Golf Tournament Honorees

Golf Tournament Honorees

2004

Joseph M. Bartholomew

Previous Roots and Heritage tournament honorees have been African Americans such as Ted Rhodes, Charlie Sifford, Pete Brown and others who excelled at playing the game in spite of racial and economic barriers. Others such as George Grant, the inventor of the first wooded tee, contributed to the evolution of the game by way of creative genius and inventions. Such is the case for Joseph M. Bartholomew, player extraordinaire, architect, and entrepreneur. We are proud to tell his story.

Joseph Bartholomew was born August 1, 1881, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like many other African Americans, Bartholomew began his golfing journey at the early age of 7 as a caddie at nearby Audubon Golf Course. Through caddying, he developed a growing interest in the game and began copying the swings of those for whom he caddied. His reputation as a hard worker and one who did not make waves, landed him other positions at the exclusive club. He worked on the course maintenance crew, repaired golf clubs, and became an excellent player and reportedly once shot a 62 at Audubon. Club members recognized his playing ability and responded by backed him and arranging matches. Joe played against golfing legends such as Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, and Audubon Head Pro, Fred McLeod who won the 1908 U.S. Open.

Bartholomews talents in greens keeping became very noticeable to other wealthy club members. One such member, H.T. Cottam, extended a helping hand across racial lines and persuaded the club to send Bartholomew to New York to obtain knowledge and experience in golf course architecture. Bartholomew studied under the tutelage of architect extraordinaire, Seth Raynor and returned to New Orleans in 1922 where he began construction of Metairies new course. Many times, he would work through the night to protect his project from those who might attempt to steal his ideas. When the course was complete, the members were so impressed that they raised his salary. The payment for his work however, was limited to only monetary value and not human equality. After months of physical labor and mental anguish to see the project to fruition, he was not allowed to hit one golf ball on the course that his mind and hands had shaped.

Despite this kind of treatment, Joe remained at Metairie for a time, worked in various capacities and plotted his strategy. After a few years, he moved on to New Orleans Country Club, where he served as head greens keeper. Over the next decade he built a number of courses in Louisiana, including City Park No1, City Park No.2, and Ponchartrain Park in New Orleans. He also designed and constructed courses in Covington, Hammond, Abita, Algiers Springs and Baton Rouge, among other cities. Unfortunately, the public courses, like the city park playgrounds, were segregated. Though he built the courses, he could not play them.

Joe stopped playing competitively at age 40 and devoted his energies to building golf courses. He started a construction company and expanded his business into other areas, including landscaping. As the years went by his wealth grew, derived from successful real estate investments and diversified assets. He owned insurance and ice cream companies and gave generously to many New Orleans civic organizations. He was active in his church and contributed to educational institutions such as Dillard and Xavier University. He became the first African to be inducted into the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1972. Seven years later, Pontchartrain Park Golf Course, now integrated, was renamed in his honor.

The Lexington Swingers Golf Club is proud to honor the memory of Joseph M. Bartholomew, golfer, Architect, entrepreneur. His creative genius enabled him to create a paradox that makes us all proud. He tore down while building up. Stated another way, his pioneering excellence in designing and building golf courses at a time that most African Americans could not play on them uplifts our spirits and makes us proud. At the same time, it is one more stone removed from the negative perceptive foundation in the minds of those whod rather believe that African Americans were only caddies in the early years. Not only did we possess the strength and endurance to carry the bags of others, but also the knowledge and expertise to create the designs and blueprints for building the very courses on which they caddied.

2003

Pete Brown

Pete Brown was not the First African American to obtain a (PGA) Professional Golfers Association players card, Charlie Sifford was. But Pete Brown was the First African American to WIN a PGA event, proving that we could compete and more importantly given the chance would excel. His winning proved again that given the chance, African Americans will always excel and rise to the top. Pete Brown was born during a time of segregation and overt racism, but her never let anything stand in the way of his dreams. Fighting through a life threatening illness in 1956, and racist golf course employees. Dealing with the throngs of racist spectators, who did everything they could to distract and sway him from his appointment with destiny. Every African American who meets Pete Brown should thank him for opening the doors of opportunity.

Pete Browns initial victory was not just important to African American golfers, but more importantly to African Americans who sought to participate in the business arena. On the golf courses of America the real business relationships are formed and deals re made. Pete Browns place in history is as important although never as publicized as Jackie Robinsons. For Pete Brown, by winning, proved once and for all that we belonged no matter what was said and done. Change is slow, even to this day African Americans and other groups continue the fight to be treated equally in America. Pete Brown played on the PGA tour for seventeen years, won a second tour victory and the Andy Williams Open in San Diego, California in 1970 and numerous other non-PGA events including the National Negro Championships four times. But that first PGA victory in 1964 at the Waco Open will always be the most important, because being first is never easy. Mr. Brown is currently Head Pro at Madden Golf course in Dayton, OH and can be reached at (937) 268-0111.

