January 5, 1925 – November 4, 2019
BY AAGD STAFF
December 11, 2019 — A celebration of the life of former professional golfer Alton Duhon will be held on December 15, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Chester Washington Golf Course, 1818 Charlie Sifford Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90047. Friends are expected to gather to share their memories and history on how Duhon affected their lives and their game.
Alton Duhon was born on January 5, 1925, in Lafayette, Louisiana (some say with a golf club in his hand). Contrary to that, it was not until 1953 that Alton discovered the all-consuming passion of his life: GOLF! By 1954, Alton was playing and competing in Championship flights throughout Southern and Northern California. Liked and respected by all who met and played with him, there were many who wished they could get a refund on their entry fees after hearing that, “Duhon is playing.”
It’s said that on one particular weekend Duhon realized there was money to be made with his golfing skills. The year was 1950 when he decided he’d go play golf at his local public golf course. “This guy jumped on my back,” he remembers. “He said, ‘Come on, let’s bet.’ I didn’t know what betting was. I said ‘OK ‘ — I thought you had to say ‘OK,'” Duhon told American Public Media in an interview.
Over the next six months, Duhon’s back yard of his South Los Angeles home became his make-shift practice facility. There, he would focus on hitting, chipping balls over his automobile and even launch a few, over 200 yards away, into the schoolyard with shots over his neighbor’s home. When Duhon’s game confidence was ready, he went back out to the golf course. “And beat that guy out of my $25.”
After that, Duhon was truly hooked on this game.
“Golf is just like taking dope,” he says. “A guy falls in love with it so much it’s something you can’t get away from.”
It’s an amazing effort that Duhon became involved in the sport. Having been raised during the era of Depression, in the segregated city of Beaumont, Texas, Duhon says, “My family was so poor we used to put cardboard in our shoes. People gave them to us so they were always too big. I had to walk on my heels from my house to the paved street just not to walk in the water.”
The Duhon family household struggled tremendously, especially after his father was blackballed from the local oil refinery for unionizing. This is when young Alton started hustling to help his family. At only 7-years-old, after a local Baptist church reframed from giving the family bread (the Duhon’s were Catholic) young Alton got his dog, “Black Beauty” involved. “My dog came in with me (to the church) and they tried to take that bread away from me,” he told WeekendAmerica.com “That dog raised all kind of hell. So I took the bread and went home with it.”
10 years later (1960) after Alton placed his first bet on a golf course, there still were not any African Americans players on the PGA Tour. And, there would not be any playing on the Tour for another year. Charlie Sifford finally broke the color barrier in 1960. During 1960 Duhon was earning $105 a week as an employee at a plastics factory, but nearly earning that much in just one day wagering on the golf course.
After the plastics company was sold later that year, Duhon decided that it was better for him to turn to hustling on the golf course fulltime, instead of working another job. “I just said ‘I’ll play golf,'” he says. “I knew I could win at least $150-200 a week.”
Who would have thought that he could make a good living hustling? But Duhon found himself playing in competitions where $1,000 was on the line — games that mostly took place at Chester Washington, a golf course in South Los Angeles known as a hustling hotbed. Duhon told WeekendAmerica.com “You didn’t have to worry about getting your bags out of the car,” he says, “They’d help you get your bags out of the car.”
The savvy hustler, Duhon had a method to his winning madness. “My method was, if I shook a guy’s hand and he had calluses he was dead. I knew I was going to beat him.”
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In 1985, Alton Duhon won The Senior Amateur Tour1986. Qualified for the PGA Tour. The history of his winnings can be found on PGA Tour player statistics.
Golfers who don’t hold the club properly often struggle with their game, Duhon say to WeekendAmerica.com. “In one position he had the wrong grip, in the next position he had the club in his hand too weak, because it’s rubbing up and down — or either had it too tight and it gets away from him.” Hence the calluses.
Despite making his living on the golf course, Duhon desperately wanted to be taken seriously. It finally happened for him in 1982. That year, he was the only Black golfer competing in the U.S. Senior Amateur in Tucson, Ariz. During his practice round, a reporter approached him and asked him what he was doing there. “I said ‘I’m here to kick somebody’s ass.’ So the guy wrote it up in the paper and everybody quit speaking to me.”
Turns out, nobody had to speak to him — Duhon won the tournament, to become only the second African-American to win a USGA title. “When I got done playing 36 holes that day, I drove all the way back to L.A. without even getting sleepy thinking about what happened in my lifetime. That was the greatest moment of my life.”
At the age of 65, Duhon finally turned pro. He played a few years on the Senior Tour, continued to hustle and in his spare time teaching kids in South Los Angeles about the game. At 83, he still was teaching the basics of golf, things like how to hold the club, respect on the course and how to dress. “If you dress like a fool,” he says. “They’re going to treat you like a fool.”
Alton Duhon, passed away on November 4, 2019 at the Carson Senior Assisted Living Home in Carson, California at the age of 94 years old. He will be missed at Chester Washington Golf Course and across many courses in America.
