18 Negroes Play On City Courses

From the Feb. 14, 1956, Nashville Tennessean

By Eugene Dietz

Sixteen Negroes and about 20 white men braved threatening weather to play golf at McCabe park yesterday as the city’s four public golf courses were integrated. …

No golfers played at Percy Warner and Cumberland parks and two Negroes and  “a few whites” played at Shelby Park.

Blames Rainy Weather

Jack Spore, superintendent of recreation for the city park system said the integration was accomplished without incident. He said the rainy weather was largely responsible for the small number of players.

Luther Hickman, golf professional at McCabe, said 53 white persons played golf there Monday, which was a sunnier day than yesterday.

The four courses were integrated under a directive issued by the city park board last week in compliance with a federal court ruling.

The Shelby course was opened to Negroes on a part-time basis in 1954 and Cumberland was built that year for use by Negroes.

Club Operator Talks

Arthur Clay, dinner club operator, 3714 Clara st., a member of the first Negro threesome to play at McCabe, told a reporter during an interview at the course:

“We are looking forward to golfing here. We are glad we are finally getting our rights.”

Accompanying Clay were Robert Smith, 1400 South st., a taxi cab driver, and Wesly Dennis, 1205 Second ave., S., a brick mason.

Joe Hampton, professional golfer at Cumberland, said he expects to lose a few Negro players, but that the loss probably will be offset by whites who will use the course.

“About 19 white men have telephoned me in the past few days and asked about playing here,” Hampton said. “These men live at Bordeaux and they have to travel too far to reach the other courses.” …

Officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have said they will sue the state and the city by the end of the year unless the two governments open all public parks to Negroes.

Z. Alexander Looby, Nashville attorney and member of the board of the NAACP, said last night that he does not want to file the suit, but that he thinks a year is a “reasonable” time to wait for action. The U.S. supreme court ruled last year that public parks must be desegregated, but specified no time for the order to become effective. …

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: This article appeared in the February 2010 issue of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper along with other stories of the civil rights movement, including: “75 Students Arrested” (1960); “It Was The Right Time; A Remembrance of the Nashville Sit-Ins” by Rip Patton; and “Nashville Banner & the Sit-ins” and “Civil Rights Bombings” by Larry Brinton.