![]() That tournament at Ponkapoag in 1961 was the first of many times Powell and Gibson teed it up together in competition. Mention a hero and Renee Powell can connect. She is a bridge to incredible people who should not be forgotten for their athletic accomplishments and commitments to social causes at a time when Black athletes were discriminated against. That trip to the “Home of Golf” was an unforgettable memory because it was shared with her father, who would die a year later at the age of 93, and it helps define who Renee Powell is. Honors have come her way, from the PGA of America’s First Lady of Golf in 2003 to being the ninth pro golfer, and first female, presented with a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of St. It continues to be where she keeps her father’s memory alive with the Clearview Legacy Foundation and with programs that give back, particularly to military veterans. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places more than 20 years ago as the first golf course built, owned, and operated by a Black, Clearview is where Renee Powell learned to play golf. Now 75, Powell still runs Clearview Golf Club, the course her father built while also working full-time at Timken, a bearing and steel company. Something that is in short supply, if current events in pro golf are being judged. “I did not get here by myself,” she said. What screams even louder is Powell’s warm embrace of those who made it possible. That in the face of such discrimination these women would blaze trails (Gibson, already the first Black to win one of tennis’ major championships, in ’63 became the first Black member of the LPGA Powell in ’67 became the second) speaks volumes for their character. In fact, it wouldn’t be until one month after that “National Negro Tournament” at Ponkapoag that the PGA of America would officially strike “Caucasian-only” from its bylaws. While there is a layer of truth to that statement – Renee Powell’s father, Bill, built and ran his own golf course in East Canton, Ohio – it grossly overlooks the reality that Blacks were not really in possession of anything even resembling a “certain advantage” in 1961, and definitely not in golf. ![]() “Miss Powell is one of those girls with a certain advantage, since she almost literally grew up on a golf course,” read the Globe story written by Tom Fitzgerald. The occasion was the annual United Golf Association Championship, which was widely known as the “National Negro Tournament.” To think that such a thing existed remains an embarrassing chapter in our nation’s history, but so it was. “ Ohio Girl Crowds Althea for Spotlight at Ponkapoag,” was the drop headline on the Boston Globe story. It was a golf tournament in 1961 at Ponkapoag GC in Canton, Mass., where the worlds of two courageous Black female athletes intersected: Powell, then a 15-year-old golf prodigy from Ohio, and Althea Gibson, then 34 and recently retired from her professional tennis career. Consider this nugget that grabbed my attention while perusing the archives. Hers is also a love story with golf against long odds. Hers is a compelling saga devoid of excessive gobs of money but is filled with people with perspective. Refresh yourself with the story of Renee Powell, for instance. If we accept that it’s been difficult these last few weeks to navigate our passion for professional golf through a sea of sordid stories that revolve around excessive gobs of money but are devoid of people with perspective, there are alternatives.
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