Eddie Smith Jr. (photo courtesy Smith family)
BY AAGD STAFF
December 19, 2019
18 holes of golf is the only medicine that Eddie Smith Jr. says he needs in fighting his battle against pancreatic cancer. The 76-year-old avid player was recently diagnosed with the disease and has refused chemotherapy treatments. Rather than going to a medical facility, he spends his time hitting balls on the Rogers Park Golf Course driving range.
Smith comes from a large family of 7 brothers and 5 sisters. He was the oldest boy growing up, so he’s keenly familiar with responsibility. His involvement with the historic public 18-hole golf course in Tampa, Florida goes way, way back. Land for the course was acquired by the City of Tampa in 1947 and, with segregation firmly in place, Rogers Park was heavily frequented by African Americans who enjoyed holding their bar-b-ques and other recreational activities there. The city added the golf course five years later.
Smith has been reaping the benefits of the park since he was a youth and actually helped to build Rogers Park. According to the Tampa Bay News, as a little kid, when it was being constructed, Smith shoveled bunkers at the course that borders the Hillsborough River at 7910 N. 30th St. Some friends had told Smith that the city was looking for construction workers of all ages to build the course so, he swiftly got involved. Afterward, Rogers Park became only the second course in the state where African Americans could play. Smith stayed involved with the course and he was among the first caddies hired when the then-segregated golf course opened in 1952. Later, as a decorated competitor, his involvement helped bring national awareness of the course.
When the course was finished, Smith discovered that caddying was a job that paid money. So, he learned to caddy.
(photo courtesy Smith family)
“There were no carts back then,” Smith said. “I was just a kid who had never played golf, and I didn’t want to be a liability, so I kept quiet and I listened. I learned what I needed and practiced.”
At the course, some of the older players gave him some of their unwanted clubs, from that, Smith was able to put together a full set. A few years later, at 12-years old, he remembers how happy he was when one of his regular caddy customers let him purchase a full, matched set from him on a payment plan arrangement.
“It was $12,” Smith said. “I paid him a dollar a week for 12 weeks.”
(left to right) The 6 brothers: Stanley, Herbert, Albert, Aaron, Eddie Jr., and Sammy. (photo courtesy Smith family)
“I don’t think I’ve gone a week without being here,” said Smith, to the Tampa News while relaxing in its clubhouse prior to playing 18 holes. “I’m not going to miss one no matter what the doctors say.”
This past October, nearly 100 of Smith’s good friends gathered at Rogers Park Golf Course, paying $40 per golfer to play nine holes to help raise funds for his medical bills. At that tournament, Smith came in second place. It was an amazing gesture for their friend, “Zip,” a nickname Smith was given when he played football as a youngster.
Eddie Smith Jr. (right) sitting in his favorite seat. (photo courtesy Smith family)
“I’d zip through people,” Smith said. “A coach laid the name on me and it stayed.” But, it was the feeling of holding a golf club for the first time that he really knew this sport was different, something special. Smith told the Tampa Bay Times, “You can play good one day and can’t hit a bull in the butt with a bale of hay the next,” he said. “Sometimes the ball won’t go right, but the next day everything goes right. There is no other sport like that.” Smith gave up caddying after graduating from Middleton High School and took a job as a yard manager for the CSX railroad company. But he kept golfing. He even won the state amateur title in 1962 at Rogers Park at the age of 18.
(L-R) One big happy family Traci, Imani, Reggie holding his grand-daughter Rayah, Gene, Bernita, Eddie Jr., Tamiya, Terra (little girl standing), Mia, Regan. (photo courtesy Smith family)
Smith has been married for over 20-years to his beloved Ida Mae. Their close-knit family consists of son Reginald (55), two daughters, Latarra (34) and Bernida (30), and Smith says he loses count of the multitude of grandchildren and great-grands. His son Eddie III, passed away in 2017.
Smith’s golfing skills gained him notable wins in many prominent African American tournaments, fondly known at the “Chitterlings Circuit” throughout Nashville, Winston-Salem, Virginia, New Jersey, and Connecticut. “In Miami, I played against Joe Louis,” in the North-South Winter Golf Tournament, considered the most prestigious of the African American competitions. During that era of segregated tournaments and tours, black golfers were unable to enter the big money, white-run tournaments, so Smith traveled far-and-wide across the nation competing and winning in black-run tournaments.
At Rogers Park, “Everybody who was anybody golfed here,” Smith said to Tampa Bay news.
Today, Smith told this publication that “Everything is good; Everything is on an even keel.” He got out to Rogers Park and practiced a little with a good friend. “It was around noon, but cold at 57 degrees. So, I’m just finished up and going to head home for dinner.”
Smith was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer three months ago. There is no cure, but chemotherapy has been known to extend the lives of patients. But Smith has decided against such treatment. On the day he was diagnosed, Smith said, his doctor asked if he needed a moment to collect himself. “I said, ‘Draw blood and do what you got to do,’” said Smith, according to Tampa Bay News. “I had to get out of there. I had 18 holes to play.”
“I’m not going to sit there for hours with all that stuff hooked up to me,” he said. “I’m going to play golf. That’s all the medicine I need.”
T.J. Heidel, director of golf at Rogers Park, told Tampa Bay News that Smith’s upbeat attitude is not an act. “He hasn’t changed since the diagnosis,” Heidel said. “He still has that persona that puts smiles on people’s faces.” According to Heidel, Smith “is the face of Rogers Park,” now operated by the Tampa Sports Authority.
For Smith, it’s just him and the golf course for now.
And our prayers are with you.
