80. Arthur Ashe as told by director Rex Miller

50 years ago Jimmy Connors was at the top of his game and ready to defend his Wimbledon title from a year ago… coming into the finals at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Jimbo hadn’t lost a set to any of his 6 opponents. Arthur Ashe was a huge underdog against the World’s #1 player and in fact, many of Ashe’s friends didn’t attend the match for fear of Jimmy winning convincingly like he had the year prior over Ken Rosewall. But Arthur had different plans… and a strategy that worked perfectly against Connors… The normally hard-hitting Ashe implemented a softer approach, with lobs and drop-shots that kept Jimmy off balance for much of the match… and when it was all said and done, the 40-1 longshot had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tennis history in becoming the first black man to become a Wimbledon champion winning in 4 sets, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. Already the first black men to win the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, Ashe cemented his place as a tennis legend with this third and final grand glam victory, this one being the least likely of the three. Ashe would win 76 Singles titles in his career, but only 9 more after his Wimbledon triumph, with his final one coming in September of 1978. 18 months later at the age of 36, he retired from tennis and set his sights on bigger things… Like changing the world. The humble athlete wasn’t as vociferous as Muhammad Ali when it came to his stances… but he was every bit as effective in getting his point across. He became an advocate for Civil Rights, stood up against South Africa’s Apartheid, and founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS after contracting HIV from a blood transfusion. He died at the age of 49 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously by President Bill Clinton as well as an award for lifelong contributions to humanitarianism named aptly, the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award in 1993. His life off the court was more impressive than his Hall of Fame career on the court and was chronicled in the documentary ‘Citizen Ashe’, directed by Rex Miller and Sam Pollard. Miller grew up a fan of tennis and of Ashe and after a chance encounter with Ashe’s widow, Jeanne Moutoussamy, the film had her blessing and Miller’s expertise. The result being a wonderful sports doc that the New York Times said “Ashe’s story certainly has moments of great drama and high tension, but, as a sports figure, he inspired decidedly undramatic sobriquets like 'the gentle warrior.’ This documentary shows you a truer, sharper picture.” Rex Miller tells us how Ashe came up with the strategy that beat Connors in 75 at Wimbledon and how Connors dropped a lawsuit against Arthur the day after the match in England concluded. He tells the story of how he found lost audio tapes of Ashe, that became the primary voice of his film and a goldmine for a director. He recounts how being recruited by UCLA changed his life and how winning at Wimbledon was the crowning moment of his career which gave him a new sense of credibility and opened up his ability to effect change for the rest of his life. It’s a show about a tennis player who was much, much more than that. Rex Miller helps tell the story of Arthur Ashe in his film ‘Citizen Ashe’ and he does it again on the Past Our Prime podcast. Listen, download, share, review… Apple, Spotify, Amazon, IHeart, yada, yada, yada… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices