The stories behind Charlie Sifford breaking PGA Tour’s color barrier | Golf Central | Golf Channel [Video]

0:01 | golf Central on YouTube is brought to

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0:05 | from

0:06 | Callaway the PGA tour in Charlotte this

0:09 | week the birthplace of the late Charlie

0:11 | siford siford was the first black PGA

0:14 | Tour member in the early 1960s facing

0:17 | seemingly unsurmountable obstacles

0:19 | during the early Civil Rights era but he

0:22 | did have some help from a California

0:24 | attorney named Stanley

0:27 | mosque so Stanley said to me one day

0:30 | said Charlie said man if you play like

0:32 | this next week you going to win the

0:34 | tournament I said what tournament he

0:37 | said the PGA I said oh man ain’t going

0:39 | to let me play no

0:41 | PGA so he said

0:44 | why I said man don’t you see I’m a black

0:47 | man he said what difference did that

0:51 | make I said

0:53 | Stanley in the Constitution bylaws the

0:56 | profession of go stated only C come

0:59 | members professional gar Association he

1:02 | said oh no man I don’t believe that I

1:05 | said okay we going to play

1:08 | tomorrow so when we go back to God

1:10 | course the next day you understand I had

1:12 | it and I showed it to him so he said no

1:15 | no no no this is not going to

1:18 | happen he said will you stand by me I

1:21 | said yeah I stand by

1:23 | you Peter May spent more than four

1:26 | decades as a sports writer for the New

1:28 | York Times ESPN and the Boston Globe

1:31 | among others earlier this year he wrote

1:33 | a book about cord’s journey and the

1:36 | influence of Stanley mosque it’s called

1:38 | changing the course how Charlie sifford

1:41 | and Stanley mosque integrated the

1:45 | PGA we welcome Peter May to golf Central

1:48 | Peter thanks for being here let me ask

1:50 | you first what motivated you to write

1:52 | this story about cord and

1:55 | mosque uh partly when it was because uh

1:59 | the Caucasian and only Clause uh I felt

2:02 | had never been really seriously

2:04 | investigated as to why it was there and

2:07 | why it was so hard to

2:09 | remove and I always found that if you’re

2:12 | talking about an issue like that it’s

2:14 | always best to tell it uh through the

2:17 | stories of individuals and Charlie

2:19 | cifford uh was The prominent black

2:22 | golfer of his time who fought this and

2:25 | Stanley mosque was the Attorney General

2:27 | of California uh who threat the PGA uh

2:31 | and browbeat the PGA into eventually

2:35 | dropping the clause which he rightly

2:37 | called an obnoxious restriction in

2:40 | 1961 interesting note about this time

2:43 | period the boxer Joe Lewis was

2:46 | enormously popular in this era so much

2:48 | so that he was often invited to play

2:51 | golf at courses that were restricted as

2:53 | you put it what can you tell us about

2:55 | Lewis’s influence in setting the tone

2:58 | for the eventual Rel relxing of the

3:00 | color

3:01 | barrier well he was a he was as you

3:03 | mentioned he was enormously popular uh

3:06 | and he was a very good golfer as well so

3:09 | uh it wasn’t uh that the PGA uh

3:12 | tournaments didn’t want him for just his

3:14 | star power they wanted him because he

3:16 | was a good player but Joe Lewis also

3:19 | bankrolled a lot of the black golfers uh

3:22 | behind the scene and uh under the table

3:25 | and over the table one of those was Ted

3:27 | rhods who uh Charlie sord thought was

3:30 | the best black offer of his time but he

3:32 | never uh had the chance to do what

3:34 | Charlie did but Joe Lewis bankrolled him

3:37 | made him his personal coach and uh he

3:41 | did so with another black Pro as well so

3:44 | Joe Lewis and Billy Xin the great bat uh

3:47 | band leader and singer were the two

3:50 | prominent uh black uh celebrities of

3:53 | their time who bankrolled these golfers

3:56 | and Charlie sifford was on Billy

3:58 | Einstein’s payroll for about 10 years

