11. 1.2010
“we don’t discriminate in every other area except the blacks.” with those
words spoken prior to the 1990 pga championship at shoal creek, hall
w. thompson, who died last week at the age of 87, entered golf history. a
prominent alabama businessman and the founder of the club, thompson
was a man of his time and his culture who saw no real problem with pri-
vate clubs excluding african-americans. but after the southern christian
leadership conference threatened to picket the pga, and ibm, toyota
and anheuser-busch pulled more than $2 million in advertising from the
championship’s telecast, golf’s leaders suddenly did. the pga of america,
pga tour, and the usga—organizations which for decades had essen-
tially ignored exclusionary practices based on race and gender at private
clubs—quickly required future tournament sites to be inclusive, while au-
gusta national accepted its first black member. shoal creek, which hastily
made black birmingham businessman louis willie Jr. an honorary mem-
ber, also turned a page. the club now has five black members, including
condoleezza rice, and hosted the 2008 u.s. Junior boys. thompson, who
continued to play an important role at the club until his death, unwittingly
also played an important role in the betterment of the game. —Jaime Diaz
hall thompson 10
billy brown photography
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