EVER WONDER IF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH GOLF?

The vision of Dr. Martin Luther King is well known, and today, we celebrate 25 years since he was first (rightfully so) honored with a holiday.

In the early 70's, I was living in Guadalajara, Mexico, way before the name Lorena Ochoa was ever heard of. At the time, part of the Mexican PGA Tour included a series of tournaments called "The Raleigh Cup". I can't remember specifics, but I assure you, it was nothing like the Fed-Ex Cup now days! First prize in each event was around $4,000 U.S. Dls, and the winner of the series won another $10,000 or so, big money in Mexico at the time, but nothing you could retire with.

One of the events was played at Santa Anita CC in Guadalajara and I went to watch. Armed with a Tee Time sheet, I went to #1 to see who I would follow. Next on #1 was Steve Cain, a pro whom I knew since 1971, when we played in the Pro-Am of the 1971 Mexican Open. I decided to follow this group for a while. Paired with him was a black man by the of Charlie Sifford and a Mexican pro whom we used to call "Camaron" (I felt like a giant standing next to this 5' 4" man).  Sifford had this peaceful expression but seemed to act with a lot of confidence. When I saw him take a club out of his bag and make a few warm-up swings, I decided to watch his group.

I did not regret it. The whole group played well. Shrimp (one of the best putters I ever played with), shot the lowest round at 67. Cain and Sifford shot in the 60's also, and if I recall correctly, Sifford ended up winning the series. Afterwards, I had the chance to shake his hand and sit down to have a Coke with him and others, including "Camaron" and Ernesto Perez Acosta, a friend of mine who would win the 1976 World Cup and would be the first Mexican born professional to win the Mexican Open. Sifford fit well with everyone, and was the nicest of guys with a great sense of humor.

After that, I started looking for his name in the results of PGA Tour events, but never found it... the reason? By then, he was pretty much past his prime (he was born in 1922 and was past 50, his biggest win coming in the 1975 Sr. PGA Championship, which was not very publicized). However, even if I had looked a few years before, I wouldn't have found much, not because Siffiord couldn't play well, but because there were few tournaments that welcomed black players, as it had only been 12 years since the PGA Tour in America had lifted the "Caucasian Only" Rule. If you dig a little more in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, you will find that not everyone was happy with the rule change. As far as Siffiord, the timing for his skills, was just a little off, as he was 39, and though he could still play, he was a few years past his prime. On the positive side, by the time Dr. King delivered his famous "I Have  Dream" speech in 1963, several black golfers were already living their own dream.

When you read names like John Shippen (first black to play in the U.S. Open); Ted "Rags" Rhodes (with others, filed suit against the PGA Tour in 1948 for their "white only" policy); Ann Gregory (won 6 of 7 championships she entered and was the first black woman to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur): Pete Brown (first black to win on tour, 1964 Waco Open); Charlie Sifford,  who also won a few events, but not on the PGA Tour; Lee Elder (first black to qualify for The Masters - 1975); Calvin Peete (won 12 times in the PGA Tour, with the Players Championship -1985-, and the Tournament of Champions -1986-, being his biggest wins); Jim Dent (16 wins, including 12 senior titles); or Jim Thorpe (18 wins, including senior victories); you wonder how much more would they have won before Eldrick Tiger Woods was even born. Had it not been for these pioneers, and of course people like Dr. King, Tiger would not have been Tiger.

History is history, some of it is very ugly and sad, and you can't change what happened, nor understand it sometimes. Yes, while there is still a minority living the past (on both sides), to go forward, all we can do is live the present and learn from the past. I just can't imagine the internal fortitude these people had to have, the patience they had to build and the insults, humiliation and pain they faced (Charlie Sifford once retrieved a ball out of a cup filled with human excrement!) in order to play this great game that we proudly call "a Gentleman' Game". It seems that just like everything else, there was a time in which the definition of a "gentleman", was incomplete. 

In the end, during this Civil Rights Movement, 1961 was the greatest year ever for American Golf, as the PGA Tour's "Caucasian Only" rule was lifted, and as Dr. Martin Luther King also said, "The Time is Always Right to Do What is Right"