February 2013 Auction Ends Wednesday, February 6th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/6/2013
Arthur Ashe's personal U.S. passport from 1970 through 1975, bearing the stamp from his landmark entry into South Africa. He was admitted into the apartheid nation for the first time in 1973 to participate in the South African Open. As he describes in his autobiography, "Days of Grace," Ashe's applications for a visa to play tennis in South Africa had been rejected beginning in 1969; his subsequent political activism (urging the boycott of the discriminatory games) is credited with his eventual entry and even the dismantling of apartheid, which would finally end with universal suffrage in 1994. A handwritten note by an immigration official on the long-awaited 1973 stamp justifies Ashe's admittance: "Issued for the purpose of participating in the S.A. tennis tournament 16-25 Nov. 1973". That competition saw Ashe vindicated; he took runner-up in Men's Singles and won Doubles with Tom Okker. He was admitted again in subsequent years, with the stamp from his 1974 visit also present here. Passport includes his original passport photo with his "Arthur R. Ashe, Jr." signature along the left edge of his photo. Every page of passport is filled with various country entrance stamps for his participation in tennis tournaments around the world. Ashe chronicled these very travels in his book about his year from Wimbledon of 1973 to Wimbledon of 1974 titled "Portrait in Motion." Passport expired on 8 March 1975. Measures 4" x 6" with minor wear, else very good condition. With an LOA from Ashe's widow.
Arthur Ashe 1970 Passport -- Containing The Stamp From His Historic First Entry Into Apartheid South Africa
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