3:59 | years so they were the two but Joe is

4:02 | the golfer of the Billy became a good

4:03 | golfer because Charlie taught him uh Joe

4:06 | was a terrific player as well and that

4:08 | was my next question the jazz artist

4:10 | Billy exin what other than bankrolling

4:13 | certain athletes what else did he do to

4:15 | to influence the

4:17 | change um well basically he he brought

4:20 | his band to places and you know he it

4:23 | was mainly with Charlie he he he put

4:25 | Charlie on his payroll for $150 a week

4:29 | uh and he was mindful of the fact that

4:31 | wherever he played uh south of the Mason

4:34 | Dixon line which was uh where a lot of

4:37 | the good golf was uh he couldn’t stay in

4:39 | those ballrooms where he played and

4:41 | Charlie couldn’t either so they had to

4:43 | always find places to stay or they would

4:45 | drive through the night after a show to

4:48 | another place so his Billy Einstein was

4:51 | really um he he was a supporter of what

4:54 | was known then as the ug the United

4:56 | golfers association once was the

4:58 | organization that black golfers formed

5:01 | uh because they couldn’t become members

5:03 | of the PGA and they had their own

5:04 | schedule and their own tournaments uh

5:06 | and Billy was very active uh in

5:08 | supporting that as well but individually

5:11 | it was Charlie sifford who he found and

5:14 | he kind of adopted and took him in and

5:17 | bankrolled him for 10 years I read about

5:20 | Stanley mosque in getting ready for this

5:22 | chat fascinating Story the child of

5:25 | Jewish immigrants became the AG of

5:28 | California later sat on that State’s

5:30 | Supreme Court what was his path in

5:33 | California and why did he decide to be

5:36 | such a champion for cord’s

5:38 | cause well he had a long history of

5:42 | experiencing discrimination he was the

5:45 | only Jew in a class of 400 in his high

5:47 | school uh and he was the class president

5:51 | and on graduation day he led the

5:53 | students into the auditorium and their

5:56 | gowns and robes and everything and the B

5:59 | played Onward Christian Soldiers and so

6:03 | he got a kick out of that at the time uh

6:06 | but it sort of formed him as he went

6:08 | through uh his adult life he was he went

6:12 | to law school in University of Chicago

6:14 | but then had to transfer to a another

6:16 | Law School in Southern California which

6:18 | kind of catered to the you know

6:20 | underserved Community got his law degree

6:23 | and then he went into politics and he

6:24 | became a democratic uh activist I guess

6:28 | you could say he was a uh he championed

6:30 | Democratic causes he spoke for at ACLU

6:33 | benefits and it came quite naturally to

6:36 | him because uh he was on the bench in

6:39 | 1947 when he ruled that uh racial

6:42 | covenants could not be enforced in in

6:45 | Southern California and that was a huge

6:47 | decision which uh the Supreme Court uh

6:51 | ruled on the next year and said the same

6:52 | thing that he did they you cannot

6:54 | enforce them and so he had a he had a

6:57 | real record of civil rights of champ in

6:59 | individual rights as soon as he took

7:02 | over the AG’s office he expanded it to

7:04 | include the first ever division of

7:06 | constitutional rights uh so he was on

7:09 | board and he hired a black NAACP

7:12 | attorney named Franklin Williams as his

7:14 | lead deputy and Frank Williams was a big

7:17 | part of the story uh behind the scenes

7:20 | uh fighting for Charlie cifford and for

7:23 | the end of the Caucasian only

7:25 | Clause what were some of the things that

7:27 | cord had to endure on the the golf

7:29 | course not just from fans but from

7:32 | people inside the

7:34 | sport well from people inside the sport

7:37 | he got no vocal support from any of them

7:41 | that I was able to find I mean there

7:42 | were players who uh were sympathetic to

7:46 | his cause they sat in the parking lot

7:48 | with him when he couldn’t get into the

