He Didn’t Just Play, He Held Court : Ojai Paying Tribute to Ashe, Who Won 4 Titles There in ‘60s

Former tennis champion Jack Kramer usually handles public appearances with the same grace and aplomb that marked his victories at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

As president of the Southern California Tennis Assn., Kramer, 72, spends a lot of time on the court handing out trophies, instead of receiving them.

But Kramer worries that this Sunday will be different.

The directors of the 94th Ojai Valley tournament have asked him to pay tribute to Arthur Ashe.

How he will epitomize Ashe in his speech he does not know, and that makes him as nervous as a rookie on Centre Court at the All-England Club.

“I’m just worried that I won’t be able to say the right things about how much of an asset Arthur’s been,” said Kramer, who will make the dedication at 11 a.m. at Court One in Libbey Park, before the last event of the tournament, the men’s intercollegiate championship match. “I don’t know if any player can be remembered for so many things outside of being a champion.”

Kramer, who like Ashe won at Ojai before conquering both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, said his stature pales when compared to that of Ashe, who battled AIDS before dying of pneumonia Feb. 6 at age 49 after he contracted the virus through what his doctors believe was a blood transfusion.

The significance of Ashe’s career as both a tennis player and humanitarian is not lost on the officials of Ojai.

Ojai is a tournament that draws about 1,800 players from age 8 to college seniors and was founded during a time when competitors arrived for matches in horse-drawn carriages. The 94th year will bring a precedent with the dedication to Ashe, the first tribute to a player in the tournament’s history.

Ashe played at Ojai from 1962-65, winning three singles championships and one doubles title as a member of the UCLA tennis team. Today’s opening round comes barely 10 weeks after his death.

“I used to criticize him for over-hitting the ball,” said Kramer, chuckling at what to him had become an irony. “Then I got to know him intimately.

“Being a tennis player and a politician at the same time . . . it takes a lot away from your game. By day, you play tennis. At night, you sit in meetings. You talk and dream until 1 a.m. Arthur was always taking on bigger and better burdens. That was his nature.”

Ashe helped found the Assn. of Tennis Professionals in 1972, then he appointed Kramer as its first director. Ashe fought apartheid in South Africa, created the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and never stopped dreaming of a better world for inner-city black youths.

He created youth tennis centers in four cities and a counseling program for New York City high school athletes and became national campaign chairman of the American Heart Assn. after a heart attack forced him to retire from tennis at 36.

The impression Ashe leaves is one of a broad stroke as well as many little ones. Each year, Ashe the tennis booster paid his annual dues to the “Bruin Racketeers.” And years ago, when Ojai tournament directors were seeking private contributions to help repair some public courts, a check from Ashe came in the mail.

“We never knew how he found out about it,” said Cynthia Fairburn, a former tournament director and one-time president of the SCTA. “All we know is he was the only former Ojai player to do that.”

His outrage over human-rights issues led to his arrest more than once, but most who saw a young Ashe at Ojai remember few words, only the relentless attack he administered with his powerfully wielded racket.

Helen Seiger, who like Fairburn is in her mid-70s, sketchily remembers the time she made a bad line call in Ashe’s favor and watched him lose the next point on purpose.

“I think he double-faulted, can’t remember,” Seiger said, “but the crowd knew what was going on. Everybody clapped . . . and it made me just want to hug him.”

UCLA Coach Glenn Bassett, then a Bruin assistant, said Ashe lacked experience when he left the segregated public courts of Richmond, Va., and his matches at Ojai against other top players from the Pacific 8 Conference helped “toughen him up” his first two years.

“He was a little awed coming into UCLA,” said Bassett, 65. “It didn’t look like he had played a lot of tennis.”

Joe Bixler, a scout for a sporting goods company that later would sponsor Ashe, saw the making of a player who would win the U.S. Open in 1968 and Wimbledon in 1975.

