Our Crowdfunding Groups
Our crowdfunding campaign has ended but you can still support the Arthur Ashe Jr Legacy Fund by clicking here.
As we reflect on last year, we are grateful for you. 2022 was so impactful for our initiatives and we couldn’t have done it without you, our community.
The Ashe Legacy educational booth was in-person at the US Open Tennis Championships this year for the first time since the pandemic. The US Open and our booth saw new attendance records, bringing Arthur Ashe’s legacy to more people than ever. We also launched two exciting new partnerships with New York Artist and UCLA alumna Sonia O’Mara Steube, who designed custom artwork for the booth, and clothing brand Arthur Ashe, which donated an exclusive line of apparel for merchandise sales. A portion of all proceeds from the brand also benefit the Ashe Legacy. Thanks to the support of our friends, volunteers and partners, 2022 was the booth’s most successful year yet, raising over $50,000 in merchandise sales alone.
Beyond the booth, the team also conducted several new oral history interviews and presented at the Oral History Association’s annual conference in Los Angeles, sharing the stories of Ashe’s companions and contemporaries to new ears.
To round out the year, the Ashe Legacy at UCLA was thrilled to participate in the Direct Effect Innovation Challenge, where college teams from Georgetown U, MICA, Bowie State U, and Eastern Kentucky U competed, creating campaigns to bring awareness to Ashe’s story and legacy. The pictured teams are in their Ashe shirts from our Arthur Ashe brand partner.
There are more exciting things to come this year, and we invite you to join us in our dedicated work to honor the tennis and humanitarian great’s legacy.
While volunteering with the UCLA undergraduate-led International Collegiate Health Initiative (ICHI), which aims to provide healthcare to underserved communities in Los Angeles, UCLA senior Vahagn Aldzhyan and his coworkers completed a needs assessment survey on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. When they asked the people there if they had access to medical care and health insurance, most said no.
“I always knew about Skid Row, I always drove past South LA, but just being there in person, talking to the people and getting a glimpse of what these people have to go through every day made me want to do a lot of work to empower people who are living in those situations,” said Aldzhyan, a molecular, cellular and developmental biology major and Los Angeles native.
The desire to bridge healthcare gaps and disparities has been the driving force throughout Aldzhyan’s time as Bruin. And it’s also part of what landed him the 2020-21 Arthur Ashe Jr. Scholarship, an annual award that recognizes and supports students who exemplify the attributes, values, commitment to service and pioneering spirit of the legendary Arthur Ashe ’66.
Aldzhyan said he is inspired by Arthur Ashe’s commitment to helping people facing discrimination, racism and hatred even after he had already achieved astronomical success as an athlete. Although Ashe himself had experienced the same challenges, he didn’t let it stop him from succeeding as well as creating opportunities for others.
“He was able to reciprocate positive energy and help communities and people that were in the same kind of situation as he was growing up. So that was really inspiring.” Aldzhyan said. And the advice he’s taken away from Ashe’s story? “When you hit a roadblock, don't stop, just go through it. And then when you get to a goal and achieve it, don't forget who helped you and help them too,” he said.
Ken Bentley, vice president of Nestlé, was one of many young athletes mentored by Arthur Ashe. He was interviewed as part of the oral history project and shared how his relationship with Ashe affected his entire life. Bentley's story underscores one of Ashe's key beliefs - that tennis could be used to create pathways and access to education and career possibilities.
Thank you for helping preserve Ken's story and Arthur’s legacy of sportsmanship and activism with your early support. Now we need your help again to spread the word about a special challenge in honor of Arthur’s 77th birthday and his belief in using sports to achieve greater pursuits.
When we reach 77 participants who make a gift of any size at https://spark.ucla.edu/Ashe2020, $5,000 will be unlocked to support preservation for current and future generations.
Arthur Ashe graduated UCLA class of 1966 majoring in business administration. Your gift helps to keep his legacy alive at UCLA and around the world!
Confirming his great love of UCLA, Arthur made a first gift to his alma mater in 1973. Your donation today picks up where Arthur Ashe left off in his mission to make education open and available to all.
Ashe was born on July 10, 1943. This year, in what would have been his 77th birthday, honor his legacy by making a gift and continue the fight for social justice. When you join in the celebrations, you will also receive a commemorative pin and t-shirt. (tax deductible gift of $71)
In 2018, Ray Arsenault wrote the revelatory biography, "Arthur Ashe: A Life", chronicling not only Ashe’s tennis achievements, but also his work as a human rights activist. He was relentlessly dedicated to education, racial justice and sportsmanship. Your gift will help continue his lifetime’s work of active citizenship. As a way of thanking you for your gift, you will receive a paperback copy of Ashe’s biography signed by Ray Arsenault, along with the commemorative pin and t-shirt (tax deductible gift of $236.59).
In 1972, Ashe helped found the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the organization that unionized the professional tour and protected the interests of its players. Like Arthur, your founding gift to The Arthur Ashe Legacy project at UCLA will help be used to make tennis and education equitable. To thank you for this generous contribution, you will receive a hardcopy signed copy of Ray Arsenaut’s book, plus a commemorative pin and t-shirt (tax deductible gift of $488.80).
For your generous gift at this level, you will receive a limited edition, signed canvas print of Arthur Ashe by artist, Brendan Murphy. Murphy is a world renowned painter who was invited to the Roger’s Cup as their inaugural official artist. Exemplifying his distinctive style of a mix abstract and figurative from, the painting of Ashe is described by Murphy as “the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done”, as it gave him the opportunity to contribute art to Ashe’s legacy. Painting size is 19.5 x 29.25. You will also receive the additional perks, including the autobiography, pin and t-shirt (for a total tax deductible gift of $488.80).