7:50 | clubhouse to eat or change his clothes

7:53 | they were able to you know give him some

7:55 | golf balls and stuff like that but

7:58 | nobody and this is one of the real

8:00 | tragedies where nobody at that time

8:02 | raised their voice and said you know

8:05 | what this is wrong Charlie cord’s good

8:07 | enough to be playing golf in the PGA

8:09 | Tour Charlie cfer should be playing golf

8:11 | on the PGA tour and the only reason he

8:13 | can’t is because of the color of his

8:15 | skin and that’s just wrong and nobody

8:17 | said that nobody said that and that’s

8:20 | that’s one of the real tragedies because

8:21 | he got very very little support amongst

8:25 | his fellow Pros uh outside outside there

8:29 | you know he was getting help from Jackie

8:32 | Robinson and Joe Lewis and Walter winell

8:35 | and eventually Stanley mosque but from

8:37 | within very little support amongst his

8:40 | fellow pros and that’s that’s really

8:42 | disappointing you know I’m reminded of

8:44 | the story of Peewee Reese and Jackie

8:46 | Robinson and and Reese allegedly it’s

8:49 | kind of disputed putting his arm around

8:51 | Robinson to show a public display and

8:53 | cord was a part of a broader civil

8:56 | rights struggle where the nation was

8:58 | forced to confront its history of racial

9:01 | Injustice in sports cord broke the color

9:04 | barrier in golf 14 years after Robinson

9:07 | did in baseball what do you think took

9:09 | so long for that change to occur in

9:12 | golf well I think golf was a the

9:15 | predominantly white sport uh still is as

9:18 | we you know as we see um every week on

9:21 | the PGA tour um so I think that was part

9:23 | of the problem for him uh but also it

9:27 | just that there was no uh

9:30 | there was no recourse for him there was

9:32 | no Avenue for him

9:33 | he he came from a a the ug was not like

9:37 | the Negro Leagues in baseball there

9:38 | weren’t 25 guys in the ug good enough

9:42 | and ready enough to become professional

9:43 | golfers in the PGA Tour if in fact it

9:46 | was uh if they were able to do so but

9:49 | mostly it was because golf codified it

9:53 | baseball didn’t football didn’t no sport

9:55 | other than golf actually codified racial

9:58 | discrimination in their bylaws and

10:01 | that’s what took so long and I think

10:05 | we’re a little bit naive to think it

10:07 | would have happened when it did if not

10:09 | for Stanley mosque because in 1960 the

10:13 | PGA affirmed the Caucasian only Clause

10:17 | at its annual convention by a 4:1 margin

10:19 | so it wasn’t inevitable that it was

10:21 | going to drop it would have at some

10:23 | point I I’m sure of that but it wasn’t

10:25 | inevitable that it was going to go away

10:27 | when it did and the only reason it went

10:29 | away way when it did is because Stanley

10:30 | mosque uh brought down the hammer and

10:33 | the power of the California AG’s office

10:36 | it is relatively easy to compare Jackie

10:38 | Robinson and Charlie sifford but my

10:41 | understanding is that sifford didn’t

10:43 | always like that comparison why was that

10:46 | there were a lot of reasons he didn’t

10:48 | like that comparison one of the reasons

10:49 | was what we just talked about was that

10:52 | there was no influx of black golfers

10:55 | that came in after him there were a

10:56 | couple there was Pete Brown uh who won

10:58 | the 64 go Turner open the first black to

11:01 | win a PGA Tour event official PGA Tour

11:03 | event uh but there were he didn’t us he

11:06 | didn’t there were no floodgates to be

11:08 | opened and he he was by himself he

11:10 | didn’t have teammates he didn’t have

11:12 | Peewee Reese to throw his arm around him

11:13 | and say Hey you know we’re good he

11:16 | didn’t have uh you know anybody but him

11:19 | out there it was him against the world

11:22 | he didn’t have Branch Ricky supporting

11:23 | him he there was none of that so he had

11:26 | to do it on his own and

11:29 | back in 19 you know late 50s that was

