Ashe's widow to receive award in San Francisco

   Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, the widow of legend Arthur Ashe, will receive an award Nov. 7 in San Francisco.
   The United States Tennis Association Northern California and Northern California Tennis Foundation will present the inaugural Beyond the Baseline Icon Award to Moutoussamy-Ashe for devoting her life to Ashe's legacy.
   A cocktail reception is scheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. and the presentation from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Galleria at The San Francisco Design Center, 101 Henry Adams Street.
   The cost is $75 for adults and $15 for youths 12 to 18. Proceeds will benefit the NCTF.
   Those who purchase tickets today at http://ustanorcalbeyondbaseline-es2.eventbrite.com/?utm_source=AA+Arts/Culture+091913&utm_campaign=AAACe+091913&utm_medium=email will receive a USTA welcome gift (limit 300).
   Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown will present the award, and NBC announcer Ted Robinson will serve as the master of ceremonies.
   This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ashe's death at age 49. He contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery.
   Ashe won three Grand Slam singles titles: the first U.S. Open in 1968, the 1970 Australian Open and, in a stunning upset over Jimmy Connors, Wimbledon in 1975. Ashe remains the only black man to win any of those tournaments. The only other to win a Grand Slam singles title is Yannick Noah of France in the 1983 French Open.
   Ashe also compiled a 13-3 record as the United States Davis Cup captain (coach) from 1981 to 1985, winning the title in 1981 and 1982.
   The consummate tennis ambassador with his intelligence and quiet dignity, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985, and the U.S. Open's main stadium, the largest in the world with a capacity of 22,547, is named after him.
   Ashe immersed himself in politics, both tennis and international, and social causes. He helped found the ATP, the men's players union, in 1972, and served as its president. He protested apartheid in South Africa and U.S. policies toward Haitian refugees. He promoted education for needy children and, after announcing his illness in 1992, founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS.
   Ashe wrote not one but three books about his life, as well as a three-volume history of African-American athletes. He also penned columns for Time Magazine and The Washington Post, near his hometown of Richmond, Va.
. Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 1993. Since 2008, the Arthur Ashe Learning Center in New York has showcased young people's achievements in service, academics and citizenship.