Biography Of Arthur Ashe Jr.

Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. is a man of trust, courage, grace and honor. Although many of these attriobutes I share with Arthur, his high level of moral values and self reliance I aspire to achieve. Arthur was of African American decent and being born on July 10, 1943 in Richmond, Virginia he had to face many racial struggles and hardships. On the contrary, I was born and raised in somerset, New Jersey, in the 1990's so my racial struggles were close to non-existent. Being of Italian- American decent, if I had lived in the time of Arthur Ashe I still would not have faced racial struggles as greatly as African Americans did in that time.

Arthur was the first born just as I was, except he was the first and only while I on the other hand have three siblings. We were both born into extremely loving and caring families. Arthur was raised by extremely strict parents and was not even allowed to go out after school or hang out with friends as I do occasionally. His father just like my parents set goals for self-reliance, discipline and responsibility. Because of those goals Arthur began to take great pride in his reputation. I also feel as if I'm always being judged. We have both been called "quiet" people but Arthur eventually grows out of that and my parents tell me I'm beginning to do the same. Both of our parents, to our displeasure, force us to do our numerous chores before anything else. The difference lies within the punishment for disobeying our parents wishes. The so called "beatings" that Arthur received in his time were nothing unordinary yet if those beatings were to occur today they would be seen as wrong and inhumane.

Despite the differences we share many similar diversions such as good quality time with our families. Arthur was known to spend countless hours reading and listening to music with his mom. Yet at the age of 6 Arthur had to face one of the most traumatic experience

s of his life when he lost his mother, Matti Ashe, to a fatal case of toxemia while in labor. Similar to this experience I lost my grandfather at the age of five. Although I was impacted greatly it was not a loss as great as Arthurs loss of a loving mother. I Can recall the day it happened just as well as Arthur recalled the details of when he last saw his mother. This experience

though damaging and hard to overcome served as inspiration to Arthur throughout the rest of his life.

At the age of six, Arthur picked up his first tennis racket and showed a natural talent for the sport. Strangely enough it was at this same age of six when I decided to attend my first dance trial. Im sure both Arthur and I did not know how our talents in these areas would mold our future experience

s for the best. Arthur took up tennis in high school just as I joined dance. Arthurs was under the direction of Althea Gibson's former coach, Walter Johnson. Unlike Arthur I do not have a professional coach but I do have a very talentwed instructor. Our natural talents, self-pride, and hatred for failing is what helped Arthur and I acell in our area of expertise.

Arthurs skill grew so great in high school that he was able to earn a tennis scholarship to UCLA. This was uncharted territory for blacks yet knowing the pressures he would face he didn't give up. His skill at a college grew to a national level. In 1963 he was chosen to represent the US in the Davis Cup where he became the first African American to play for the US team. This gave his great pride