from Florida Realtor Magazine, December 2007 | page 50

Hometown Hero

Serving Up Encouragement

MaliVai Washington was a young boy learning how to play tennis when the late Arthur Ashe was winning his Grand Slam titles. Little did he know that in 1996 he would follow in Ashe’s footsteps to become the next African-American to reach the men’s singles Wimbledon finals.

During his playing career, Washington beat out some of the game’s biggest stars and was even ranked No. 2 player in the world for a time. While attending the University
of Michigan he was ranked the No. 1 college player in the country, and in 1996 he made the U.S. Olympic Team.

Washington, broker-owner of Washington Properties LLC in Ponte Vedra Beach, says he is honored by the comparisons to other great players­—especially Arthur Ashe because he was such a benevolent person “who knew his main purpose wasn’t how to hit a tennis ball over the net.” 

In fact, the parallels between the two men transcend the tennis court. Like his predecessor, Washington is also a humanitarian. His father, William, taught underprivileged children how to play tennis when he was the assistant dean at the State University of New York. And Washington did the same in 1994, when he established the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation, which promotes academic achievement and positive life skills to disadvantaged youth in Jacksonville through the game of tennis.

The free program provides three hours daily of academic tutoring, community service work and character development, using tennis as a reward.

For his contributions to improving the quality of life in his community, Washington was recently awarded an honorable mention in the 2007 National Association of Realtors® Good Neighbor Awards.