Series:

Purpose Served: An Oral History of the Exemplary Life of Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993

Topic:

African American History

Sports

Biographical Note:

Interviewed because of connection to tennis player Arthur Ashe. Attended UCLA with Ashe, played on the UCLA tennis team, and remained friends with Ashe after their time at UCLA.

Interviewer:

Hester, Yolanda

Interviewee:

Crookenden, Ian

Persons Present:

Crookenden and Hester

Place Conducted:

St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia

Supporting Documents:

Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.

Interviewer Background and Preparation:

The interview was conducted by Yolanda Hester, project director of the Arthur Ashe Oral History Project for the Arthur Ashe Legacy Fund at UCLA. Hester received her graduate degree in African American studies at UCLA and was hired by the fund to develop an oral history project and conduct interviews celebrating the legacy of Arthur Ashe. She prepared for the interviews by reading Arthur Ashe’s autobiographies (Advantage Ashe, Off the Court, and Days of Grace) and looking at a number of biographies, particularly Raymond Arsenault’s Arthur Ashe: A Life. She also read a number of articles on Arthur Ashe from newspapers and other publications.

Processing of Interview:

The interviewer prepared a timed log of the audio recording of the interview. The interviewee was given the opportunity to review the log in order to supply missing or misspelled names and to verify the accuracy of the content.

Length:

1.25 hrs

Language:

English

Copyright:

Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.

Audio:

Series Statement:

Purpose Served: An Oral History of the Exemplary Life of Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993 is an initiative of the Arthur Ashe Legacy Fund (AALF) at UCLA and is funded by AALF and by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. By launching an oral history project to document and capture the firsthand recollections of Ashe’s colleagues, associates, family, and friends, UCLA was fulfilling its commitment to the Arthur Ashe Learning Center to document and disseminate the considerable impact of one of its most significant graduates.In his memoir Days of Grace Arthur Ashe stated, "I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments.” Although this series provides a comprehensive account of Ashe’s considerable accomplishments as a tennis player, it also offers a substantial number of first-person accounts of historical moments and stories beyond the scope of tennis. Ashe’s ascent in the tennis world coincided with many important developments in the sport: the onset of the Open Era, the shift from a mostly “country club” sport to the public arena, the commercialization of tennis, and the rise of the celebrity athlete. But his life also intersected with a number of significant milestone in the second half of the twentieth century, including the civil rights and women’s movements, the Vietnam War, the fall of apartheid in South Africa, and the AIDS/HIV crisis. In their reflections on Ashe’s work and activism, participants in this series share stories of his engagement with these crucial moments in U.S. history. Finally, the series also contains information about segregation; student life at UCLA in the 1960s; ROTC; West Point; Black life in Richmond, Virginia and St. Louis, Missouri; the work of TransAfrica and Artists and Athletes against Apartheid; and the relatively unknown histories of the American Tennis Association and Dr. Robert Walter Johnson’s Summer Tennis Camp.Interviewees were sought across the country and internationally, reflecting Ashe’s broad swath of associates and his status as a prominent athlete and a respected public intellectual. Although the series reflects his entire life, special attention was given to locating childhood friends, military associates, and fellow students in St. Louis and at UCLA. Participants who could speak of his devotion to support youth in the sport and his activism were also included in this series.The series commenced months before the COVID-19 pandemic, so many of the initial interviews align with traditional oral history methodology in being conducted in person. After stay-at-home orders were initiated across the country in March of 2020, interviews were conducted via the Zoom video conferencing platform. Many of these sessions were preserved on video recordings as well as audio recordings.

Early life in New Zealand--International sports federations in the 1950s and 1960s--Becoming the youngest tennis player to represent New Zealand--Role of federations in developing athletes--1962 Davis cup--Decision to attend University of California, Los Angeles--Reality of race relations in the United States--Playing the Davis Cup in Israel during the Eichmann trial (1961)--Meeting Arthur Ashe through UCLA tennis team--First impression of UCLA campus--UCLA college culture and social life--Working with Coach J.D. Morgan--Team experiences with Ashe--Ashe’s reserved, tranquil demeanor on and off the court--Winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with Ashe--Relationship with Ashe after UCLA--Ashe’s 1965 speech at Wake Forest University--Ashe's impact on young people--Last meeting with Ashe in 1992.