Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | 4:59 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
August 20-21, 2005
Raymond Chua says his motivation for turning in his essay on late pro tennis star Arthur Ashe in a timely manner was to avoid picking up errant tennis balls after his youth tennis practice session.
But what the 14-year-old Las Vegas A-student learned about the man who raised awareness of worldwide civil rights and faced his death from AIDS with dignity, was inspiring.
That inspiration led to Chua winning the 13- to 14-year-old boys division in the seventh annual USA Tennis National Junior Tennis League Arthur Ashe Essay Contest. The prizes include a trip to New York City Friday through next Sunday for the Arthur Ashe Kids Day ceremony at the U.S. Open.
Ashe was the first black male to win the Wimbledon title and play on the U.S. Davis Cup team, a human rights crusader and a proponent of AIDS research. He died on Feb. 6, 1993, at age 49 of that disease, which he contracted from a tainted blood transfusion he had received during open-heart surgery in 1983.
Two months before he died, Ashe was in Las Vegas telling a crowd of 1,200 at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall that "seldom in the history of mankind has a disease captured the interest and imagination of the public ... AIDS patients don't want pity. They want facts, not fiction."
Chua, who was 2 years old when Ashe died, said he knew next to nothing about Ashe before he started doing his research in late June after he got the essay assignment.
Chua, whose heritage is Filipino and Chinese, was one of 10 youths in five age groups to win prize packages worth $1,600 per person for their 300-word essays. He was the first-ever Ashe essay winner from Las Vegas, USA Tennis officials said, noting that 900 youths entered this year's contest.
"Coach Leon (Vernon) on a Wednesday gave us a week to write our mandatory essays but, to encourage us to turn them in early, he said we would not have to pick up balls if we got them in by that Friday," said Chua, who will be a freshman at Sierra Vista High when he returns to school on Aug. 29.
"At first I thought, 'Oh no, not an essay -- I'm on summer vacation.' Then I decided to do it in two days because I didn't want to have to pick up balls."
Chua's essay is titled: "Why is Arthur Ashe a legend?"
Chua, who began taking tennis lessons two years ago when his schoolteacher mom Lea signed him up for a free clinic, went to the library to thumb through a few books, but said he found the most information for his essay on the Internet.
"I was impressed about the South Africa incident," Chua said, recalling the time when Ashe applied for a visa to go to the racially segregated country for a tournament but was denied because he was black.
Chua wrote: "Arthur was becoming more and more as an activist ... He called to expel South Africa from the tennis tour, and was supported by important individuals and companies, both in and out involved with the world of tennis."
The fact that Chua's grammar and sentence structure was a little shaky charmed contest officials.
"You can tell that this is all him -- you can tell that a 14-year-old wrote this," said D.A. Abrams, U.S. Tennis Association outreach director, who oversees the contest.
"In reading Raymond's essay, what impressed me was that he wrote not only about Arthur Ashe's tennis career but also of what he did off the court. Raymond wrote about the issues of segregation and AIDS. He clearly explained why Arthur Ashe is a legend."
Chua said he would not let his mother or dad, Ray Chua, a Clark County Health District employee, read the essay for their opinions or potential changes that, in retrospect, might have made it too polished to win the contest.
"I was going to make sure I put my own personality into this essay," Chua said, noting that he threw away his first draft because he didn't like it and started again from scratch. He submitted his second version.
The prize package includes round-trip coach airfare to New York for the winners and one of their parents. The Chuas have purchased an extra ticket so that Ray and Lea both can accompany their son.
The winning contestants also get two nights free at the New York Grand Hyatt Hotel, a plaque and lunch with USTA Board Member David Dinkins, the former mayor of New York City and a friend of Ashe's.
The winners also get two tickets to a New York Yankees game against the Kansas City Royals, will take in the Broadway show "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and will take a boat tour around Manhattan.
The festivities are highlighted by Arthur Ashe Kids Day next Saturday, the official kickoff event to the U.S. Open, which runs Aug. 29 to Sept. 11.
Ray Chua said he naturally is proud of his son winning the contest, noting that as a boy he tried to win similar essay contests but never succeeded.
"This is such a wonderful opportunity for Raymond," Ray Chua said, musing that he hopes his son can improve his serve by watching Las Vegas resident Andre Agassi and the game's other big stars in person. "Seriously, I would hope this validates in him that if you put your mind to something you can achieve something.
"I hope this trip to New York, which is his first and mine, will broaden his horizons. He'll see a Major League Baseball game and benefit culturally from seeing a Broadway play. Not everyday does a trip like this fall into your lap."
The contest winner, who said he has neither a favorite tennis player nor a favorite athlete, said he does not know what to expect to get out of his visit to New York, but whatever happens sure will beat picking up tennis balls after practice.
And, he says, he has no plans to write an essay about it for school.
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