Arthur Ashe contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during a 1983 heart bypass surgery and dedicated his final years to AIDS advocacy.

Life dealt Ashe a tragic hand. After undergoing a second bypass surgery in 1983, he received a contaminated blood transfusion. He kept his HIV status private until April 1992. Once public, he poured his remaining energy into founding the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS. He fought the stigma of the disease with the same quiet dignity he brought to the court, before passing away in 1993.