On December 6, 2023, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Commissioners voted to name the chalet building at Theodore Wirth Regional Park “Eddie Manderville Chalet at Theodore Wirth Park.”
Eddie Manderville was affiliated with Theodore Wirth Golf Course for more than 60 years and is widely renowned for his contributions to Minneapolis golf. He was instrumental in desegregating the Men’s Association at Theodore Wirth Golf Club after being denied access to the clubhouse and is credited with integrating Wirth Golf Club at a time when Black golfers were precluded from membership at Twin Cities golf clubs.
Later he helped found Black Women on Course, an African American women’s golf group based in the Twin Cities, and taught golf to school children at Anwatin School. He was a widely known figurehead and spokesman for Minneapolis golf and a talented player, once golfing two back-to-back holes-in-one at Wirth Golf Club on the same day in 2013.
Manderville passed away in 2020 at the age of 88. He was inducted into the Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame in 2023. MPRB staff will create a display with information about Manderville and install it in the Eddie Manderville Chalet at Theodore Wirth Park for future generations of golfers to learn about his legacy. An event commemorating the naming of the chalet building is also planned in 2024.
The Eddie Manderville Chalet at Theodore Wirth Park is located at 1301 Theodore Wirth Parkway, Minneapolis MN 55422. The building was finished in 1923 and has served the golf course since it opened.
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