Arthur Ashe had many interests, and the many tributes left little doubt he was his own man. However, sometimes lost in the millions of words written about the late tennis great was his passion and concern for black student-athletes.
In black athletes, Ashe saw waste instead of achievement, exploitation instead of education.
As usual, Ashe did more than give the subject lip service. He helped found the Athlete Career Connection in 1990, an association to assist athletes after they finished college. Kevin Dowdell, Ashe’s partner, said Ashe got involved because he saw too many athletes focusing on sports instead of academics.
Dowdell recalled Ashe’s influence was profound.
“During a presentation at Seton Hall, all the basketball players were huddled in the back,” Dowdell said. “Arthur said, `If I was a recruiter for a firm, I’d hire people sitting in the front rows.’ The next time we went, (basketball star) Terry Dehere was sitting in the second row. Afterward, he came up and gave us his resume. He said Arthur got him thinking. That’s the kind of impact he had on people.”
Ashe’s influence carried over to the collegiate arena, where he studied the relationship between academics and athletics. He knew the facts as well, and perhaps better, than most college administrators.
What Ashe saw he didn’t like-only 26 percent of black college athletes receive their degrees. To him, that was a clear indictment of a system that was wasteful and misused.
“You have 10,000 athletes in football and basketball at a yearly cost of $10,000 (per athlete),” said Ashe during an interview with the Tribune last year. “Over five years, that comes to around $500 million in scholarship money. Now if you put all the top black educators in a room, and said here’s a check for a half-billion dollars, do you think they would spend it on black athletes who have a graduation rate of 26 percent?
“Heck, no.”
Most educators would agree with that line of thinking, but Ashe went against the mainstream in another important area.
When Proposition 48 was passed in 1986, there were cries from black advocates that it would discriminate against minorities because it would be based in part on entrance exams that were viewed by some to be culturally biased. The cries of discrimination continued again last year when the NCAA raised minimum grade-point average requirements for student-athletes to be admitted as a freshman.
Ashe, though, was on the other side. He didn’t see discrimination in raising the standards. Instead, he thought the standards should be higher so black student-athletes could be better prepared for college.
Ashe said he didn’t think a 700 score on the SAT (the NCAA minimum) was culturally biased, adding, “If that brands me as an elitist, then I’m a elitist.”
Ashe recalled a conversion with Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson, who is against many of the proposals.
“He asked, `How come every time society redressed a wrong, the brunt of the problem falls on the blacks?’ ” Ashe said. “Procedurally, it’s impossible that the changes won’t affect someone. Some will get hurt in the short run. But in the long run, the great majority will benefit. They’ll benefit by being better prepared.”
Richard Lapchick, Ashe’s longtime friend, said Ashe ultimately has been proved right. Lapchick recalled that he initially was against Proposition 48 because he thought the tests were culturally biased.
“Now I think Prop 48 is the best thing that happened to college sports,” said Lapchick, who heads the Center for the Study of Sports and Society at Northeastern University in Boston. “(Black athletes) have scored better on the tests. Prop 48 accurately proved that they could rise to the challenge on what I still believe is a culturally biased test.”
Back then, Lapchick said he paused to rethink Prop 48 “because I knew Arthur Ashe was on the other side of the issue.” That’s the kind of impact Ashe had on people.
“He was so thoughtful,” Lapchick said. “Ultimately, of all his legacies, his greatest was to make black athletes feel empowered that they can speak out. If you speak out on issues and feel passionately about them, the public will treat you with respect. Arthur was respected because the public knew he wasn’t looking for publicity. He was speaking out because he felt the cause was important.”
All-stars: The spirit of Ashe will be present Saturday when the Black College Football 100th-year All-Time Team will be honored at a dinner in Baltimore. Nobody would want to play this team.
The unit is headed by the Bears’ Walter Payton (Jackson State). Quarterback Doug Williams (Grambling) could pick from a receiving corps of Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State), John Stallworth (Alabama A & M) and Charlie Joiner (Grambling). He would have plenty of protection behind Art Shell (Maryland State) and Larry Little (Bethune Cookman).
Defensively, the front four would dominate with Willie Davis (Grambling), Ed “Too Tall” Jones (Tennessee State), Deacon Jones (South Carolina State) and L.C. Greenwood (Arkansas A & M).
The squad was selected by a national committee of media, coaches and others who have followed black college football over the years.
– Answer, please: Big 10 assistant commissioner Phyllis Howlett, the co-chair of the NCAA’s gender equity committee, will field her share of tough questions this week in two tough areas. Monday, Howlett will be at an NCAA forum in Kansas City, Mo., sitting on a panel that includes nervous football coaches who believe gender equity measures will harm their sport.
Then Wednesday, Howlett will be at a Congressional hearing in Washington on gender equity. The hearing is being held by the subcommittee for commerce and consumer protection, chaired by Rep. Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.).
