by Tom Ewing
August 14, 2025
Fifty years ago, American Arthur Ashe won the Wimbledon tennis championship in a match that demonstrated the qualities that would define his life and legacy: athleticism, determination, intelligence, patriotism, and professionalism. This victory in July 1975 has been recognized as one of the great tennis matches of all time and brought Ashe recognition and congratulations that transcended the world of tennis.
Arthur Ashe is connected to Bicycle Route 76 by geography, commitment, and history. Ashe was born in Richmond, and attended segregated schools and learned to play tennis at the only park open to the city’s Black residents. US Bicycle Route 1, which runs concurrently for several miles with Route 76 near Ashland, includes a section of Arthur Ashe Boulevard, named in honor of the city’s great man. Bicycle Route 1, which provides cyclists with an alternative route connecting the Capital Bike Trail through downtown Richmond, also crosses Monument Avenue, where Ashe’s statue is one of the few remaining on this distinctive setting. Plans are being developed to improve cycling and walking infrastructure along Arthur Ashe Boulevard to encourage safe use of this road by residents, visitors, and touring cyclists.
Ashe was a proponent of bicycling, even as he competed at the highest levels of tennis in the 1970s. A 1977 New York Times article about Ashe and other athletes on the comeback trail included a photograph of Ashe, riding a bicycle to a press conference, with a tennis racket in his bag. Another photograph from the same era shows Ashe and his wife, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, with their ten speed bicycles. Ashe wears his USA warm up suit, presumably from his competition on the US Davis Cup team, one of his priorities as a tennis player.
Finally, Ashe and Route 76 are connected by the imperative of recognizing historical complexities in the 1970s and today. Ashe was a patriot, who competed ferociously for his country on the Davis Cup team, yet he also campaigned relentlessly and strategically for ideals and principals — even when these challenged the dominant view of the time that athletes should not take “controversial” positions. Ashe’s life was shaped by segregation, but also illustrates how the campaigns against segregation resulted in meaningful change. The presence of Ashe’s statue on Monument Avenue, now the only statue left after the removal of statues to Confederate leaders, symbolizes how history follows changes in social, political, and athletic conditions. Remembering Ashe’s life and legacy is an example of how the upcoming semiquincentennial of American history should integrate these complicated histories.
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