Charlottean James Black blazed historic trail on golf links

LINKSOUL

James Black of Charlotte, who recorded a round of 67 in his PGA Tour debut at the 1964 Los Angeles Open, was one of the first Black golfers on the PGA Tour. Mr. Black died June 22.

James Black wasn’t the most famous golfer from Charlotte, but he was a pioneer in his own right.

Mr. Black, who died June 22 in Charlotte at age 81, will be memorialized on July 14 at the United House of Prayer, 1221 Beatties Ford Road. Visitation is 11 a.m.-12 p.m. and the service 12 p.m.

Mr. Black, who followed in the footsteps of Charlie Sifford, a Charlotte native who broke the PGA Tour’s color barrier in 1961, made 11 career starts on the PGA Tour and was the first Black player to lead at the end of a round of a PGA tournament. He was the first Black golfer to card a round of 67 in his PGA debut when he did so at the Los Angeles Open in 1964, where he earned one of two top-10 finishes he recorded over five starts and earned $2,400 that year, according to PGA records.

The next Black golfer to do so was Tiger Woods at the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1997.

“That’s true,” Mr. Black told The Chronicle, a Winston-Salem newspaper that covers the Black community, in 2007. “Tiger wasn’t the first Black to shoot 67 in his first golf tournament. I was. Black history is hidden.”

Arthur Johnson, a sports agent and close friend of Mr. Black’s and other well-known Black players like Sifford, Ted Rhodes, Calvin Peete, and Lee Elder, said he had one of the best minds in the game.

“Mr. Black was one of the smartest men that I knew in the game of golf and that I have ever been associated with,” he told African American Golf Digest.

Mr. Black, a self-taught golfer, excelled at the sport and won tournaments on the United Golf Association tour, the top tour for Black players before the sport’s total desegregation in the 1960s. Mr. Black was the only golfer to win the Negro junior, amateur and professional titles and also got to meet celebrities like heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson, the first Black player in Major League Baseball’s modern era on the UGA tour when African Americans were denied access to whites-only facilities.

Mr. Black’s athletic skills weren’t confined to golf. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play professional baseball but felt a calling to golf.

“I still don’t know why I made that decision,” he told The Chronicle. “I was a good athlete, But I wanted to play golf. I think it was a spiritual vision. Gold was like religion to me. It taught self help and discipline and honesty. That’s how I was raised.

“But it was very inconvenient to play too. Not many Blacks were allowed to play at that time. The only way you could play was by being a caddy. You know, caddies were the better golfers back then. That was also a good way to make some money. So I did that while I was coming up.”

Long after retirement from the professional ranks, Mr. Black turned his attention to helping young people develop as golfers by putting on clinics and playing with the Par Busters, a collective of players of varying experience and skill levels.

“The golfing world has lost a true legend in James Black,” said Debert Cook, publisher of African American Golfer’s Digest. “His contributions to the game and his pioneering spirit will continue to inspire generations to come. As we mourn his passing, let us remember the remarkable legacy he leaves behind.”

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