Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, September 06, 1995, Page 12, Image 12

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ASHE MONUMENT BUILT ON PRINCIPLES
BRIEFS
BASKETBALL
Knicks, Heat Work
Out Deal On Riley
The New York Knicks and
the Miami Heat have reportedly
reached an agreement that would
allow Pat Riley to become head
coach o f the Heat for the 1995-96
season.
The New York Daily News
reported last week that the Knicks
and Heat have reached an agree­
ment in principle that would send
a first round draft choice in 1996 to
the Knicks as compensation for
Riley.
Riley left the Knicks on June
15th with one year left on his five-
yearcontract. Miami officials were
quoted publicly on several occa­
sions regarding their interest in
Riley in their search for a head
coach.
K n ic k s President Dave
Checketts made it clear the Knicks
would seek compensation if Riley
coached for an N-B-A team in
1995-96 and fi led tampering charg­
es against the Heat.
N B A Commissioner David
Stern held an Aug. 4th hearing on
the tamperingcharges. Stern urged
the teams to work out a settlement
after hearing eight hours o f testi
mony.
Shaq, Hakeem To
Tangle One-On-One
Superstar centers Hakeem
Olajuwon o f the Houston Rockets
and Shaquille O'Neal o f the O r­
lando Magic w ill compete in a $1
million pay-per-view one-on-one
competition at Atlantic City, N J.,
on Sept. 30.
The event w ill be staged at the
I rump Taj Mahal Resort. It w ill be
available to the public on Showtime
Event Television with a suggested
retail pay-per-view price o f $ 19.95
to $29.95.
Olaj uwon led the Rockets past
O ’ Neal and the Magic in the N B A
Finals to capture the league cham­
pionship for the second consecu­
tive year.
Leonard Armato, chairman
and chief executive officerof Man­
agement Plus Enterprises, says
Olajuwon and O 'N eal will play 10
rounds for a total o f$ l0 0 ,0 0 0 per
round.
According to the round rules
announced by Armato, a tie in
round w ill roll over the prize mon­
ey to the next round. The player
with the most money after 10
rounds w ill be declared the win­
ner. If they are tied, a tiebreaker
w ill be played for the title.
Seakhawks’
Warren Charged
With Assault
Seattle Seahawks running
back Chris Warren was recently
charged with assaulting a woman
outside a nightclub in Renton,
Wash.
A Seattle woman alleges that
Warren slapped her outside a night
club on July 29th.
Warren, who led the A -F-C
last season with 1,545 rushing
yards last season, denied the
charge He faces up,o four months
in ja il if convicted.
The allegations are the latest
in a series o f legal problems in­
volving the Seahawks. Wide re
ceiver Bennie Blades faces man­
slaughter charges over the death o f
his cousin, head coach Dennis
Erickson was arrested on drunken
driving charges and tailback Lamar
Smith awaits a vehicular assault
trial over an alcohol-related acci­
dent that left teammate Mike Frier
paralyzed.
Unlike in Richmond, where he
grew up - a black in the long shadow
o f the Confederacy and Jim Crow
laws - and where a controversy had
recently raged about the erecting o f a
statue o f him, a different kind o f
monument to Arthur Ashe, citizen o f
the world, existed Sunday at the Na­
tional Tennis Center in Flushing
Meadows, Queens, New York.
It was the celebrity tennis tour­
nament played in his name, the day
before the start o f the U.S. Open.
The lighthearted tennis played
under the hot midday sun - partici­
pants on the Stadium Court included
such players and non-players as John
McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Stan
Smith, N ick Lowery o f the Jets, the
former Knick Doc Rivers, and B ill
Cosby and Alan King, as co-emcees,
co-umpires, co-coaches and, being
comedians, co-cu,ups - belied the
depth and gravity o f the cause.
Jeanne M outoussam y-Ashe,
Arthur’ s widow, presented a check
for $1 million in the name o f the
Arthur Ashe Endowment for the
Defeat o f A ID S to New York Hospi­
tal-Cornel I Medical Center.
“ A ID S is in the same position as
polio was, and tuberculosis, and can­
cer, when I was growing up in the
’40s and ’50s,” Cosby said. “ People
still want to keep it hush-hush. Peo­
ple still have prejudices about it.”
Regarding Sen. Robert D ole’s
return o f a campaign contribution
from a group o f gay Republicans,
Cosby said, “ The last person you can
embarrass is a politician.”
Ashe committed h im se lf to
the education and eradication o f
A ID S after he announced in 1992
that he had contracted the d is ­
ease from a blood transfusion
during heart surgery several years
earlier.
But it was only one o f many of
his concerns and pursuits. Besides
being the lone black male to win
Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, Ashe
took courageous positions on apart­
heid in South Africa, racism in Amer­
ica and the emphasis for blacks in
particular o f school books o ver ball
games.
“ We all know that Arthur was
far more than a tennis player and an
athlete,” said Rivers. “ There have
been very few like him. Y o u’d have
to include Muhammad A li. And
Jackie Robinson. People who would
have been true role models even if
they hadn’t played sports.
“ But you had to admire Arthur
in the way he conducted his life. He
took tough stands that 1 know hurt
him commercially, but he didn’t care.
And he wouldn’t back down. He
always took the morally right posi­
tion, not the ’me’ point o f view.”
It is just that position that had
caused controversy in Virginia. A
proposal earlier this year in the R ich-
mond Planning Commission met with
great debate over whether a statue of
Ashe should be placed on Monument
ti
“We all know
that Arthur
was far more
than a tennis
player and
an athlete, ”
D o c R iv e rs
----------------------------------
Avenue, the symbolic heart o f the
city, which was the capital o f the
Confederacy.
Other statues along the avenue
include those o f Robert E. Lee, Jeb
Stuart, Stonew all Jackson and
Jefferson Davis, generals and lead­
ers o f the rebel forces.
While Ashe’s proposed 24-foot
statue (about two stories high) would
pale in comparison to, say, Lee’s, at
61 feet (about five stories high), it
would still be in a place where Ashe,
as a lad, often felt uncomfortable.
It had been a segregated city in
which Ashe was unable to play on the
segregated tennis courts, and so he
left as a senior in high school to
pursue his education and tennis ca­
reer.
Some Richmond citizens unfor­
tunately thought Ashe shouldn’t be
honored at all because he left the city
and didn’t return, except for family
visits. Others thought he was too
good for Monument Avenue, where,
if,hose honored had won. there might
never have been an Arthur Ashe as
we know him.
Some thought that Ashe’s idea
o f wearing tennis sweats - Ashe had
been consulted about the statue be­
fore he died and had helped design it
- was disgraceful and defiled the
memory o f the mounted, weapon­
bearing, medal-massed soldiers.
Others thought his statue, with
three books held high in one hand
while a tennis racquet symbolically
is held lower in the other hand(Ashe’s
idea) sends just the right message.
St i 11 Others said the statue should
be placed in the black neighborhood
where he grew up.
At the open hearing, another
TIGER WOODS TAKES 2ND AMATUER
When he won last year’s U.S.
Amateur in the humidity o f a Florida
summer, Tiger Woods was hailed as
the best African-American golferthe
United States had ever produced.
Now, after succesfully defend­
ing his U.S. Amateur title here Sun­
day, at the same historic Newport
Country Club that was the host for
America’s first championship 100
years ago, some are wondering if the
19-year-old Woods isn’t the best male
amateur golfer his country has ever
produced.
Woods, from Cypress, Calif.,
won on a cool, calm, overcast day by
storming back from an early three-
hole deficit to defeat George “ Bud­
dy” Marucci, 43, an automobile deal­
er from Berwyn, Pa., in the 36-hole
final, two up.
Woods, who clinched the victo­
ry with a brilliant second shot on the
final hole, wascharacteristically low-
key after the match. “ I played well all
week, kept my focus and was very
patient,” he said. :l couldn’t ask for
any more than that.”
But Marucci, who was playing
in his 16th U.S. Amateur in an career
dating back nearly a quarter-century,
was more lavish in his praise. “ I think
Tiger is certainly the best athlete this
level o f g o lf has ever seen,” said
Marucci. “ He’ s lean, strong and has
a marvelous golf swing. He doesn’t
take a back seat to anybody.” Cer­
tainly not in the last five years. Woods
won the U.S. Junior Amateur cham­
pionship an unprecedented three
years in a row beginning in 19 9 1, and
by triumphing here he became only
the ninth player in history to win
back-to-back U.S. Amateurs. Woods,
who has yet to begin his sophomore
year at Stanford University, now has
a lifetime match-play record o f36-3
in U.S. G o lf Association events, and
his five USG A titles ties him for third
with Jay Sigel and Jerry Travers on
the all-time list, behind Bobby Jones
(nine) and Jack Nicklaus (eight).
