Squirrels to Honor Arthur Ashe, Virginia Heroes
June 29, 2010 - Eastern League (EL1)
Richmond Flying Squirrels News Release
Richmond, Va. - The late tennis champion Arthur Ashe and the mentoring program he founded in his home town will receive special honors at the July 4th Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game. The occasion is the 35th anniversary of Ashe's historic win at Wimbledon, the first for an African-American man. An Ashe family member will throw the first pitch when the Squirrels play the Erie Sea Wolves, and mentors from the Virginia Heroes program will step onto the field with some of the middle school students they work with.
Richmond Flying Squirrels Community Relations Director Christina Shisler wanted to celebrate more than Ashe's athletic milestones at the Independence Day game, which promises to be the club's best-attended. "We thought it would be great to show how his legacy lives on in Richmond, through his family and in the lives of the students that Virginia Heroes serves," says Shisler.
Two years before he died in 1993, Ashe created a non-profit organization to bring sixth grade students in the city schools together with adult role models to talk about the decisions that lead to success in school and life. The organization grew into Virginia Heroes, Incorporated, which has mentored over 8,000 middle schoolers since 1993 and won numerous civic awards.
Virginia Heroes President Tichi Pinkney Eppes is delighted with the interest that Richmond's professional baseball team has taken in her program. "We just finished a great school year in which Squirrels staff went into our schools as mentors, and now they want to celebrate Arthur's vision for youth with the whole community. It's fantastic," Pinkney Eppes says. Virginia Heroes plans to distribute tickets to the game to mentors, students, and founding board members. "This will be like the beginning of a year-long twentieth anniversary party," she adds.
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