It Is Not Just The More Talented

I Accepted The Face That As Much As I Want To Lead Others, And Love To Be Around Other People, In Some Essential Way, I Am Something Of A Loner.

I Take The Good With The Bad, And I Try To Face Them Both With As Much Calm And Dignity As I Can Muster.

There Were Times When I Asked Myself Whether I Was Being Principled Or Simply A Coward.... I Was Wrapped In The Cocoon Of Tennis Early In Life, Mainly By Blacks Like My Most Powerful Mentor, Dr. Robert Walter Johnson Of Lynchburg, Virginia. They Insisted That I Be Unfailingly Polite On The Court, Unfalteringly Calm And Detached, So That Whites Could Never Accuse Me Of Meanness. I Learned Well. I Look At Photographs Of The Skinny, Frail, Little Black Boy That I Was In The Early 1950s, And I See That I Was My Tennis Racquet And My Tennis Racquet Was Me. It Was My Rod And My Staff.

My Potential Is More Than Can Be Expressed Within The Bounds Of My Race Or Ethnic Identity.

It Doesn't Have To Glitter To Be Gold.