Lawrence, Kan. (May 17, 2016) — Larry Powell, the 64-year-old golf course superintendent who has spent his life tending to the dream of his father, Bill, at Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio, will be one of four new inductees into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame (NBGHF) on May 21, at the Peachtree Hotel and Conference Center in Peachtree City, Ga.
Powell will join his well-known sister Renee, a former LPGA Tour golfer who still teaches at Clearview, and be inducted along with European Senior Tour player Jerry Bruner, and Ann and Tom Cousins, who share responsibility for rebuilding Atlanta’s historic East Lake Golf Course and the surrounding community. The Chicago Women’s Golf Club, the country’s second oldest African American women’s golf club (1937), will also be recognized.
Powell, who has been mowing fairways since he was eight, is into his fourth decade as caretaker for the 130-acre tract that has been elevated to the National Register of Historic Places. He has also been a proud member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America since 1975, serving on the association’s diversity task group for five years.
“This a great honor, and one that I never expected,” said Powell. “It is nice to be appreciated and recognized. The people who have gone before me were outstanding people with heart and determination.”
Since its beginning in 1986, the NBGHF has inducted 113 members. Bill, who was famous for saying, “the only color that matters is the color of the greens,” was inducted in 1996. Renee joined her father in the Hall in 2006.
The NBGHF mission is to “recognize and honor the contributions of black golfers for their skills and to honor persons, regardless of race or ethnicity, who have done the most to promote golf in the black communities.”
Read more from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