But neither Jones, N icklaus,
Sigel nor T ravers ever won this cham­
pionship twice as a teen-ager. And
all four would have been hard-pressed
to duplicate the finishing kick Woods
produced here.
Locked in a fierce struggle
throughout the day with Marucci, the
heavily favored Woods had an ap­
proximate score o f 65, 5 under par,
for his last 18 holes.
Still, he came to the last hole, a
380-yard par 4, protecting a one-up
lead. After Marucci had hit his ap­
proach to 25 feet, Woods hit a tower­
ing 8-iron from 140 yards directly
over the flagstick, and it spun back to
within 18 inches o f the hole.
After missing his birdie attempt,
Marucci conceded Woods’ birdie putt.
The final was a showcase of
vastly different styles. The fist-pump­
ing Woods, who hits his shots enor­
mously long and high - one o f his
drives was measured at 379 yards -
constantly tried to attack the course
like a PGA Tour player.
Conversely, Marucci, who has a
much shorter game than Woods,
played with the patient demeanor of
a club golfer (in fact, Marucci be­
longs to Merion, Pine Valley and
Seminole, three o f the country’s most
exclusive country clubs), content to
hit bounce-and-run shots shaped to
Newport Country C lu b ’ s rolling,
links-style terrain.
MATHIS PICKED AS NEXT
TYSON OPPONENT
Boxing promoter Don King has
confirmed what had been rumored
all along: Buster Mathis w ill be Mike
Tyson’ s next opponent — probably.
In a typical rambling King press
conference, the promoter said Mathis
“ is our first choice” to fight Tyson in
his next fight, on Nov. 4 at the M GM
Grand, but added that International
B oxing Federation cruiserweight
champion A l Cole and Nate M iller
“ are also under consideration.”
Later in the press conference,
Tyson’ s co-manager, John Horne
said: “ It is going to be Buster Mathis,
unless you find someone better for
us.” King then said: “ Mike Tyson
w ill fight Buster Mathis on Nov. 4.”
Mathis is ranked fourth by the
International Boxing Federation but
unranked by the World Box ing Coun-
cil and World Boxing Association.
In a bout he was losing badly to
former world champion Riddick
Bowe last summer, Mathis was saved
by a “ no contest” ruling when he was
hit in the fourth round while on his
knees. The light-hitting Mathis is 20-
Event Dates: September 10 &11, 1995
Sports Action Entry Forms are available at LSC locations
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When King was asked about a
proposal from rival promoter Bob
Arum toenlist formerCaesars World
chairman o f the board Henry Gluck
to help put together a match against
Foreman, King told the news confer­
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King also said he had been ap­
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suggested that the statue be placed,
beside a tennis court.
“ And then someone in the bal­
cony, just a citizen, said something
that turned the whole argument, I
think,” said Thomas Chewning, the
co-chairman o f the Ashe statue cam­
paign in Richmond, and a white con­
temporary o f Ashe’s who didn’t get a
chance to play with or against him
until they met as teen-agers in a tour­
nament in West Virginia. “ The per­
son said, But if we put it at a tennis
court, that would signify that we were
honoring Arthur Ashe as a tennis
player, and not as a great man. In this
city, the great men are memorialized
on Monument Avenue.’ “
Ground was broken on Monu­
ment Avenue last month for the stat-
ueofAshe, w h o diedo n Feb .6 ,1993.
In his autobiography, “ Days o f
G ra c e ,” w ritten w ith A rn o ld
Rampersad and published posthu­
mously, Ashe said:
“ In this racial divide, I often find
myself critical o f both whites and
blacks. In the end, I am not for black
or white, nor even for the United
States o f America, but for the whole
o f humanity. I can’t define myself
finally as an African American, or an
American. My humanity comes first.
I have felt that way since I have
known myself, and I hope to die that
way.”
12 00 Noon
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