By Barbara W. Sessions
Curator
Turner’s Lodge Pro Golf Museum
at Falconhead Resort, Burneyville, OK
(Burneyville, OK, May 6, 2024) The representative of the PGA of America at the Pete Brown Diamond Jubilee in Burneyville, OK on May 1 used her time at the podium to take corporate responsibility for the criticism that Brown and other African American golfers had been turned away from membership in the PGA until 1961.
“I think it is utterly terrible. I just felt it important for me to recognize that today and to own that on behalf of the PGA of America, own that invective,” said Sandy Cross, Chief People Officer.
Cross compared her “twenty-eight blessed years with the PGA of America” to the “twenty-seven years Mr. Brown and other men of color were denied to join the PGA.”
Her voice cracking with emotion, she added, “The dichotomy of that is really great and really smarts.”
“I would do anything that I could to undo that,” Cross said, referring to the “Caucasian-only” clause in the bylaws of the PGA’s constitution that was in effect from 1934 to 1961.
Cross said in 2014 she was appointed to lead the PGA of America’s diversity, equity, and inclusion effort.
She said she coined a phrase, “the power of an Invitation,” to describe what is at the core of the sport. Most players started playing golf because someone invited them.
Her remarks rued the contrast between the invitation and the shunning that had been driven by racism.
Once the exclusionary ban was lifted, Charlie Sifford (1961) and Pete Brown (1963) became active on the PGA Tour. A dozen more African American pros were admitted into the 1970s, paving the way for Tiger Woods, widely considered the greatest male golfer of all time.
Sifford and Brown were pictured on a screen background behind Cross as she spoke on the 18th green.
In the photo, the players were together on the 72nd hole of the 1964 Waco Turner Open with Sifford holding the flagstick and Brown lining up the short putt that would secure his one-shot victory and distinction as the first African American member of the PGA to win an official Tour event.
With the Brown family, PGA Tour/Senior Tour multi-winner Jim Dent, and other noted speakers from the world of golf present, Pete Brown was honored posthumously on the Turner’s Lodge Course (now Falconhead Resort) where the1964 Waco Turner Open was played.
Brown also won the 1970 Andy Williams/San Diego Open. He recorded 365 starts over a 17-year career on the PGA Tour.
In 2009, the PGA inducted posthumously as members John Shippen, Bill Spiller, and Ted Rhodes the Black pioneers who fought the PGA Caucasian-only clause for years, often in court, prior to 1961.
Also inducted was amateur Joe Louis, the former heavyweight boxing champion. He was an excellent player and an advocate for change who used the invitations he often received from pro-amateur events to urge sponsors to give additional exemptions to African American golf professionals.
Waco and Opie Turner sponsored four Waco Turner Opens on the PGA Tour, which were won by Butch Baird in 1961, Johnny Pott in 1962, Gay Brewer, Jr. in 1963, and Brown in 1964.
The LPGA Tour played the first official rounds on the course in the Tour’s 1958 Opie Turner Open (won by Mickey Wright) and returned for the 1959 Opie (won by Betsy Rawls).
The Turner’s Lodge Pro Golf Museum at Falconhead Resort in Burneyville, OK memorializes these Tour events plus the eight South-Central PGA championships and the 1965 Oklahoma Open, the other pro tournaments held on the historic course.
Falconhead Resort represents today the rare opportunity for public course players to experience a round on a Pro Tour course – both Tours.
The museum, open daily in the Falconhead Pro Shop, sponsored the Pete Brown Diamond Jubilee. For more information visit Turner’s Lodge Pro Golf Museum at Falconhead Resort
