Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe, a pioneering black man in professional tennis and an eloquent activist in issues of race and sports, said yesterday that he has AIDS."I have AIDS," he said. "I am sorry that I have been forced to make this revelation now, at this time."In a news conference yesterday in New York City, Mr. Ashe, 48, said he and his doctors are "95 percent certain" that he contracted HIV during a blood transfusion after a second coronary bypass operation in 1983. He was not aware of his condition until a brain biopsy in September 1988 revealed that he had acquired immune deficiency syndrome, he said.

Ellicott City's Beatrice Capra has been coping with firsts all week and handling them: She won a wildcard entry into the U.S. Open to claim her first main-draw spot in a Grand Slam tournament and then breezed through her first two matches beating two women ranked inside the Top 100, including one inside the Top 20. But Saturday afternoon in the Open's third round a handful of firsts were just too many for the 18-year-old. Playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium's Center Court for the first time against No. 14 seed and past Open champion Maria Sharapova in winds of approximately 25 mph, Capra went down, 6-0, 6-0. It was Sharapova's first career shutout at a Grand Slam and it was the first double-0 score in the third round of the Open since 1984 when Martina Navratilova beat Jennifer Mundel, 6-0, 6-0. Still, Capra was smiling when she entered the post-match interview room.

Tennis made Arthur Ashe a celebrity. But it was his unwavering dedication to the guiding principles of his life that made him a great man, now mourned as one of those rare people who is not only admired around the world but also widely loved. Mr. Ashe's death Saturday, at age 49, was a loss for all the people who watched his graceful, brainy tennis. It was a more personal loss for the many others who benefited directly from his ceaseless efforts to make the world a better place. During the past year those efforts largely centered on AIDS, the disease that killed him.Whether it was standing as an often-lonely symbol of black achievement in a mostly white sport or being arrested last fall in demonstrations protesting the Bush administration's treatment of Haitian refugees, Arthur Ashe wanted his celebrity to stand for something more than his own individual triumph.

Macduff "Mac" Symington, a retired banker and tennis enthusiast, died Sunday of complications from a broken hip at Easton Memorial Hospital. The Worton resident was 80. Mr. Symington was born in Baltimore and raised in the Greenspring Valley. He was a 1944 graduate of the Woodberry Forest School in Woodberry Forest, Va. In 1949, he earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale University. Mr. Symington enlisted in the Air Force in 1950, and spent four years in the Office of Special Investigations, where he was assistant chief and then counterintelligence chief.

Former tennis star Arthur Ashe announced last week he has the virus that causes AIDS. He said he went public only after being questioned by a reporter from USA Today.Eighty-four percent of callers to SUNDIAL disapprove of the way USA Today handled the story. Of 658 callers, 553 say the newspaper did not act properly in pursuing the story, while 105 callers (16 percent) see the action as proper."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically, as a scientific public opinion poll would be.

As far as we know, Arthur Ashe didn't sleep with thousands of women.He didn't use drugs with needles.He isn't gay.And yet he has AIDS.That's the first thing to know about this story. Arthur Ashe might as well be Kimberly Bergalis. He is a victim of caprice. He apparently got a bad blood transfusion, and the bad blood gave him HIV, and the HIV gave him AIDS.So, we don't get a morality play this time. No one gets to point fingers. Arthur Ashe was unlucky, and because he was unlucky, he has contracted a fatal disease.

Some people say putting a statue of the late tennis champion Arthur Ashe among the statuary of Confederate heroes along Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., should cause no great discomfort.They're wrong. Putting Mr. Ashe among the stony likenesses of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart is the symbolic equivalent of a smash serve to the psyche of the Old South. Take that! It will always be an irritant to those who still worship the "Lost Cause."But it is the right thing to do.To get the proper perspective you have to go back in time, not as far back as the Civil War, but around 1900, when the residential subdivision along Monument Avenue was being born.

New York. -- In his first public discussion about being infected with AIDS, Arthur Ashe made a point of thanking the people who had known for several years about his condition but kept it quiet. There were relatives and doctors, close friends and former tennis buddies who knew but did not talk. As Mr. Ashe put it, "There was a silent and generous conspiracy to assist me in maintaining my privacy."What he did not mention was the fact that at least a few well-known journalists and broadcasters were also in on the "conspiracy."

