I was reading the latest copy of GQ magazine, and it had an article about the coolest athletes of all-time. It sounded interesting, so I read it. Think about it. Just 10, cooler than cool, badder than bad, male athletes. As I started down the listings, of course the coolest was Joe Namath, of NY Jets fame. I have to admit, under the definition of cool, he is definitely hard to beat.
Of course, not far away was former NY Knickerbocker Walt "Clyde" Frazier. He was the first recognized cool dude, and he was the first to have a suede Puma sneaker all his own. I think I still have my original pair of Puma Clydes in my closet. (They probably don't fit.)
As expected, there was Jim Brown, legendary running back and actor. He was probably the real life prototype of "Shaft." Add to that a couple of ancient soccer players, George Best and Pele. I'm not so sure how cool Pele was, but he sure was popular. As I continued, I figured I'd see a whole bunch of other predictable choices. Then I turned the page again.
Bjorn Borg and Arthur Ashe. Yep, a whole page dedicated to two hall of fame tennis players. I am proud and happy that the author chose two tennis players, period. Bjorn Borg would clearly be an expected choice. In the mid-to-late 1970s, there was no one who epitomized the sport and the lifestyle better. On the court, the 11-time major tournament winner and five-time back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon champion was cooler than cool. The long-locked, speedy, svelte Swede had and icy constitution and an even icier game. His western forehand and slap shot-styled two-handed backhand were the epitome of wow. From the first serve to the last point, you could not get under his skin. He showed no emotion. And after he had beaten you handily, you couldn't help but smile and shake his hand at the net.
Off the court, well, he was the consummate European party animal. With his trusty tennis sidekick, the late Vitas Gerulaitus, he was often spotted at discotheques and clubs, including the now legendary Studio 54. He was a male fashion icon. He made it cool to even listen to his fellow Swedes, ABBA. Whether it was hopping between parties, or modeling the latest in Fila sportswear, he was, well, the definition of cool.
I was surprised in a way to see Ashe given a similar nod. I would have expected Vitas Gerulaitus or John McEnroe. Ashe would not be the first tennis player to roll off your tongue if you were to put a tennis player's picture next to the word cool in the dictionary. I understand though, and I applaud GQ for recognizing him.
Arthur Ashe straddled the segregated America and the post-civil rights America. Born into a black family in the south, and growing up in Virginia, he clearly experienced all it was to be a black man in pre-civil rights America. He went to UCLA, won the NCAA men's singles championship, and was the first African-American male to play on the Unites States Davis Cup team. He continued to play at the top of the game, becoming the U.S. No. 1 amateur player. The very first Open tennis tournament (the first to allow both amateurs and professionals) was the U.S. Open of 1968. You know who won the inaugural open? Yep, Arthur Ashe.
These are all great accomplishments, but they clearly don't make someone cool. What made Ashe so cool was his demeanor. The way he went about his day to day life in a sport known as exclusive to white players, and how he continued to push for reform on all levels of the sport without ever losing his cool. Ashe didn't like that so many tournaments were shafting the top professionals, noting that the tournaments made big money because of them. So he banded together with a few others and led the formation of the Association of Tennis Professionals, or as we know it know, the ATP Tour.
As the number one player in the world, he applied for a visa to play in the South African Open, a tournament in the then apartheid following country. His visa was denied. Ashe didn't just take it. He began a systematic discussion and called for the removal of South Africa from the Davis Cup and the professional tennis tours. And he was immediately successful. Little did he realize it then, but his stance also was a large impetus for the changes that would eventually end apartheid in South Africa and wind up freeing Nelson Mandela.
But if that wasn't cool enough, he then decided, at the age of 31, to re-dedicate his tennis career. Focusing on exercise and training, including using the coolest 10-speed bicycle and the new Head Comp Arthur Ashe tennis racquet (the first real composite racquet used in top-tier play), he quickly zoomed to the final of the 1975 Wimbledon championships. In the final, he faced then-Ni, 1 and dominant James Scott Connors. Everyone thought that Ashe would get creamed.
Calmly, on the day of the final, Ashe came out on his game. Having done the coolest thing a player could do, use his brain, he systematically took apart and nullified all of Connors' weapons. He forced Connors to the net, where he never really excelled. He forced Connors to reach every ball low, hit a lot of short, soft shots that made it nearly impossible for Connors to hit powerful shots. Ashe dismantled Connors in one of the most unlikely upsets of the Open era, regaining the No. 1 world ranking. And through it all, he did it with grace and style. In a word, cool.
I think what made Ashe so cool was how he ended his career and life. After suffering heart attacks in 1979 and 1983, he underwent heart surgery. While getting blood transfusions for the surgery, Ashe contracted the AIDS virus. With a coolness only Ashe could muster, the news was going to be leaked, so he decided to have a worldwide press conference and announce to the world that he had AIDS. AIDS had then been the largest stigma, being known as a disease of the homosexual community. Ashe strode boldly to the podium and announced his diagnosis, described how he had contracted AIDS, and asked for the world to not focus on his bad luck, but instead on moving forward with a cure and also in continuing to support all the causes he had fostered before.
In so many ways, Ashe and Borg were, literally, polar opposites. Ashe, with his continental-style forehand and one-handed backhand, Borg, with his super topspin western forehand and two-handed backhand. Ashe, the king of the service, Borg, the king of ground strokes. One man quiet and icy, the other calm and passionate. In so many ways, they were literally the same. And in this case, they are the same.
Borg and Ashe. Just plain cool.
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