Problematic Black Firsts – Part 1

Lee Elder, who had a great career as a top professional golfer, died last month.

Tributes to Elder poured in from around the country, and deservedly so. Except for those that credited him with being an important Black “first.” Few public accolades did not mention him being the first Black golfer to play in the Masters Tournament. And any tribute, or obituary, rightfully should have mentioned that fact.

On the other hand, many honors were based on the problematic idea that Elder had done something extraordinary to warrant being the first Black golfer in the Masters. He did not. The Masters invited Elder to play in 1975, several years after they were pressured to stop preventing Blacks from participating. Since then, he has been heralded as a hero for being that first.

In 1971, White South African Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player invited Elder to come to Africa and play in the South African PGA Championship. Recently Elder has acted as if his being the first African American to play against Whites in South Africa made him a hero worthy of being Captain of the President’s Cup Team for the United States

Playing in the Masters and playing in South Africa are not worthy accomplishments to make a golf hero. Instead, they are examples of the all-too-often practice of giving the highest credit to the first Black to walk through a door after others have done the work of unlocking that door.  

Let me quickly note that I am a Lee Elder fan, but I am also a fan of real firsts among African Americans throughout our history. Therefore, my Black History Month talks include many inventions and developments by Blacks that helped make American life what it is today.

In general, I recognize most firsts; however, I reserve high honors for those Black firsts who helped make that “first” situation.

I do not wish to minimize Lee Elder. He had a long and exciting life in golf. He quit high school to caddie and play golf. As a teenager, he traveled the country as a golf partner of Titanic Thompson—the legendary gambler, golfer, pool shark, and hustler.

One scam of theirs was for young Elder to caddie for Thompson in a big-money match in some new town. After beating his opponent, Thompson would “insult” the guy by bragging that even his Black caddie could beat the man, which usually drew another big bet. Elder would win, and they would move to the next town.

Later Elder honed his game under the tutelage of the great Ted Rhodes, Joe Louis’ instructor. After a stint in the Army, where he played a lot of golf, Elder joined the United Golf Association (UGA). The UGA was organized for and by Blacks in 1926 because the PGA prohibited Black participation, except as caddies. The UGA has professional and amateur divisions.

In 1967 Elder won 19 of the 22 pro tournaments sponsored by the UGA. Although the purses were small, rarely providing more than $500 to the winner, all those wins enabled Elder to attend qualifying school for the PGA Tour.

Elder’s 1968 rookie season’s highlight was his playoff match with Jack Nicklaus in the American Golf Classic, held at the famed Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Elder took Nicklaus, the reigning superstar in golf at the time, to five thrilling holes of overtime, before losing, an event that stamped Elder’s name on the golf world.

Elder won four tournaments on the regular PGA tour and eight on the Senior Tour (for professional golfers over 50). This is admirable. Some professionals never win a PGA tournament. Also, Elder spoke out against some of the racism he encountered on golf courses around the country. He withstood death threats when he first played in the Masters.  As a precaution he rented two houses in Augusta for the week of the tournament and rotated between them to dodge anyone trying to harm him and his family.

These are the kinds of things to praise him for, not for walking through an opened door.