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VoL9No. 48
Lee Elder at the Masters
Black golfers still tolerated, not welcomed
By Mallory K. Millender
To black Americans Lee
Elder is the Masters. But now
he has company -- Calvin Peete,
the 27-year-old Floridian who
finished the final round with a
67 and the tournament with a
one under par, 287.
Elder shot rounds of 76 and
77 and did not make the cut.
However, both golfers will
be back next year. Peete
because he finished in the top
24 in the Masters, and Elder
because, as a member of the
U.S. Ryder Cup team, he is
exempt from having to
qualify for tournaments for
two years.
Elder denies that the fact
that he didn’t have to qualify,
and that he was no longer the
only black in the tournament
were factors in the way he
prepared for the tournament.
“My attitude was the same but
my game was different. 1 didn’t
play much last winter since I
have my own golf course now
which consumes a lot of time.
But when I came to Augusta, I
really rested up. I really
worked hard. I got a putting
lesson from Dave Stockton,
but just didn’t have the game
this week. It may have been a
case of over practicing,’’ he
said at a party at the home of
Paine College President, Julius
S. Scott Jr., Friday night.
There was another factor:
“I’m getting at the age (44)
where traveling is getting
harder for me, hopping on and
off planes, and the same
routine every day after 11
years. It’s not that my game is
leaving me, but I think the
interest is not there. When I
Judge rules against
at-large voting in
Sumter County
From Atlanta Constitution
U.S. District Judge Wilbur
D. Owens of Macon ruled
Monday that the elective
process in Sumter County,
home of President Jimmy
Carter, and Americus, the
county seat, is unconstitutional
because of racial
discrimination.
Owens ruled that the
“at-large” method of electing
Sumter commissioners, as well
as the mayor and City Council
in Americus, “dilutes” the
black vote in violation of the
15 th Amendment of the
Constitution and makes it
more difficult for blacks to win
elective office.
The county was ordered to
create five districts of equal
population before elections
later this year. The current
five-man commission is
all-white and is elected at large.
In Americus, the court
ordered that four one-man
districts be established and that
the remaining two members of
the City Council, as well as the
mayor, be elected at large. Two
members of the current
council, which stands for
election in December, are
black.
The ruling was hailed by
American Civil Liberties Union
attorneys - who filed the suite
on behalf of several Sumter
County black voters two years
ago - as “an alleviation of the
Augusta Nms-Iktt fan
fl
-II
Calvin Peete
take off for a long time, it
takes me a pretty good while
to get my game back because
of my age.
A YOUNG MAN’S GAME
“Golf is a young man’s game
pattern of racial discrimination
which has characterized
politics in Sumter County.”
“What the apportionment
means is that blacks can now
run for office, at least in the
majority-black districts,
without losing simply because
of their race,” said Laughlin
McDonald, director of the
Atlanta-based southern office
of the ACLU.
In Americus, Ben Easterlin,
one of the county’s attorneys,
said recently that he had not
yet seen the order but that he
was sure the County
Commission would “abide by
the ruling of the court.”
“Frankly, I don’t think the
ruling will have much effect,”
Easterlin said, “and it might
even dilute the black voting
power.” He said that now, each
member of the commission
“tries to represent the whole
county, and when districts are
imposed, you’ll get a provincial
approach, which may not be a
good thing.”
Americus City Attorney
Oliver Oxford said he would
have “no comment until I’ve
seen the order.”
Sumter County, located in
the rich farming district of
southwest Georgia which
gained national attention as the
home of President Carter, has a
44 percent black population,
according to the 1970 census.
No black in living memory,
however, has been elected to a
county wide office.
because of the strenuous
walking you have to do, and
the balls you have to hit each
and every day. When you hit a
hundred balls and walk 18
holes, it takes a lot of energy
out of you. That’s what I think
I’m finding. The things 1 used
Owens’ decision is expected
to trigger a parallel suit by the
ACLU on behalf of several
parents living in Koinonia -a
long-established farming
commune in Sumter County --
seeking to alter the elective
process of the seven-member
Sumter County Board of
Education.
The school board
currently divided into districts
but elected at large - and the
county’s election process have
been under fire since the early
19605, when Carter began his
political career by first serving
on the school board.
Blacks were traditionally
excluded from local county
politics by all-white primaries
and the use of literary tests as a
condition for registration,
according to the ACLU briefs
in the case. As late as 1963,
only 9 percent of the county’s
registered voters were black,
the suit alleged.
In 1965, a federal judge in
the Middle District enjoined
Sumter County officials from
enforcing racial segregation. In
1967, the sth U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in New
Orleans set aside Sumter
elections on the basis of “gross,
spectacular, completely
indefensible state-imposed,
state-enforced, racial
See “DISCRIMINATION”
Page 2
April 19,1980
to do, I can’t do now.
“The pressure was certainly
a lot less than in the past
because there was another
black golfer. The pressure of
being the only black... you’re
on stage all the time. You go
by and everybody just has to
say something, just has to talk.
With Calvin playing as well as
he’s playing, it has certainly
carried the attention away
from me, which was something
fantastic that I really wanted
to happen.
“We need more youngsters
coming up who can step into
the shoes of Charlie Sifford
and Lee Elder, that can carry
on the tradition that we’ve set.
With his getting the attention,
it gave me a chance to play
much better than I’ve played in
the past, but the game just
wasn’t sharp enough.”
