During a period of time when the negative side of race
relations is dominating the headlines, it is nice to note a positive bit of
news on that front. On November 24,
2014, eighteen civilians, including World Golf Hall of Famer Charlie Sifford,
received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. To those of you who may not be entirely
familiar with Mr. Sifford, here is his bio produced by the White House for the
ceremony:
Charles Sifford
Charles Sifford was a professional golfer who helped to
desegregate the Professional Golfers’ Association, despite harassment and death
threats. He started his life on the links as a caddy, and though he was
formally excluded from the PGA for much of his career because of the color of
his skin, he won six National Negro Opens. In 1960, he won his challenge over
the PGA’s “Caucasian only” membership policy. He went on to win official PGA
events and the PGA Seniors’ Championship. He was inducted in the World Golf
Hall of Fame in 2004 and received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the
University of St. Andrews in 2006.
Golf's Jackie Robinson |
(The official PGA events won by
Sifford were the 1967 Greater Hartford Open Invitational and the 1969 Los
Angeles Open, as well as the 1975 PGA Seniors' Championship and the 1980
Suntree Classic on what is now the Champions Tour.) Sifford was the only sports figure to receive
the award in this year’s ceremony.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom
is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made
especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of
the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public
or private endeavors. Prior to Sifford,
only two golfers, Arnold Palmer in 2004 and Jack Nicklaus in 2005, had been
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
At the end of the ceremony, the
President described the gifts that these extraordinary individuals have given
to the American people:
"We thank all of them for the gifts they’ve given to us, the
incredible performances, the incredible innovation, the incredible ideas, and
the incredible expressions of the human spirit. And not only have they made the
world better, but by following their example, they make us a little bit better
every single day."
Now,
the cynical among you might be thinking, “ “It must have been extremely difficult for him,
but thank goodness Charlie Sifford broke
the color barrier like Jackie Robinson did in baseball to open the way for today’s African-American pro
golfers like Tiger Woods, and, uh, and…”
The fact that the number of African-American golfers who currently own a
tour card is less than the number of wedges carried in most pros’ bags offers a
depressing commentary on the status of golf in America in 2014. According to this amazing article by Michael
Bamberger in Golf.com, entitled “Where Are all The Black Golfers?”,
“ At the 2012
PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship, the winning squads from the men's
and women's draws (Texas Pan-American and Bethune-Cookman, respectively) didn't
have a single black golfer on their rosters.” (!!!)
Perhaps
even more striking, the 2014 U.S. Open, America’s national golf championship, did
not have a single African-American participant.
The provenance of the de facto segregation in the
sport is largely economic, as it is the country clubs, they of the expensive membership
fees and not the publinx, that produce almost all the college golfers who
eventually end up on tour. But the dearth of black golf pros was not the case
after Sifford broke the color line in 1960.
In the mid-1980s, Calvin Peete and Jim Thorpe combined for 15 tour wins.
Black pioneers such as Pete Brown, Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder preceded them,
each enjoying success. In 1964, Pete
Brown became the first African-American player to win a PGA-sanctioned event,
the Waco Turner Open. He also won the 1970 Andy Williams San Diego
Invitational. In 1975, Lee Elder became the first
African-American to play in the Masters. He missed the cut, but went on to win
four times on the PGA Tour and eight times on the Champions Tour. He was also the first African-American to play
in the Ryder Cup in (1979).
In
1979, Calvin Peete won the 1979 Greater Milwaukee Open, the first of his 12
career PGA Tour victories. Peete was the most prolific African-American winner
until Tiger Woods. Other notable
African-American pros were Jim Dent (he won 12 Senior/Champions Tour
tournaments between 1989 and 1998).
tournaments between 1989 and 1998).
Thank You, Charlie |
It was the rise of the golf cart hegemony and the death of the caddie in golf that ended opportunities for black folk like Sifford to learn the game. Almost all of the aforementioned golfers learned their trade by caddying. Now that caddies have gone the way of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus to its friends), opportunities to learn the game no longer exist for those that cannot afford the membership fees at country clubs or the greens fees at tony daily-fee courses. So the Tour remains for the most part lily-white, and the promise of increased numbers of minority golfers offered by the early success of Tiger Woods remains a pipe dream.
AMDGTM
© 2012-14 R.E. Kelly
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