I have done a lot in my life and I feel like I have been successful at it. I have been a good son and brother, and an accomplished high school and college athlete. I traveled the world, got married, bought a house, started a business, wrote a book, won some awards and have done talks in front of hundreds of people. I’m proud of all the new activities I have been able to do—and I’m still not done yet!
Trying and doing new things hasn't always been easy. Getting comfortable is partly an internal process, and partly external. The internal part is making the decision to try something new. The external part involves overcoming any physical obstacles and limitations that may be present.
Learning to play golf and becoming (mostly) good at it has been a journey that started in my mid-20s. At the time I was a track coach and still competing professionally. Other than being able to long jump 27 feet, I was also a pretty good tennis and baseball player. Hitting a ball was nothing new, and so I asked myself, “How hard could it be to hit a golf ball?” Turns out it is pretty hard.
Flash forward 20+ years, add some training and practice and hitting a golf ball is still hard. I go out to play the courses all over Northeast Ohio with my golf friends. At some courses, I see a diverse group of golfers. At others, I am the only Black person onsite, which always makes me think of something my dad told me.
My dad played golf after he retired but he said that he had always wanted to play since he was a kid. He couldn’t play back then because of the immoral and discriminatory laws, and deep-seeded racism prevalent in the southern United States. Intimidation by southern whites, even after laws were passed, kept him from playing any public or private courses. Unfortunately, he didn’t grow up in Northeast Ohio because he could have played at Bill and Marcella Powell’s Clearview Golf Club, built in 1946 and now a National Historic site.
It wasn’t until January 1952 that the PGA allowed black golfers but the sport still wasn’t fully integrated. Comparing the partial integration in golf to Track and Field, it would be like allowing Black Americans to compete in the Olympic Games but never allowing them to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Finally, in 1961, Charles Sifford became the first black golfer to earn his PGA card. Decades later, Tiger Woods lit the spark for many black people to start golfing. The opportunity to see a man of color play golf on TV was inspiring to the black community, including my Dad.
As kids we normally do what we see others in our family or community doing. Sports like biking, basketball and football were common in my neighborhood. Golf, hiking, and water skiing were not. Clubs like Tiretown Golf Club, and Steph Curry’s Underrated Golf have been established to make golf a more equitable and equally represented sport.
If you’re reading this then perhaps there’s something new that you want to try, but you haven’t done it because you haven’t seen someone who looks like you participating. If you have the means to do so, be that someone. Try a new sport or hobby...like golf!
Today, when I go out to play golf, I don’t just play for myself. I play for my younger family members, some of whom have joined me at the golf range and on the course. I also play for my Dad. I take every opportunity to represent him in the places that he never had the chance to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment