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lyuicii iciot lUdiLii. uia ?-l*-70. Cln« R Blind Bogeybest finish sincie Coral was MI,M'HwsH|p3 DAVE LEWISDiscriminationThe civil rights demonstration during the PGA Championship in Dayton last week, in our opinion, was ill-advised and, from our understanding, accomplished little.We don’t understand the logic behind protests and demonstrations directed at sports events. Professional sports in particular have done more for integration and civil rights than any other medium.Owners of sports teams hroke the color harriers for their athletes in many areas, including hotels, restaurants, night clubs and theaters. Black and white roommates in professional sporls are no I uncommon today,. Golf has lagged behind the others, however. 'The No. 1 case of discrimination this year was the failure of sponsors and directors of the Masters Tournament at' Augusta, Ga., to invite Negro Charlie Sifford to play in the event.Tournament officials at the National Golf Club in Augusta have been condemned by many for slighting Sifford, who became - the first Negro golfer to win a PGA event when he captured the 1957 Long Beach Open at the Lakewood Country Club.Sifford has since won the Hartford and L.A, Opens, Charlie opened the 1969 PCA season by defeating South Africa's Harold Henning in a playoff for the L.A. Open, a victory which would have normally meant an invitation to Augusts.The Masters is to Sifford what all country clubs were to professional golfers 40 and 50 years ago, Then, a pro golfer was not allowed, in. the clubhouse of a country club. A pro golfer’s status was equal to that of a caddy.It was Walter Hagen, a brash youngster from Detroit, who came along to revolutionize the game.Walter would walk in the front door — usually with his cleats on to deliberately mark up the hardwood floor - - dump his ciubs in the locker room and if there were any objections, make it plain he either used the clubhouse or we wouldn’t be in any blankely-blankety tournament,Hagen was the golfer who shocked British royalty by calling the Duke of Windsor “Charlie.” That was the start of the climb to prominence of the pro golfers, who .'now are playing partners and personal friends of presidents and the heads of stale.The iate Teddy Rhodes, who died in May, was the Negro who paved the way for the black golfer like Sif-foni, Curtis Sifford, Loe Elder and Pete Brown.Following World War:II, Rhodes and two other black golfers who had developed fine games on public courses, tried to enter several Southern California PGA tournaments.At the time, PGA events were listed as “opens.” Anyone eligible to play could, if they could make the field through qualifying rounds.When Teddy and Ids friends managed to get into a few tournaments, the PGA, concerned about losing many of the lucrative Southern stops on the tour, came up with an idea.The PGA contracts suddenly with sponsors suddenly began using the title “Invitational Opens”. In this manner,the PGA was able to control the entry list. /The decisive battle by black golfers against the PGA started prior to the 1949 Long Beach Open. Joe Louis, then heavyweight boxing champion, took up the cudgel for Rhodes, his playing partner in private matches, and others.Through a mutuel friend, Joe's booking agent Harry Rubin, Joe contacted me about the problem. We spent an afternoon discussing the advisability of making an issue of Rhodes’ entry not being accepted by the PGA for the local event.Joe was determined and an advisor finally drafted an official statement for Joe because whenever Joe got excited, he would begin to stutter.When the statement appeared in my column, the wire services picked it up and it became a nationwide issue.Months later, after concluding the Southern part of the tour, the PGA opened its membership to blacks.Why did Louis take up the battle? For two reasons.First, Joe has always been a vigorous champion of civil rights. Joe has always advocated equal rights for his race.Secondly, Rhodes had sayed Jpe hundreds of thousands of dollars.Many of Joe’s financial problems stemmed from golf. The Brown Bomber, one of the most graceful, deadly fighters we have ever seen, was a good golfer, able to shoot in the high 70s on a good day.But he was a repeated target for virtually every notorious hustler in the country. At one stretch, Joe was losing $75,000 a day to hustlers.Louis’ losses on the golf course grew to such an alarming proportion his manager, at the suggestion of fight pro motor Mike Jacobs, hired Rhodes to be his partner, in hest-ball matches in. order to help Joe.Rhodes, who was the leading black golfer at that time, quickly put a stop to the hustling of Louis’ funds and Joe was forever grateful.
Newspaper Details
Independent Press Telegram
Long Beach, California, US
Sun, Aug 24, 1969
Page 96
Full Page
Clipped by
Debra B.
USA 05 Apr 2020
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