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>Lets not forget that AIDS was scary stuff in the early 1980s. FWIW, I understand that his son was shunned as if he too might have the disease. Sanctimonious journalists prevented a dying father protecting his son from that sort of additional hurt. If people wonder why journalists are so despised- there's an example for you.

And that is precisely why I was so angry at USA Today.

I remember reading about the story and hearing about it on sports radio when it happened in the early 1990's. I was living in Atlanta at the time and there was quite a bit of news about it. ESPN ran a story that talked about how much Ashe begged USA Today not to run the story, but that USA Today wasn't going to budge. The fact that Ashe was such a classy guy (who earned so much respect that even John McEnroe would listen to him) just makes it worse. There was nothing to be gained by USA Today running the story. It was an affront to Ashe's dignity.