Why is it that more professional athletes seem to be struggling to maintain one key ingredient in their lives – integrity?
Days of Grace
is the memoir of the late pro tennis great Arthur Ashe. The book outlines Ashe’s final years after it was learned he was infected with the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion during a heart bypass operation in 1983. Ashe was able to keep the illness private until 1992. He died in early 1993.Ashe epitomised integrity, both personally and professionally. What would Arthur Ashe say if he were able to provide insight on some of the latest story lines in professional sports?
How would Ashe react to someone like Michael Vick being given a chance to resurrect his tarnished image in the NFL? It certainly helps that Vick has someone in his corner whose personal integrity parallels that of Ashe. When you listen to Tony Dungy, you see a man who gets it today like Ashe got it then. Dungy and Ashe are examples that integrity can co-exist in professional sports. Does Vick get it? Public opinion is still out.
What would Ashe say to gun-carrying Gilbert Arenas of the NBA's Washington Wizards? Several incidents involving guns and pro athletes in the USA over the past few years have fuelled public perception that some carry handguns around like women carry purses!
What would Ashe think of the soap opera that has become Tiger Woods’ world? It is anybody’s guess how the Woods saga will unfold over the next year. A billion-dollar image is now mired in alleged infidelity with multiple women.
Professional athletes who feel they are above the law or public scrutiny have been around for years in the UK and the USA. In baseball, home run records established by Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds are now tarnished milestones?
More professional athletes need to work on expressions of solid character and less on expressing themselves as a human canvas for tattoo artists. After the career is over nobody will remember their body art. Athletes are remembered for character.
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