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You are here: Home / Sherrie’s Blogs / A Legend, a Legacy, and the Days of Grace

A Legend, a Legacy, and the Days of Grace

September 6, 2020 by Sherrie Dulworth

The US Open is underway. No fans cheer from the seats of Arthur Ashe Stadium this year because of the pandemic.

Reading Arthur Ashe’s autobiography, “Days of Grace” is a bit of a deja’vu. Born in the segregated South, Ashe made history in as the first African-American to win the US Open men’s singles in 1968, a yesteryear of national civil unrest and when calls for social justice reform filled the air.

He finished the work in 1993, shortly before he died from AIDS, a time when another global pandemic when fear, compassion, and reason were often at odds and one when we lost too many too soon. The first time I read the book shortly after his death, I recall feeling cheated that our world had lost such a special person at only 49-years-old.

He was already a tennis champion, social right’s activist, devoted husband and father, bibliophile, philanthropist, and man of courage and integrity, on and off the tennis courts.

What a legend and What a legacy.

It is poignant, and especially timely, reading for this oddly parallel time and one in which most of us can use more days of grace.

“From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life.” – Arthur Ashe

 

 

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Filed Under: Sherrie’s Blogs Tagged With: AIDS, Apartheid, Davis Cup, Tennis, U.S. Open

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