By: Ga’Brey Williams
Arthur Ashe
Born: July 10 1943
Place of birth: Richmond, Virginia
Ashe was the son of Arthur Ashe Sr. and Mattie Cordell Cunningham Ashe. He had one sibling, a brother. In March 1950, Ashe's mother died from complications grins pregnancy at the age of 27.Ashe and his brother were raised by their father who had very low income due to the fact that he worked as a part time handyman. Ashe's father forbid him to play the most common sport at the time; football. As a result he resorted to tennis and was later accepted into sumner high school under a tennis scholarship. He was then later awarded a tennis scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles. Due to his enrollment in ROTC he later joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant.
One of Ashe's major accomplishments was In 1963 he became the first black player ever selected for the United States Davis Cup team. In 1965, he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association singles title and celebrated with UCLA for winning the team NCAA tennis championship. Ashe contributed to society by supporting the formation of the Association of Tennis Professionals in 1972 which helped aspirating African Americans trying to reach their goals in the Tennis industry.
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Bill Cosby
Born: July 12 1937
Place of birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cosby was born to Anna Pearl and William Henry Cosby Sr., who served in the U.S. Navy. During his childhood, His father was never home due to the fact that he was serving in the U.S. armed forces and fought in World War II. In high school , Cosby was a class clown. Even though he was the captain of both the baseball team and the track and field team at Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia, as well as the class president, his teachers still noted him for clowning