No matter how tear-resistant you may think you are, it will take superhuman effort to avoid a swelling in the throat when reading the last chapter of this brave and beautiful book. It is a letter Arthur Ashe wrote to his 6-year-old daughter, Camera, on Inauguration Day this year, saying, at the outset, that "by the time you read this letter . . . I may not be around to discuss with you what I have written here."Little more than two weeks later, Ashe, the greatest African-American tennis player in history, died, at 49, of pneumonia brought about by the AIDS virus.

They fought the Civil War here in Richmond, Va.In some ways, they are fighting it still.At the crux of a contemporary controversy is a statue and a street.The statue commemorates the life of tennis champion and activist Arthur R. Ashe Jr., a native Richmonder. The street is Monument Avenue, a leafy boulevard of Confederate dreams.Ashe, who died two years ago of AIDS-related pneumonia, would have been 52 years old yesterday, a date chosen to break ground on Monument Avenue for the installation of his statue.

Alexandra Murdock and her family are going to New York City today because she is one of 10 national winners in the Arthur Ashe Essay Contest sponsored by the U.S. Tennis Association. No one could be more surprised than Murdock, who won in the 10-and-under category. "I had heard of Arthur Ashe, but I didn't know what he had done until we went to the library and I read about him," said Murdock, now 11. "They used a lot of good adjectives. I now think of Arthur Ashe as a good, kind, calm, patient and trustworthy man on and off the court."

In its effort to avoid the play-in round of the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, Morgan State took another step forward last night at Hill Field House. The Bears pulled away in the second half and dominated a short-handed Howard team, 81-66, raising their home record to 8-1 and, more importantly, remaining firmly in the race to finish fifth or better in the regular-season league standings. "It's very important to avoid that floor at Arthur Ashe [Center in Richmond, Va., site of the early-round games]

Pam Shriver has a pretty good record when it comes to judging future talent. Over the years, she has presented Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, Serena and Venus Williams and, just last year, Maria Sharapova - who is now ranked No. 4 in the world - as future stars of the game. "But we've never had future men," Shriver said. "That's a little bit harder to judge." Friday at the Mercantile Tennis Challenge, Shriver's annual exhibition that raises money for children's charities, Shriver will try her hand at introducing future stars of the men's game.

CHICAGO - She was a professional golfer, a saxophone player, a blues singer, a teacher, an orator, an actress - and one of the greatest champions in the history of tennis. But the significance of Althea Gibson's life, which ended yesterday at 76, probably is appreciated by far too few. No less a trailblazer than Jackie Robinson and Arthur Ashe, she had accomplishments perhaps more impressive because of her singular place as an African-American female athlete in the 1950s. Gibson was the first African-American to compete in the U.S. championship in 1950 and at Wimbledon in 1951.

NEW YORK - No. 6 seed Jennifer Capriati looked up at the lights surrounding Arthur Ashe Stadium and saw light rain. The lines were getting just a little slippery, but three rain delays had already stretched the match over 6 1/2 hours. She wanted it over. "Maybe I should always be that inspired," she said, after raising her game and intensity and bolting through the final game, breaking No. 11 Elena Dementieva for a 6-3, 7-5 victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open for the third straight year.

WASHINGTON-- If James Blake can arrange it, tennis coach Brian Barker might have to miss his student's matches more often. With Barker attending his sister's wedding, the sixth-seeded Blake battled temperatures in the upper 90s and No. 14 seed Paradorn Srichaphan to claim a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory in the final of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center yesterday. Blake, who earned $111,600 with his first ATP singles title, joked about Barker's absence.

NEW YORK -- World No. 1 Martina Hingis used her poise, consistency and sound strategy to eclipse Venus Williams, 6-0, 6-4, yesterday in a U.S. Open women's final that showcased the young, exciting talent in pro tennis.For Williams, the first African-American in a U.S. Open women's final since Althea Gibson 39 years ago, her time on the court would be the best part of the afternoon.After graciously telling the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium that the Open "couldn't have a better champion," Williams headed for her post-match interview, where she ended her day being grilled about race.

IN FOUR GLORIOUS days, Tiger Woods forever changed the face of golf. Exclusive country clubs and white-dominated PGA tournaments had stigmatized golf as a sport that minorities had no reason to embrace. Golf was much like tennis a generation ago, before young Arthur Ashe stunned the world with his Wimbledon victory.Plenty of African-Americans swing tennis raquets now and, no doubt, people of African and Asian descent will find golf less restrictive because of this 21-year-old phenom who embodies American multiculturalism.