#14 – Arthur Ashe
Considered one of the greatest tennis players over the last 50 years, Arthur Ashe won three Grand Slam singles titles and two more doubles titles throughout his incredible 21-year career.
Turning pro in 1959, Ashe became the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the Australian Open or the United States Open. With 818 wins, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985 after his 1980 retirement.
In the early 1980s, Ashe underwent a heart bypass surgery during which he contracted the HIV virus through a blood transfusion.
Hiding his diagnosis for years, Ashe finally announced his illness in 1992 after becoming extremely ill. With the world in his corner, Ashe worked closely with AIDS awareness groups and started the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS. On February 6, 1993, Ashe passed away from pneumonia that was caused by AIDS. Just four months later, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.
#13 – Tom Fogerty
“I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?” Tom Fogerty and his brother, John, were members of the legendary rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. Though Fogerty played with other bands like The Blue Velvets and The Golliwogs, he will forever be known for his work with CCR whose songs like “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, “Fortunate Son” and “Bad Moon Rising” will go down in music history.
Much like Ashe, Fogerty contracted HIV in the 1980s from a blood transfusion during what began as a routine back surgery. Despite the bleak diagnosis, Fogerty and his brother continued to grow further apart, unable to resolve the ongoing creative differences that stemmed from their time in CCR. On September 6, 1990, at 49 years old, Fogerty died from a tuberculosis infection caused by AIDS.
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