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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that proves it's never too late to right

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Speaker 1: the wrongs of history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about the day when one of the last

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Speaker 1: color barriers in American sports was finally broken. The day

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Speaker 1: was November nine, nineteen sixty one, the Professional Golfers Association

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Speaker 1: of America ended its long standing ban on non white members.

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Speaker 1: As one of the world's largest sports organizations, the p

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Speaker 1: g A of America held a lot of sway in

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Speaker 1: professional golf, just as it does today. Without a membership,

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Speaker 1: players weren't allowed to compete in the p GA's exclusive events,

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Speaker 1: which happened to be some of golf's biggest and most

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Speaker 1: prestigious competition assians. By denying membership to everyone except white players,

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Speaker 1: the p g A stunted the careers of countless athletes

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Speaker 1: of color and damaged the sports reputation for decades to come.

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Speaker 1: The p g a's exclusionary rule had been written into

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Speaker 1: its constitution in nineteen forty three, nearly three decades after

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Speaker 1: the organization's founding. It took the form of a single

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Speaker 1: clause added to the eligibility terms for membership, which then

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Speaker 1: read as follows. Professional golfers of the Caucasian race over

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Speaker 1: the age of eighteen years, residing in North or South America,

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Speaker 1: and who have served at least four or five years

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Speaker 1: in the profession shall be eligible for membership. The first

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Speaker 1: significant challenge to the ban came five years later in

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Speaker 1: ninety eight. At the time, only three professional golf tournaments

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Speaker 1: allowed minorities to participate, the l A Open, the Canadian Open,

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Speaker 1: and the tam O Shanter, All American. None of those

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Speaker 1: events were officially sanctioned by the p g A, but

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Speaker 1: in the case of the l A Open, the top

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Speaker 1: sixty players would automatically qualify to play in the Richmond Open,

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Speaker 1: which was a p g A event. In ninety eight,

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Speaker 1: two African American golfers met that qualifying threshold. Bill Spiller

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Speaker 1: finished thirty fourth in the l A Open and Ted

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Speaker 1: Rhodes finished twenty one, But when the men tried to

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Speaker 1: claim their rightful spots at the Richmond Open, the p

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Speaker 1: g A barred them from playing because they weren't members.

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Speaker 1: They would have gladly joined, of course, but because of

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Speaker 1: the organization's racist policy, they weren't allowed to. At that point,

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Speaker 1: Spiller and Rhodes hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit

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Speaker 1: against the p g A of America. They alleged that

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Speaker 1: the organization had violated labor laws by preventing the black

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Speaker 1: players from earning a living. P g A President Horton

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Speaker 1: Smith later convinced the pair to drop the lawsuit. In exchange,

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Speaker 1: he promised to eventually change the Caucasians only clause, and

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Speaker 1: in the meantime he would allow minorities to compete in

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Speaker 1: events designated as opens. However, as you probably guessed, Smith

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Speaker 1: didn't hold up his end of the deal. The exclusionary

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Speaker 1: clause remained in the p g A constitution, and while

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Speaker 1: he didn't ban black players from open tournaments, he did

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Speaker 1: encourage sponsors to rebrand the events as open invitationals and

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Speaker 1: then to only invite white golfers to play. Thankfully, the

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Speaker 1: organizers of the San Diego Open either missed that memo

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Speaker 1: or disregarded it on purpose. In ninety two, the first

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Speaker 1: year that tournament was held, Bill Spiller and Ted Rhodes

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Speaker 1: were both invited to play. They were joined by another

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Speaker 1: talented black golfer recently retired heavyweight boxer Joe Lewis. He

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Speaker 1: had also been invited to this San Diego Open, not

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Speaker 1: as a qualifying participant like Spiller and Rhodes, but as

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Speaker 1: an amateur exempted by the sponsor. However, when the p

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Speaker 1: g A heard about these invitations, Horton Smith stepped in

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Speaker 1: and blocked all three men from taking part in the tournament.

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Speaker 1: That move sparked the second significant challenge to the PGA's

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Speaker 1: racial band. Joe Lewis went straight to the press and

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Speaker 1: used his clout as a former heavyweight champion to spread

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Speaker 1: the story far and wide. The resulting public outcry led

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Speaker 1: the PGA to relent ever so slightly. While Spiller and

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Speaker 1: Rhodes were still barred from playing in San Diego, Joe

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Speaker 1: Lewis was allowed to participate as an amateur player, making

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Speaker 1: him the first African American golfer to take part in

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Speaker 1: a p g A sponsored event. Lewis made the most

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Speaker 1: of his time in the spotlight, using the event as

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Speaker 1: a chance to denounce what he described as the racial

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Speaker 1: prejudices of golf, the last sport in which they will exist.

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Speaker 1: In addition to letting Louis play the tournament, the PGA

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Speaker 1: tried to appease the public by announcing a change to

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Speaker 1: its guidelines. While black golfers would remain ineligible for PGA membership,

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Speaker 1: they could compete in its tournaments if they were invited

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Speaker 1: by a sponsor and approved by the host club. That

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Speaker 1: proved to be yet another toothless change, as both of

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Speaker 1: those conditions were rarely met. That said, some black golfers,

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Speaker 1: including Ted Rhodes, Charlie Sifford, and a few others, were

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Speaker 1: invited to a handful of PGA tournaments each year after that.

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Speaker 1: As for Bill Spiller, the injustice he endured eventually soured

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Speaker 1: his view of professional play, and he began working as

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Speaker 1: a caddy at the Hillcrest Country Club in California. It

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Speaker 1: was in that capacity that Spiller met acclaimed political writer

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Speaker 1: Harry Braverman in nineteen sixty. Braverman couldn't believe that someone

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Speaker 1: with as much talent and skill as Spiller had been

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Speaker 1: reduced to carrying clubs for amateur players like himself. He

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Speaker 1: urged Spiller to contact California Attorney General Stanley Mosque and

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Speaker 1: bring him up to speed on the PGA's discriminatory practices.

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Speaker 1: Spiller took that advice, and Mosque responded by telling the

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Speaker 1: p g A it could no longer host events on

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Speaker 1: California's public golf courses until it repealed its whites only policy.

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Speaker 1: Attorney General Mosque didn't stop there either. He encouraged other

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Speaker 1: states to enact similar bands and began trying to get

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Speaker 1: the p g A kicked out of California's private golf

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Speaker 1: courses as well. One year later, the PGA of America

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Speaker 1: finally bowed to the mounting public pressure and looming boycotts.

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Speaker 1: At his annual meeting on November nine one, the Caucasian

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Speaker 1: race clause was officially removed from the group's constitution. Not

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Speaker 1: long after, Charlie Sifford became the first black member of

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Speaker 1: the p g A of America and the first black

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Speaker 1: player to compete in the PGA Tour as a professional. Then,

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Speaker 1: just three years later, Pete Brown became the first African

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Speaker 1: American golfer to win a PGA Tour event. Those pioneering

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Speaker 1: players and others like them continued to face abuse and

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Speaker 1: intimidation and many of the towns where they played, but

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Speaker 1: they played just the same. Their determination ensured that future

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Speaker 1: minority golfers would have an easier time breaking into the sport,

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Speaker 1: including Tiger Woods, who many now consider the greatest golfer

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Speaker 1: in modern history. But for older players like Bill Spiller

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Speaker 1: and Ted Rhodes, the wheels of progress turned too slowly

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Speaker 1: and neither got to join the p g A in

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Speaker 1: their lifetime. However, in two thousand nine, a contrite and

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Speaker 1: much more welcoming PGA of America granted posthumous membership to

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Speaker 1: both men, as well as honorary member status to Joe Lewis.

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Speaker 1: It was a bitter sweet gesture, one long overdue. I'm

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Speaker 1: gave Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you have

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Speaker 1: a second and you're so inclined, consider keeping up with

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Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find us

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Speaker 1: at t d I HC Show, and if you have

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Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions you'd like to share, you can

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Speaker 1: reach me directly by writing to this Day at I

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing

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Speaker 1: the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see you

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Speaker 1: back here again tomorrow for another Day in History Class