The trailblazer - Twenty-five years ago, Lee Elder became the first black golfer in the Masters - Brief Article

Golf Digest, April, 2000 by Pete Mcdaniel

Robert Lee Elder never wanted to be a trailblazer. If there had been a side door to the world of golf for a man of color in the 1970s, Elder would have ducked in. However, history pushed him front and center. Twenty-five years later, he remains, for many, the personification of barriers broken and stereotypes shattered.

Becoming the first African-American to compete in the Masters, in 1975, has had lasting ramifications-for Elder and the game of golf.

"I didn't realize how important it was at the time, because all I really wanted so badly to do was play in the tournament," Elder, 65, says today. "It didn't dawn on me what had happened until after I played. Before then, I don't think I knew what a big deal it was."

Fourteen years had passed since the repeal of the PGA of America's "Caucasian-only" clause. Yet for African-American golfers, the door to the Masters seemed impenetrable. There had been no complimentary welcome mat extended to Charlie Sifford or Pete Brown, Elder's predecessors who failed to meet the qualifications set by the Masters committee and the club's autocratic chairman, Clifford Roberts. And there had been none extended to Elder-despite pressure from Congress.

Two years prior to Elder's arrival at Augusta, a diverse group of Congressmen-including future New York Mayor Ed Koch and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young-wrote a letter urging Roberts to invite an African-American to the tournament. They believed Elder was a worthy candidate. Roberts disagreed.

"We are a little surprised as well as being flattered that 18 Congressmen should be able to take time out to help us operate a golf tournament," wrote Roberts in response. ". . . We feel certain someone has misinformed the distinguished lawmakers, because there is not and never has been player discrimination, subtle or otherwise."

Elder ultimately opened the Masters door with an 18-foot pressure putt in the 1974 Monsanto Open at Pensacola (Fla.) Country Club, where six years earlier he and his fellow African-American PGA Tour members had been refused entrance to the clubhouse. The parking lot had been their dressing room. "I said I'd never go back to Pensacola after the way we were treated," Elder says. But he did.

Elder won a Sunday showdown at Pensacola by holing an 18-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole, after birdieing three of the final four holes in regulation to catch Peter Oosterhuis.

Before the applause from the gallery abated, tour official Jack Tuthill grabbed Elder by the arm and, along with security, escorted him to the clubhouse from which he once had been barred. "After I sat there for a while,

I started thinking about what I had done," recalls Elder, whose picture hangs on the clubhouse wall. "Later

I was told that Cliff Roberts called to congratulate me, but I was at the 18th green for the awards ceremony."

Elder would meet the chairman of Augusta National in person two months before the '75 Masters, when he was invited for a practice round, along with then-PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman. When Elder returned for the tournament, Roberts met Elder's limousine and led him to the registration site. The club's servants stopped what they were doing and stood in admiration as Elder walked by.

"The blacks at Augusta were wonderful," recalls Elder. "They bent over backward and did everything they could to show their appreciation. I'll never forget them."

Shortly after 11 a.m. on April 10, Elder and his playing partner, Gene Littler, strode to the first tee at Augusta. The media crush was unlike anything Elder had ever seen. Football legend-turned-actor Jim Brown elbowed out enough space for himself and Los Angeles-based civil rights activist Maggie Hathaway to get an up-close look at the hero of the moment. Elder, a 40-year-old Masters rookie, laced a drive down the center of the fairway. He never hit a more significant shot in his life.

Elder shot 74, despite the distractions. He stumbled to a 78 the next day and missed the cut by four shots. He would play in five more Masters.

In retrospect, of all the possible candidates, Elder was perhaps best suited for his role in history. The Dallas native had faced difficult lies most of his life, beginning with the death of his father in World War II. His mother died three months later. "After my father died, she never left her bedroom," Elder says.

At the age of 9, Elder took up caddieing at Dallas' all-white Tennison Park Golf Club to help put food on the table. By his teens, he had become a decent enough player to attract the attention of a hustler and eventual benefactor named Alvin C. Thomas, alias Titanic Thompson. The two traveled the country together in search of high-stakes matches. The barnstorming enabled Elder to stockpile enough savings to try the PGA Tour's qualifying school in November 1967. He qualified easily.

Following that historic week in 1975, Elder collected three more PGA Tour victories, secured a place on the 1979 Ryder Cup team, and amassed more than $1 million in earnings. He joined the Senior PGA Tour in 1984 and won $307,795 the next year to finish second on the money list. His career earnings total more than $2.6 million.