Arthur Ashe: The Fresh Air Interview

Arnold Rampersad, professor of Literature at Princeton, biographer of Langston Hughes, is coauthor of tennis star Arthur Ashe's memoir, "Days of Grace." Ashe died this year at age 49 from AIDS he contracted during open heart surgery. He was the first African American tennis champion, winning the United States Open in 1968, and going on to capture three Grand Slam titles. He has remained a vital presence in the sport, and his autobiography features portraits of the great celebrities of tennis.

Former major league baseball scout John Young. He is special assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs. In 1988 he began a program in south central Los Angeles to get inner city kids playing baseball. Known as RBI ("Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities"), the program has since expanded to include 51 cities and 40,000 youth. (For information about RBI contact: Tom Brasuell, Baseball Office of the Commissioner, 350 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022, phone 212-339-7844) (REBROADCAST from 4/29/97) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Phillip Hoose. In his new book, Necessities: Racial Barriers in American Sports, Hoose examines the role of blacks in sport, from why there has never been a black Olympic swimmer to the continued use of racial information by the scouting agencies that survey high school basketball players. Hoose began the book after the furor sparked by baseball executive Al Campanis' remark on national TV that blacks lacked `the necessities' to manage a major league baseball or football team. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)