“He was a fierce competitor, and his very presence on the court was impressive at Ojai,” said Bixler, 84, who served as the tournament’s head referee. “And I think Arthur realized he was a damned good player, even then.

“I always had the impression he felt he represented the underdog. And I figured if he ever got good enough, he could help kids rise up from the bottom--which he, in fact, did.”

Ashe was beginning to assert himself as one of the top young players in the world. At the same time, USC’s Bill Bond and Dennis Ralston were the West Coast’s dominant doubles team. They dominated Ashe and his partner, Charlie Pasarell, never losing a match to the Bruin team. But Bond, now teaching pro at La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, was drawn to Ashe and, in 1964, the two played a string of summer tournaments together.

“He was one of the nicest guys I ever played tennis with,” said Bond, 51. “He’d give you the shirt off his back and never ask for anything in return.”

Shortly after Bond and Ralston beat Ashe and Pasarell in the Ojai intercollegiate doubles final, Bond and Ashe started double-dating. Ashe loaned his car to Bond and his wife, Susie, to use for a night in New York City. On the court, Bond might have been the first to confront Ashe about his deteriorating eyesight.

“It got so bad, once he returned a serve that I had called out,” Bond said. “It was at least two feet wide. But Arthur returned it for a winner, and then he turned to me and said, ‘What are you thinking about, Bond?’ ”

Being in Ashe’s company was always a mind-stretching experience for Glendale’s David Reed, a UCLA teammate. The two would challenge each other almost daily with new vocabulary words and spend hours in philosophical debate.

“When I think of Arthur I always picture him as this very frail, very smooth guy looking disdainfully at all the guys playing pool at the UCLA dorm,” said Reed, who turns 50 today. “He could shoot a little pool himself. But that’s how I picture him--standing in his street clothes, watching, looking cool.

“Ojai was always a rite of spring, an unfolding. The crowds were monstrous. The tennis seemed to be more intense and exciting. And on the court, Arthur was a whippet. Smooth, quick, gracious. My folks stayed in touch with him more than I did. But we have thousands of memories linking us.”

In Ojai, a large display engulfs the front entrance of Rains Department store, located across the street from Libbey Park. Store owner Alan Rains, 62, a tournament board member, typically decorates his store in some sort of tennis motif at tournament time. But this year, it is Rains’ personal dream that every player in the tournament--children notwithstanding--see the shining perpetual trophies and brilliant photo of a young Ashe circled by blooming mums, and give thought to a great champion fallen but not defeated.

“It’s a wonderful story in which a good guy comes in first,” Rains said.

Pasarell was in Monte Carlo earlier this week, finishing up some business and preparing for more in South America. Memories of Ojai, the innocent times with his beloved doubles partner, had him choked up.

“It’s tough to think about,” Pasarell said. “It’s pretty tough.”

The orange-juice shooters they drank by the dozens after matches, the quiet creek that flowed behind the UCLA team’s lodging are things Pasarell remembers most about Ojai.

“Whatever free time we could steal away, we got our poles and tried to fish,” Pasarell said. “I don’t remember if we caught anything. I think we were more worried about being late for our next match. They were good times.”

Pasarell was one of the few friends who knew Ashe’s condition had been diagnosed as AIDS in 1988, before Ashe made it public.

Ashe made a late-night call to Pasarell from New York five days before his death. They were finalizing plans for the ATP Tour Awards Gala, “the Oscars of tennis” and a fund-raiser for Ashe’s AIDS foundation. Ashe, still trying to shake the pneumonia, told Pasarell he would miss the press conference and awards dinner but planned to arrive for a benefit golf tournament at Indian Wells.

“I knew he wasn’t feeling very well,” Pasarell said. “I could sense it. He wanted to make sure everything was covered. I said, ‘Everything’s covered, Arthur. Make sure to bring your clubs.’ ”

They also talked about their families and children in a conversation that lasted about 45 minutes. It was the last time they spoke.