In the days when the PGA of America had a “caucasians-only” rule on the books and African Americans were not welcome at most golf courses, black golfers in America found their own ways to make a living from the game they loved.
They started the United Golf Association, golf’s equivalent of baseball’s Negro Leagues. They taught prominent black entertainers the game. They played high-stakes money games. They built and operated their own courses
On Wednesday night, our young men, their families, and Foundation supporters heard the stories of these pioneering black golfers at our Black History Month movie night. We screened two films at The Bridge Golf Learning Center — Uneven Fairways: The Story of the Negro Leagues of Golf and Bill Powell: More Than a Game. Then Richard Bronstein, a Foundation board member and attorney at Paul, Weis, and Jonathon Kahn, a professor of religion at Vassar and member of our advisory board, led a discussion on the legal and ethical aspects of golf’s segregated past.
Executive Director Farrell Evans introduced the movies on Wednesday night.
Samuel L. Jackson narrated Uneven Fairways.
Calvin Peete was a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Charlie Sifford, the first black player in a PGA Tour event.
Tiger Woods once said of Sifford: “Charlie, in my opinion, is one of the most courageous men ever to play this sport.”
Jonathon Kahn, left, a professor at Vassar, and Richard Bronstein, an attorney, led the discussion after the films.