In September 2013, the late, great Calvin Peete was the featured guest speaker for the Alabama A&M University Alumni Homecoming Golf Tournament banquet, and he served as Grand Marshal for the A&M homecoming parade. Because of my experience in the golf industry, Dr. Taylor Byrd, Alabama A&M Tournament Alumni Director, asked me to join him at the airport to welcome Calvin Peete to Huntsville, Alabama.
I can remember greeting and meeting Mr. Peete at the Huntsville International Airport. Surprisingly, he was a somewhat small man in stature. From watching him play golf on T.V., and enjoying his great success, i.e. beating the other golfers, making the Ryder Cup team twice, along with other accomplishments, I imagined him to be a physically big person. During and after my personal experience with Calvin (he insisted I call him Calvin), he was actually a bigger person in spirit than anyone can imagine.
Photo: (L-R) Howard Bankhead, founder of Youth Golf Development, the late, great Calvin Peete.
I remember Calvin sharing a story at the banquet. He said, “Being in the golfing environment, I met people that helped me achieve things that, as a youth, I never thought would happen”. His talk at the banquet was captivating, but the words that caught my ears the most is when Calvin said: “Just being in the golfing environment enabled him to meet people that helped him to be successful on, and off,the golf course”. In my quest to introduce youth to the game and intrinsic values of golf, I emphasize the benefits of JUST BEING in the golfing environment.
Calvin Peete’s success was inspirational to many people because he overcame obstacles which included: physical limitations; the lack of resources needed to play the highest level in golf; And the biggest obstacle, that of being a black man in a white (sport) world that did not want black people in their sport. Actually these obstacles were not Calvin’s, but the people who didn’t think he would succeed in the wonderful world of golf!
At that period of time, the world in general–and especially the golf world–a black man was not afforded the opportunities to be all he could be.
Additionally, the system fought against a black person having access to the offerings that the world of golf offered. However, it is obvious now that Calvin’s positive energy overcame all of those negative forces.
Photo: (L-R) The late, great Calvin Peete and Dr. Taylor Byrd, Alabama A&M Golf Tournament Director
Calvin Peete also shared with me that before The First Tee program was created (1998), he always talked with his good friend Deane Beman about creating some type of program for underserved youth to have access to golf.
Deane Beman the former PGA Tour commissioner was once called the Most Powerful Person in Golf, transformed the Tour into the success story it is today.
Calvin Peete’s visit to Alabama A & M University is a prime action of “Giving Back”!
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“Anything positive is possible”
Howard Bankhead
Executive Director
Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development
604 Jordan Lane
Huntsville, AL 35816 USA
256-604-8172
