14. Joe Louis paved the way for Black professional golfers in the United States
Joe Louis attained international acclaim and esteem as a professional boxer, holding the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1937 to 1949. During his reign, he successfully defended his title 25 times. During World War II he served in the US Army, which assigned him to the Special Services Division. He logged more than 22,000 miles traveling to conduct exhibition boxing matches to raise morale, often in the company of Sugar Ray Robinson. On one such trip, in the American South, Louis and Robinson were ordered to remove themselves to a bench in the back of a segregated bus station. Both refused. MPs threatened to arrest both men, but eventually cooler heads prevailed.
Less well known than Louis’s boxing career was his devotion to the game of golf. In the early 1950s, the Professional Golfer’s Association’s (PGA) bylaws contained a clause excluding all but Caucasians from membership. In 1952 Louis played, by invitation, as an amateur in the San Diego Open (today’s Farmers Insurance Open). He accepted the invitation despite resistance from the PGA, and became the first Black American to play in a PGA Tour event. In 1961, after steady pressure from Louis and others, the PGA removed the exclusion clause from its bylaws. Louis thus opened the door for several Black golfers to follow. The PGA granted Joe Louis a posthumous membership in the organization in 2009. Louis faced discrimination throughout his life, and worked to end racism in America. When sportswriter Jimmy Cannon heard someone call Louis a credit to his race, he responded, “Yes, Joe Louis is a credit to his race – the human race”.