11:31 | not an easy thing to do for a black

11:34 | golfer because then there were there

11:35 | just weren’t many of them and it is true

11:38 | that there was not a wave of players

11:41 | that followed him as followed Jackie

11:43 | Robinson but interestingly arguably the

11:46 | most significant golfer in the history

11:48 | of the game was significantly influenced

11:51 | by Charlie cfer talk about that well

11:54 | obviously you know Tiger has uh embraced

11:57 | Charlie cfer uh

12:00 | a lot first he he named his son Charlie

12:03 | after Charlie cord uh he has said that

12:05 | there doesn’t deserve to be a World Golf

12:07 | Hall of Fame if Charlie cf’s not a

12:09 | member Charlie CF was inducted uh he was

12:13 | the first black player to be first black

12:14 | to be inducted into the Hall of Fame

12:16 | tiger was uh came after him and tiger

12:19 | credits credits Charlie and Charlie’s

12:21 | perseverance and and Charley’s enduring

12:24 | all the things he endured to get to

12:26 | where he got to which enabled Tiger’s

12:29 | father maybe to play and if Tiger’s

12:31 | father didn’t play Then tiger probably

12:33 | would never have picked up the game and

12:35 | so tiger sort of traces his you know

12:37 | golf lineage to Charlie cfer and the

12:39 | battles that Charlie fought just to be

12:42 | able to play on a tour in doing the

12:44 | research for the book what were some of

12:46 | the most surprising or interesting

12:49 | things that you

12:50 | learned well I learned a awful lot about

12:53 | Stanley BOS and his life because I

12:57 | really didn’t know that much about him

12:59 | when we started out I I didn’t realize

13:01 | he had the career he had I mean it was

13:03 | on he’s been on the California he was on

13:05 | the California Supreme Court for 37

13:08 | years I also learned that he you know he

13:11 | had a little bit of a diance uh with

13:13 | another woman who was not his wife and

13:16 | you know that might have cost him a US

13:18 | senate seat and who knows what would

13:19 | have happened because he probably would

13:21 | have won the senate race in

13:22 | 1964 then he might not have gone to the

13:24 | court we don’t know what happened that’s

13:27 | one of the great big ifs and I just I

13:29 | just couldn’t help but think if it as I

13:31 | mentioned earlier as I I was reading

13:34 | about Charlie playing in these

13:36 | tournaments and how he would start the

13:38 | year he’d play in the LA open the LA

13:40 | open was a great tournament allowed

13:42 | everybody to play they didn’t care and

13:45 | then his schedule would just go away I

13:47 | mean he couldn’t play for three or four

13:50 | months when the tournament went South

13:52 | and I’m thinking how do you how do you

13:55 | make a living that way and this is where

13:56 | Billy Xin came in and where Joe came in

13:59 | and they they kept supporting them and

14:01 | they kept paying their way if if they

14:03 | could get into a tournament and and they

14:06 | could get into some tournaments in the

14:07 | north there it wasn’t a complete Black

14:09 | Ball but he couldn’t become a member and

14:13 | the way you got to be a PGA member in

14:15 | those days was that you worked in a pro

14:16 | shop for five years and then you applied

14:18 | for membership and you got it and blacks

14:22 | couldn’t even do that uh so there was

14:24 | really no path for Charlie cfer or Ted

14:27 | rhods or Bill Spiller any of the uh good

14:30 | black golfers of that time to get into

14:33 | the PGA they just they were completely

14:36 | shut

14:37 | off the book is called changing the

14:39 | course how Charlie sifford and Stanley

14:41 | mosque integrated the PGA Peter May

14:44 | thanks for the

14:45 | time thank you we appreciate it

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The stories behind Charlie Sifford breaking PGA Tour’s color barrier | Golf Central | Golf Channel [Video]

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