell and Burgess ints; Dana Haddad, “Top of His Game Isn’t Enough for Glass to Win in Semis,” LAT, December 15, 1991.