(Monday, September 12, 2016) News has reached us that Billy Gardenhight, tournament director of Skyview Golf Club in Asheville, NC, and of the founder of the The Big Four (Asheville, Chester, Charlotte, and Spartanburg) which is now the Interstate Golf Association (IGA) had his leg amputated on Wednesday, August 31, 2016. According to Tournament Director John Love, Billy is leaving the hospital today and will be going to an assistance living facility in preparation to receive his new leg.
Please send cards to Billy Gardenhight, 131 Wyatt Street, Asheville, NC 28803.
Gardenhight (Billy Eugene Peters Gardenhight) is a former Outstanding Leader in Golf award recipient and was honored by the African American Golfer’s Digest (2013). He attended North Carolina Central University on an athletic scholarship. His life since his school days has been devoted to helping other people, other humane causes and maintaining his family obligations. He has been and still is a hard worker, devoted husband, and father. Billy retired in 1998 from The Buncombe County Community Action Agency where he was Director of Weatherization Program. His was employed part time at the Asheville Municipal Golf Course and the Shiloh Community Center.
According to Gradenhight, the amputation was a result of bad circulation that caused several painful ulcers on his left foot which, after two-to-three months turned into gangrene. Doctors amputated his left leg below the knee. “I hope and pray that they don’t have to do the other one.” said Gardenhight by telephone from the Care Partners rehabilitation center. “I am in rehab,
“I am in rehab, another 5 or 6 days, and then I expect to go home.” His wife and nephew will be there to help with his needs. “God’s been good to me I am not worried about nothing.” At the rehab center he undergoes physical therapy 3-4 times a day. The sessions can run 30 minutes to 1 hour. He’s anxious to get back to his normal routine and says, “I want to get back out there, hitting the golf balls.”
“God’s been good to me I am not worried about nothing.” At age 81, Gardenhight celebrates his 82 birthday next Thursday, September22.
Gardenhight has an interesting history in golf and previously told this publication, “My mother, Mrs. Fannie Gardenhight, raised four girls and one boy by herself because my father died when I was just three years old. When I asked her if I could go to the golf course to caddy she was—at first—very apprehensive, because, golf meant nothing to her. I told her that I could earn some money by carrying a golf bag eighteen holes for $1.25. At age 11, she finally decided to let me go with other neighborhood friends.”
For Gardenhight, being involved in golf started in 1945. “It was at this time that I lived in ‘East End,’ an Asheville neighborhood of single family homes that was predominately Black and somewhat blighted. We were poor but proud people and our parents, friends, neighbors and others all encouraged us to do well academically in school and to stay out of trouble. Jobs were scarce for everybody because World War II was just ending. There was little or no income for small school aged children and caddying at the golf course was the only option for the vast majority of young boys.”
Read more about the life and experiences of Billy Gardenhight at https://www.africanamericangolfersdigest.com/oliga_2013_Billy_Gardenheight.html
