RIP: Charlie Sifford

[VAUConnFan]

Among my many heroes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/charlie-sifford-dead-black-pga-tour-member_n_6610526.html

 

[Waquoit]

He won the GHO and they still didn't let him in the Masters.

 

[ChicagoGG]

So glad he got the Medal of Freedom from the President last year.

 

[Zeeman007]

Among my many heroes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/charlie-sifford-dead-black-pga-tour-member_n_6610526.html

I was only like 8 when our neighbors went to the GHO and brought me. What does a Windsor Locks 8 year old know about golf? NOTHING Still it was a great experience, and we actually got to see him play. Only years later did I get the significance of his play and victory that weekend.

Thanks for noting the passing of CS

z

 

[MilfordHusky]

Charlie was a pioneer. RIP!

 

[Blakeon18]

Charlie was the Jackie Robinson of golf.
BTW: when he was not allowed to play the PGA tour he did play a variety of small events....one being
in Tupper Lake NY....an event still held each summer. I caddied there for several summers back in the day...
7 days a week....7:00 AM till dark every day...just loved it. Never saw Charlie there for those years but later one of the
African Americans he inspired won the event...Lee Elder. Lee was the first African American to play in the Masters in 1974...
an historic event in golf's history.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Sifford's book "Just Let Me Play" is a good read. I don't know if it is still in print.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Sifford's book "Just Let Me Play" is a good read. I don't know if it is still in print.

There are two copies listed on amazon.com, however the public library system will be thoroughly searched if I am ever to read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Just-Let-Me-Play-Charlie/dp/094516744X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423149347&sr=1-1&keywords=charlie sifford

 

[mrmojack]

Saw Charlie play at the GHO when it was at Wetherfield CC. I always enjoyed
watching him compete. RIP

 

[VAUConnFan]

Charlie was the Jackie Robinson of golf.
BTW: when he was not allowed to play the PGA tour he did play a variety of small events....one being
in Tupper Lake NY....an event still held each summer. I caddied there for several summers back in the day...
7 days a week....7:00 AM till dark every day...just loved it. Never saw Charlie there for those years but later one of the
African Americans he inspired won the event...Lee Elder. Lee was the first African American to play in the Masters in 1974...
an historic event in golf's history.

Sifford's book "Just Let Me Play" is a good read. I don't know if it is still in print.

Just Let Me Play, as vtcwbuff says, is, indeed, a very good read. The indignities Mr Sifford endured is unfathomable.

In the book, there is an entire chapter devoted to him being called the "Jackie Robinson of Golf", a depiction to which Mr. Sifford took great exception;

I'm a little disgusted by the comparison at this point in my life...
After the fact of us both being the first blacks in our sport....the games of baseball and golf themselves have turned out so differently that in racial terms, they are nearly polar opposites.
[Some newspaper writer who passes me off with the simple catchphrase as the Jackie Robinson of golf] is not only missing the real story of what is going on in golf, but he's suggesting that the doors to blacks have been opened as effectively in golf as they have in major league baseball
If I was the Jackie Robinson of golf, I sure didn't do a very good job of it.

 

[Blakeon18]

That nickname has always been intended as a huge compliment to Sifford. I understand his point
but to be 'a little disgusted' by it strikes me as...at best...an odd reaction.