By Travis Puterbaugh, World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum
On February 1, 1960, a Woolworth’s dime store in the North Carolina town of Greensboro became the focal point of a pivotal event in the Civil Rights movement. Four African-American freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State, who became known as the “Greensboro Four,” staged a sit-in at Woolworth’s to protest the store’s policy of only serving white customers at the lunch counter. After politely requesting service, they were denied but refused to leave. While their peaceful demonstration drew police intervention, the students were not arrested and returned the next day to continue their protest despite angry taunts and insults from white customers. Coupled with media attention, within days the protest had swelled to over 300 students. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of protesters in cities throughout the South, by the end of the summer Woolworth’s counters throughout the country began the process of phasing out Jim Crow laws and discrimination.
A year later in the very same city, another remnant of segregation would also fall, this time on a golf course. Dr. George Simkins, Jr., a prominent community leader, dentist, and head of the Greensboro chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), proved instrumental in garnering African-American golfer Charlie Sifford an invitation to the 1961 Greensboro Open through his connections with the tournament’s membership committee. At that time, an African-American had yet to participate in a PGA tournament in the South. Sifford’s inclusion in the tournament would not have happened without the involvement of Simkins, who had begun laying the groundwork for change in Greensboro years prior to Sifford’s entry into the tournament.
In the 1950s, Simkins won multiple lawsuits which resulted in the desegregation of local hospitals, schools, and recreation facilities such as tennis courts and golf courses. He found himself at the center of controversy in December of 1955 when he was arrested along with five other African-Americans for trespassing on a public golf course in Greensboro. Simkins and his playing partners set out to challenge the legality of Gillespie Park, a city-owned course, being able to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling prohibiting discrimination based on color. The course was leased for $1 and operated as a “members-only” or “invitation-only” course by a group of white citizens. Simkins and his playing group believed, however, that if their taxes helped fund the golf course, they should have the ability to play on it.
“We’re out here for a cause,” Simkins said to the head golf pro at Gillespie Park, “the cause of democracy.”
A federal judge eventually decided that the city of Greensboro had an obligation to protect anyone against discrimination on this and any other city-owned golf course. This began the process that slowly phased out segregation on North Carolina’s public courses. Due to the Caucasian-only clause in the bylaws of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, as a black man Sifford had not been permitted to become an official member or enter tournaments on the PGA Tour.
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Sifford turned professional in 1947 and won five United Golf Association Negro National Opens from 1952-1956, as well as the 1956 Rhode Island Open. He earned a breakthrough victory in 1957 at the Long Beach Open, an unofficial tournament co-sponsored by the PGA which included white players in the field. In 1959, Sifford qualified for his first United States Open Championship, held at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York, finishing in 32nd place. His growing success made him a natural, if reluctant, choice to break the PGA’s color barrier in the South.
“I wasn’t trying to break down barriers,” Sifford said years later. “I was just trying to make a living.”
In early April 1961 when Sifford received the call from Simkins inviting him to play in Greensboro, he thought it had to be a joke. He told Simkins he would call him back, and would confer with his wife, Rose. Sifford asked Rose if she thought it was a good idea, to which she said, “This is what you’ve worked for. You will do fine.” He says that without her blessing, he never would have gone to play in Greensboro.
“I had some problems in Greensboro,” Sifford said. “I knew what I was getting into. If I wanted to be a professional golfer, this is what I had to do.”
Chief amongst his problems was lodging. There were still few hotels in the city which would accommodate African-Americans, so Simkins helped place Sifford in a dorm room at North Carolina A&T. Although he faced no discrimination at the historically black college, the 38-year old Sifford found that he was no match for the late-night antics of the undergrads in the dorm. After two nights of restless sleep, he moved into the house of his friends George and Betty Lavett, where he would face something far worse than rowdy college kids: a telephoned death threat. Sifford calmly advised the caller to “do whatever it is that you’re going to do” and that he could be found teeing off the next morning at 10:15.
The course at Sedgefield Country Club provided little sanctuary as once there he endured racial taunts from the galleries. He did have one important ally onsite, however, in tournament chairman Mose Kiser, Jr. It was Simkins who originally reached out to Kiser regarding Sifford. Kiser followed up the request with Dugan Aycock, the president of the Carolinas PGA Section. Fortuitously for Sifford, he had once caddied for Aycock as a teenager. Aycock gave his full support and encouragement to Kiser to extend an invitation to Sifford. Despite Sedgefield’s position of not allowing black members, and aware of their reluctance to amend their policies, Kiser vowed he would not allow Sifford to feel unwelcome during the tournament.
“I told him that when you get here, I’m going to meet you out front and you and I are going to walk into the pro shop together,” Kiser said.
After the first round, Sifford not only had become the first African-American to play in a PGA tournament in the South, but even more improbably he shot a 68 in a bogey-free round and held the lead by three strokes. The following day, Sifford had to endure taunting from a large group of hecklers, who yelled at him during his backswing and shouted at him from the top of their lungs. In this hostile atmosphere, he did not hear innocuous phrases like “mashed potatoes” or “get in the hole,” which are so prevalent at tournaments today. Finally, after 14 holes of abuse, they were removed from the course by police. By the end of the day, Sifford had fallen to third place, shooting a one-over 72.
History records show that Mike Souchak won the 1961 tournament now known as the Wyndham Championship, and that Sifford notched weekend scores of 70 and 75 to finish a more-than respectable fourth place. How much better could Sifford have played, one wonders, if he had not been subjected to such cruel behavior as he tried to play such a mentally taxing game? Sifford earned his PGA TOUR card in 1961 and the Caucasian-only clause became a thing of the past by the end of the year. He did not need to win the tournament, however, to prove that he belonged not just on the TOUR, but on a golf course in the South playing alongside white golfers. Sifford would return to play in the Greensboro Open eight more times, never missing a single cut.
“I hadn’t won the tournament in Greensboro, but I felt a larger victory,” Sifford said. “I had come through my first Southern tournament with the worst kind of social pressures and discrimination around me, and I hadn’t cracked. I hadn’t quit… Under the circumstances, I had exceeded my highest hopes while at the same time facing my worst fears.”
