The Black Golf Caddy: A Victim of Labor Market Discrimination
For generations, country clubs and the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour featured white golfers crossing manicured fairways, followed by black caddies carrying their bags. Now most clubs rely on golf carts; and pros on the PGA Tour are attended by highly paid white caddies. The transformation of the golf world has mirrored larger shifts in the American workplace, in which the increased status and increased earnings of skilled work have been accompanied by a de facto “push out” of black workers. In the 1960s, the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour began being more popular and more profitable. Many observers credit this development during this period to Arnold Palmer’s charismatic, swashbuckling style of play and to the growth of televised golf. The increased popularity of the sport involved wide scale marketing of golf ’s big three – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player. By end of the 1960s, Lee Trevino was added to the mix, making the big four. Golf caddying was becoming a respected profession, as the caddies for the big four became famous in their own right. These caddies were Ernest “Creamy” Carolan, Angelo Argea, Afred “Rabbit” Dyer, and Herman Mitchell, caddies respectively for Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, and Trevino. Since at the time most caddies were black, it is not surprising that two of the four – Dyer and Mitchell – were African American. The 1960s and 1970s launched the glory years for caddying, as caddies benefited from the increasing popularity and hence increasing money prizes available in professional tournament golf. In fact, Alfred Dyer, Gary Player’s caddy, was able to send a son to Princeton University (Sailor 2003), a financial feat unheard of among caddies before the 1960s. However, as the status of caddies increased, the presence of African American caddies steadily decreased. 1 Please address all correspondence to Wornie L. Reed (wreed5@utk.edu). 1 Reed: Black Golf Caddy Published by DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2008 62 Reed, Wornie Historical Background When golf and country clubs were established in the United States in the late 19th century, caddying was a menial low-paying job typically reserved for poor African American youth, some of whom were only eight or nine years old. Into the early 20th century, black boys caddying merely exemplified wide spread use of child labor, like the armies of children working 14 to 16 hours per day, six days per week in mills and coal mines. Often, black boys filled the caddying ranks because they were not allowed in the dangerous, but slightly higher paying mills and coal mines with white youth (Sinnette 1998). Most caddies were males, until recently, when a few white females began caddying on the PGA Tour. Currently, these females are most often the wives or daughters of the professional golfers. There is no record of a black female caddy who has worked regularly on the PGA Tour. In their eagerness to earn as much money as possible, a caddy at a country club would walk as many as three 18-hole rounds per day, that is 12 to 15 miles, often carrying two bags, each weighing between 30 and 50 pounds. Since golf was seen as an idyllic exercise and as another position for the black servant class (Sinnette 1998), and also because it was not as dangerous as factory and mining jobs, national campaigns against child labor excluded child caddies, most of whom were black. Consequently, black youth labored on, making very little money. In the 1920s and 1930s, a caddy could work all day for $1. By the 1950s, the wages increased to $2 for carrying a single bag for 18 holes, about 50 cents per hour, and $3 to carry two bags of golf equipment. Without child labor laws protecting them, black youth dominated the field into the 1940s and 1950s; many starting when they were less than ten years old. Alfred “Rabbit” Dyer started at nine in the 1940s. He and his father worked at the same country club in Louisiana; his father caddied for Gary Player in the 1960 New Orleans Open. Rabbit then caddied for Player in the 1962 New Orleans Open (CaddyBytes 2007). Jerry Osborn, another black former Tour caddy, started at eight years of age, as did Freddie Burns, the long-time caddy for Hal Sutton. Currently, most caddies at country clubs are teen-agers; some are older men, especially in the South. As young black caddies aged, they became experienced adults at country clubs and on the PGA Tour Because the Masters Tournament was hosted by the Augusta National Golf Club, this club launched many caddies who became fixtures on the Pro Tour Since 2 Challenge, Vol. 14 [2008], Iss. 1, Art. 5 http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/challenge/vol14/iss1/5 Challenge 63 all participants in the Masters Tournament had to use local caddies, pro golfers became familiar with them and sometimes brought their favorite caddies onto the PGA Tour. Because of the Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club was the source of many caddies who became fixtures on the Pro Tour. Several of the Augusta National caddies were legendary . There was Willie “Pappy” Stokes, the godfather of caddies at Augusta National, having won fives times as a Masters caddy with four different players between 1938 and 1956. He is credited in caddy circles at Augusta National as the man who taught most of the “name” caddies there how to read the undulating greens. Mostly, the star pros kept the same caddy at the Masters through the years. Willie Petersen won five Masters caddying for Jack Nicklaus. Nathaniel “Iron Man” Avery won four times with Arnold Palmer; O’Bryant Williams won three times with Sam Snead; Fred Searles won twice with Byron Nelson; and Carl Jackson won twice with Ben Crenshaw. Even Augusta National member and avid golfer President Eisenhower had the same caddy through the years—Willie “Cemetery” Poteat (Clayton 2004). As regular caddies for star players over the years, the top Augusta National caddies were instrumental in establishing the role of regular professional caddies. Caddies on the PGA Tour did not have it easy. Of course, most of these golf servants were black. Until 1961, when the PGA Tour was forced to discontinue its practice of barring African Americans from playing on the Tour, the players were all white and most of the caddies were black. In the 1950s and early 1960s, black caddies traveled from event to event across the country on greyhound buses, segregated to the back of the bus, and changing their clothes in the woods or in the parking lot (Caddy Bytes 2007). As caddying on the Pro Tour began to rise in status, another significant development occurred in caddying. In 1983 Augusta National Golf Club stopped its practice of requiring players to use club caddies in the Masters Tournament. Players then began to choose their own caddies for the Masters and they were mostly white. This practice reduced the participation of the famed Augusta National caddies, and affected a longstanding tradition at the Masters—white players with black caddies in white coveralls. As Rabbit Dyer explained, “White caddies did not come out on tour until the early 60s – it was below them to caddy back then” (CaddyBytes 2007). Although a 1961 ruling decreed that the PGA Tour could no longer bar African Americans in the Tour, all players were white and most caddies were black, with the exception of Lee Elder who was admitted to the Tour before 1975. He was admitted to play in the Masters 3 Reed: Black Golf Caddy Published by DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2008 64 Reed, Wornie Tournament in 1975. Advent of the Professional Golfer The professionalization of golf caddies followed the professionalization of golfers by several generations. Professional golfers were not a privileged group in the early part of 20th century America. Until Walter Hagen established professional golf by making more money playing golf than teaching it (Smart 2005), the main role of the golf pro was “giving lessons, supervising the pro shop, overseeing the care of the course grounds, and building and repairing golf clubs. He did the bidding of the golf club members, who were from the upper class, and was treated the same way as butlers, chauffeurs, and maids” (Clavin 2005: 37). Hagen started as a caddie at the Country Club of Rochester and became a club pro in 1912, receiving $1,000 for eight months’ work . During this time, few pros at country clubs averaged more than $50 per week . By 1913, Hagen was 20-year old head golf pro, yet he had to beg his employers for time off to play in the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Boston . This was the historic tournament won by Francis Ouimet, a 20-year old amateur and former caddie at The Country Club who defeated the British golfers Harry Vardon and Ted Ray . Vardon was golf ’s first superstar and Ray was the reigning British Open champion . Ouimet’s victory changed the American perception of golf from a sport for rich foreigners to a sport that everyday people could play. Walter Hagen finished third in the 1913 Open. He was then sponsored by members of the Country Club of Rochester and won the 1914 U.S. Open at Chicago’s Midlothian Country Club. There, for the first time, golf pros could enter the clubhouse. Hagen initiated this practice by marching into the locker room instead of changing shoes in the parking lot as pros had previously been compelled to do (Gabriel 2001). Not only was Hagen the first American professional touring player, he was also a key participant in the creation of the Professional Golf Association (in 1916). After winning the 1919 U.S. Open, Hagen left his club job and become the first golfer to earn his livelihood completely from tournament incomes and endorsements. 4 Challenge, Vol. 14 [2008], Iss. 1, Art. 5 http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/challenge/vol14/iss1/5 Challenge 65 Table 1: Total Purses on the PGA Tour by Decade Year Number of Events Total Purse