November 15, 2021 | BY AAGD STAFF
The late legendary golfer Charlie Sifford turned pro in 1948 but because of his race, he was denied from playing on the PGA Tour until 1961, when he became the first African American to compete as a member. Winning twice on tour and finishing in the top 60 on the money list in each of his first nine seasons as a member, Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. Sifford died in 2015.
In his honor, a new award, presented by Southern Company, will be given to Powell as part of the Hall of Fame’s 2022 induction ceremony on March 9, 2022 during the PGA Tour’s Players Championship week. Tiger Woods, Susie Maxwell Berning, Tim Finchem and Marion Hollins are the four inductees.
Renee Powell has shared for years during her stellar golf career the barriers and struggles she and Sifford faced as African Americans who sought to excel in golf. Today their status is at the highest professional level of the game.
On the 17th anniversary, the Monday of Sifford’s induction into the Hall, the World Golf Hall of Fame announced that Powell will be the first recipient of the Charlie Sifford Award. The Hall said, the award “honors an individual who personifies Sifford’s groundbreaking achievements through perseverance, confidence, respect and adaptability. Powell—the second African American woman to ever compete on the LPGA Tour—demonstrated resilience amidst her own obstacles of racial adversity and segregation and dedicated her life to making golf a sport for all.”
Powell, 75, competed as a member of the LPGA from 1967 to 1980, playing in more than 250 pro events. Since 1995 she has served as the head PGA/LPGA professional at Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio. The club was established in 1946 by her father, William Powell, as the first U.S. golf course designed, built, owned and operated by an African American. The club’s non-profit Clearview Legacy Foundation focuses on education, preservation, and research, with an emphasis on youth, minorities, veterans, seniors and other underrepresented groups.
