DUBLIN, Ohio — Golf instructor Gerry Hammond quickly ran down a who’s who of groundbreaking Black golfers: Pete Brown. Lee Elder. James Black. Calvin Peete.
Then he paused, not for effect but to sigh, because to mention Charlie Sifford is to remember a painful time when whites wanted Blacks to show up at the course only to carry their clubs. Black caddies were OK. Black golfers? Especially Black professional golfers? No thanks.
“But Charlie Sifford is the one who probably had it hardest of them all,” Hammond continued. “He was one of the first to push and break down the barrier and walls, and he received backlash for it.”