2002

Joe Louis

Joe Louis, golfer. The words sound strange to those who remember Louis as simply The Champ. From 1937 to 1949, he reigned as heavyweight champion of the world. In his era, he was unquestionably the most admired and idolized athlete on the planet -- not just a sports celebrity, but an icon, a symbol of hope and pride for millions of African Americans, a symbol of strength and dignity for all.

Born to a family of Alabama sharecroppers who had migrated to Detroit, Joe Louis Barrow (he shortened his name when he started to fight) grew up in a large, close-knit, church-going family. His strength and talent were obvious from the start; his left hand, especially, was a lethal weapon. With a six-inch punch, he could lift opponents off their feet.

From the time he turned pro, Louis seemed invincible. His only loss until late in his career was to German fighter Max Schmeling -- and his trainer thought that his obsession with golf was one of the reasons for the upset. Ever since he'd been introduced to golf in 1935, Louis worked at the game with the same discipline that he brought to his fighting regimen. From the Schmeling fight on, though, his trainer put a limit to the amount of golf he could play while preparing for a bout.

Golf offered Louis an opportunity to step away from the demands of his very public life, and as his son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr., now National Director of the First Tee Foundation, says, "He just loved the game. It gave him a chance to compete and spend time with his friends. He had a wonderful sense of humor, too, and he could express it on the golf course. Outside of boxing, he had no greater passion than golf."

Louis spent hours on the practice range trying to control his powerful swing. He loved to hit the ball long, but he worked hard at the short game, too, and had surprisingly gentle hands. When he flubbed a shot, he didn't cuss or throw clubs. He'd just say, "Aw, Joseph."

Even though he often teed it up with celebrities like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra, Louis preferred to play with friends and the top black golfers of the day. In the cities he visited, he came to know which municipal courses were welcoming, and he and his entourage would show up regularly. He also liked to travel with a "personal pro," a golfer who not only gave instruction, but partnered him in money games. Some of the day's best black golfers, including Clyde Martin and Ted Rhodes, spent time on Louis's payroll.

Still, Louis was known for losing far more money than he won. But he wasn't the type to worry about nickels and dimes or, for that matter, hundreds and thousands. Early in his career, when the money was pouring in, The Champ gave it away almost as quickly as he earned it. His free-wheeling, free-spending generosity was part of his legend.

Louis became a major supporter of the United Golf Association, the black organization that ran tournaments across the country. He competed in UGA events as an amateur. In the 1940 Eastern Open, played in Washington, D.C., at Langston, the nation's first public course built expressly for black golfers, Louis teed it up -- and drew a crowd of several thousand. And in 1941, at Rackham, a public course in Detroit, he sponsored his own tournament, the Joe Louis Open. He put up the $1,000 purse, of course, but he also paid the entry fees and transportation costs for golfers who otherwise might not have been able to play. The tournament was suspended during World War II, when Louis was in uniform, but resumed after the war with a $2,000 purse.

One of Louis's ambitions was to win the most prestigious amateur title in black golf -- the amateur division of the National, or "Negro National," the centerpiece of the UGA schedule. After several attempts, Louis took the title in 1951.

By then, Louis was past his boxing prime. He'd announced repeatedly that he would concentrate on golf when he retired, but financial pressures kept him fighting until 1951. Still, he seemed to be pouring more energy into golf, and he became more outspoken about discriminatory practices in the game.

In 1952, Louis was invited to play in the San Diego Open, a PGA event, but Horton Smith, the PGA president, stepped in to remind the tournament committee that PGA by-laws prevented "non-Caucasians" from participating in officially sanctioned events.

Louis was outraged, and decided to go to San Diego and confront the tournament committee. In forcing the issue, he would make the PGA say to one of the most visible, admired, and beloved men in the country that, sorry, he couldn't play in the tournament.

The PGA recognized the crisis on its hands, and in an emergency meeting tried to work out a solution. Louis was allowed to play at San Diego -- as an exempt amateur -- though Bill Spiller, a black professional who had qualified, was not. A "Negro Golfing Committee" was formed, and over the next few weeks, this committee -- Louis, Rhodes, Spiller, and a few others -- succeeded in getting black golfers into PGA events in Tucson and Phoenix. The blacks were permitted on the course, but not in the locker rooms. The committee dissolved after the PGA requested it to determine the "morals and manners" of the black players to be eligible for PGA events

Nevertheless, Louis's leadership had opened the door. The Champ kept the pressure on, speaking to influential friends about exclusionary practices in golf. He'd put his prestige on the line -- and he had the eventual satisfaction of seeing the PGA change its policies in 1961.

Joe Louis died in 1981. By the end of his life, his money was gone and The Champ -- once such a perfect, powerful physical specimen -- was in a wheelchair. He'd waged a long and losing battle with the IRS, and his last post was as a greeter at a Las Vegas resort. Boxing had made him a public figure, honored and respected even in his decline. But much of his intimate life -- his days with friends, his best moments with his son -- was lived on the golf course, and he kept playing the game he loved most until he could no longer swing a club.

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