Lefty athletes and the baseball players union (was: Another Famous

Michael Hoover hoov at freenet.tlh.fl.us
Mon Jul 19 07:33:04 PDT 1999



> Lee Elder should be noted with golf.
> mc

before Lee Elder, who was first black golfer to play that bastion of bigotry and racism, the Masters (apropos name) in 1975, there was Charley Sifford, the first black golfer on the PGA tour...PGA had a whites-only clause until 1960 and because of this discrimination, Sifford was already 38 when he was allowed to played the tour... Sifford's first tourney was Greensboro Open in NC where he was followed during his rounds by KKKers and he still finished 4th... during his first years on the PGA tour, CS had to deal with death threats, having shit (literally) thrown at him, spectators kicking his golf balls out of bounds, ransacked motel rooms, and having to eat meals in locker rooms while white players ate in dining rooms at racist country clubs...Sifford became first black golfer to win a PGA event in 1967 when he won the Hartford (NJ) Open and he won a second tourney in 1969...he wrote a book entitled _Just Let Me Play_ a few years ago... Michael Hoover



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