PEETE SHARP
Peete, on the other hand, was
sharp. He had rounds of
73 71-76-67. “I’m looking at
this as being the first of many
Masters to come for me. I’d
like to play here for the rest of
my career.”
He said that people were
very warm and that he had no
“bad experiences” with the
galleries because of his color.
“Not a one,” he said. “Sure,
there were a few hecklers, but
you expect that in any golf
tournament. The galleries out
here have been super.”
But Elder is less enthusiastic
about the treatment black
golfers get on the professional
tour and at the Augusta
National Golf Course.
Tennis courts bring Paine, community closer
By Kathleen Kirby
News-Review intern
After working for two and a
half years to build new tennis
courts at Paine College, the
students finally witnessed the
ribbon cutting ceremony
Tuesday for the $44,000
courts.
According to Paine College
Business Manager Quincy L.
Robertson, The Paine College
Community Liason
Committee, which he chairs,
was formed in order to raise
money to insure that there
would be enough for the court.
This committee, he said, went
out into the community and
asked people to contribute
from $5 to SIOO.
Robertson said the
committee met and decided on
a goal of $5,000. The next
month the committee met
again and had raised $6,000, he
added. “We could have raised
more if we had known it war
going to be that simple,” he
said.
The members of this
committee were: Charle
McCann, Joe Johnson, Helei
McNatt, Mason Boler Jr., Dr
W.J. Walker, Earl ThurmonC
Mrs. Thomas E. Ketch, S.B.
Gandy, Frank Delley, the Rev.
J.E. Robinson, Herman Harris,
Ann Johnson, and Mallory K.
Millender.
In addition a Tennis Court
Committee was established,
which made the original
decision to build the tennis
courts, Robertson said. Paine
President Julius S. Scott
initiated this committee which
also made other necessary
decisions. The members of this
BLACK GOLFERS SNUBBED
Said Elder of tire life of die
black golfer: “It’s a hard road.
There’s no doubt about it. And
I don’t see it getting any easier.
Hopefully, I’ll live long enough
to see a change to where it’s
going to be better for blacks.
“But right now they still
snub their nose at us wherever
we go, and put on a front. But
so many places we go, we're
not really welcome. But there’s
nothing we can do about it.
The best way they go about it
is not to be confronted with it,
to stay in die background,” he
said.
Are black players welcomed
at the Augusta National?
“We’re tolerated," Elder said,
adding that die Augusta
National does not offer “the
heartiest of welcomes that you
would receive at a major
championship of this status.
But they do tolerate us.
“I hope 1 can live to see the
day we have at least five or ten
blacks. Even if I’m not playing,
I’d just love to see the
difference -- whether we'd be
welcomed or just tolerated."
Yet Elder said that he has
not experienced “snubbing’ at
the Augusta National because
the people affiliated with the
tournament are “smart enough
not to. Certainly they know
ways to get around it. They’ll
speak and go ahead about their
business.”
GREATEST WELCOME
Elder said he received the
“warmest greeting and the
greatest welcome” from
Clifford Roberts, the late
11 ikdlr Jill
PAINE COLLEGE athletic director Robert Eskew tennis court nets before inaugural game against students
(left) and President Julius S. Scott Jr. inspect height of Lawrence Darden and Sam Adams
committee, along with Dr.
Scott and Robertosn, included:
Sen. Thomas Allgood, Richard
Baxter and Sydney Carter.
Dr. Scott said, “There are
plans to get more courts once
there is enough money.”
“Paine’s image in the
Less Than 75% Advertising
Lee Elder
Masters chairman who died in
1977.
“Upon my first arrival at the
Augusta National in 1975, he
made sure that the car that
picked me up at the airport
telephoned him upon our
arrival at Magnolia Lane so he
community will be improved
(because of the courts). The
President added that there will
be “more interaction with
other colleges. The tennis
courts will also provide an
opportunity for students and
could greet us at the Club
House, which is something
certainly no other rookie, and
I’m sure no other player, has
received anything of that
status. Since that time it’s been
just something else, in a reverse
situation.
faculty members to play
together.
Furthermore, the students
played a major role in the
completion of the courts. They
raised and donated
approximately $6,000. Now
“I’m not saying that I
wanted a personal greeting
every' year. But I think that
they could go about treating
the black players a little bit
differently, simply, because of
the fact that we are a minority
and are first-time-people at the
most prestigious golf
tournament.
“1 don’t know how they
treated Calvin this year. But I
know that when I saw Calvin’s
wife the other day, she was still
in their van. I think that the
ladies on the Receiving
Committee certainly could
have welcomed her. They
certainly could have
enlightened him to the fact -
and I don’t know whether he
received a car or not -- but they
certainly could have let him
know that there was a car
available for him. Every player
in the Masters, they have an
automobile for him. I don’t
whether he (Peete) knew it or
not."
Elder said Peete did not
arrive until late Tuesday. He
saw his wife and greeted her
but had not had occasion to
talk with Peete
He said he had talked with
Peete at an earlier tournament,
but had not had time to go
over with him "all tire things
that he should have been
expecting of the people here or
even things that he could ask
for.”
SPONSORS AVOID BLACKS
And Elder expressed
See "M ASTERS”
Page 2
that Paine has tennis courts,
said senior Deidre Reese, she
has thoughts that maybe tennis
pros can come and play at
Paine. “We might be able to
have Yvonne Goolagone,” she
said.
25 c