On This Day in HistoryThe Death of a Sports Legend on This Day in 1993 Changed How Americans Viewed AIDSTennis star Arthur Ashe achieved many firsts as a Black athlete. In the months leading up to his death, he thrust AIDS advocacy into the mainstream Arthur Asheplaying tennis against Dennis Ralston in 1964 Art Rogers, Los Angeles Times, via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0Arthur Ashe had achieved multiple firsts in tennis. But his premature death on February 6, 1993, would make another kind of history, drawing unprecedented attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis in an era of stigma and fear.Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1943, Ashe was drawn to athletics as a young boy. He started playing tennis at age 7 and quickly gained the attention of a prominent Black tennis player and instructor, Ron Charity. With a mentor and coach, Ashe began to seriously train and enter local tournaments.Over the following years, Ashe climbed the ranks within the sport despite repeatedly facing racial discrimination. He received a scholarship to play tennis at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in 1963, he became the first Black tennis player to be selected for the United States Davis Cup team, representing the country in the largest international tennis event.Arthur Ashe becomes the first African-American man to win the US Open! | US Open 1968Watch on As he climbed higher and higher in global rankings, Ashe became one of the worlds most famous tennis players, eventually becoming the firstand to date onlyBlack man to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. Using his success as leverage, he served as president of the Association of Tennis Professionals, a role he used to advocate for better compensation for players. He also participated in several boycotts protesting South Africas apartheid policies.At the height of Ashes fame, however, his career came screeching to a halt when he experienced his first heart attack in 1979. With a family history of cardiovascular disease, he underwent bypass surgery in 1979 and again in 1983.Years later, Ashe learned that he was HIV positive. His doctors believed he had contracted the infection from blood transfusions following his second surgery. Though he initially chose to keep his illness a secret, he went public just prior to a 1992 USA Today expos on his health.I was taught to remain calm on the tennis court, no matter what the score or how questionable the call or discourteous my opponent, Ashe laterwrotein his autobiography. But the anger was building in me that this newspaper, any newspaper or any part of the media, could think that it had the right to tell the world that I had AIDS. Ashe shakes hands with President Ronald Reagan in 1982. Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsIn the months between his public revelation and his death in February 1993, Ashe worked tirelessly to raise awareness and change the national conversation on AIDS. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. Then, in December 1992, he spoke before the U.N. General Assembly on World AIDS Day. He used his speech to fight misconceptions around AIDSnamely that it only impacted gay men and intravenous drug users. Ashe reportedly felt the speech was the most important thing he had ever doneand even afterward, the tennis star continued to push for funding for HIV/AIDS diagnosis, treatment and prevention.Ashes revelation and HIV/AIDS advocacy helped break through the longstanding stigma and fear surrounding the disease, leveraging his status as a familiar sports star to help politicians and everyday people become more receptive to public discussion of the disease. The same year he went public with his diagnosis, AIDS became a presidential agenda item for the first time.Ashes legacy of athleticism and advocacy work continues decades after his death at age 49. He posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the United States Tennis Association named its main stadium in New York, where the U.S. Open is held every year, after him. His HIV/AIDS activism added another facet to his boundary-breaking legacy. As Ashe told the Los Angeles Times in 1992, You never know what breakthroughs are around the corner.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Activism, African American History, AIDS, American History, Disease, Disease and Illnesses, Health, On This Day in History, South Africa, Sports, Tennis