Game On
Charlie and Mose As the unplanned friendship that changed the world of golf
By Ogi Overman
Mose Kiser Jr.
(C) 2010 The Denver Post, MediaNews Group
carries a big stick around Greensboro. Now a young 80, he’s been carrying it for a long time, just as his father and his father before him. There is something in his manner that exudes leadership, humility, character and a strong work ethic.
Perhaps it was those characteristics that persuaded the executive committee of the Greensboro Jaycees to name him the general chairman of the 1961 Greater Greensboro Open (now the Wyndham Championship). At the tender age of 27, he was (and is) the youngest person to hold that position. But neither Kiser nor the Jaycees had any way of knowing the unprecedented challenges that would lie ahead for them and the PGA event they sponsored. To backtrack, until that year the tournament had alternated between Sedgefield and Starmount country clubs. But after eventual seven-time GGO champ Sam Snead had made disparaging remarks about the condition of the course during the 1960 tourney, Starmount owner Edward B. Benjamin refused to host the event ever again and unceremoniously forbade the Jaycees from ever setting foot on the course. “Obviously, the only logical move was to go to the powers that be at Sedgefield and try to negotiate a contract with them to be the permanent host for the tournament,” says Kiser. “Finally, after a lot of hassling, we worked out a deal that turned out to be profitable for both sides.” Not long after that, another challenge would crop up that had far more ramifications than the move to Sedgefield. In January 1961, Kiser received a phone call from prominent local dentist, Dr. George Simkins Jr., who was president
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
of the local NAACP chapter. Simkins told him that there was a black golfer originally from Charlotte now living in California who had earned his limited PGA card (there was a Caucasians-only clause in the PGA bylaws) and should be invited to the GGO. His name was Charlie Sifford. “Honestly, I had never heard of him, so I told Dr. Simkins that I would do some checking and get back with him,” Kiser recalls. One of the first calls Kiser made was to his friend Dugan Aycock, who was president of the Carolinas PGA. Turned out, not only had Sifford won some non-PGA-sanctioned events, including the 1957 Long Beach Open and a streak of five Negro National Opens, but Aycock actually knew him. “Dugan said Sifford had been his caddie as a teenager in Charlotte; said he remembered him being a very nice young man,” says Kiser. “Then he asked me if I would like for him to call him, and I said that would be wonderful.” Aycock made the call and reported back to Kiser that Sifford said, “It would be the greatest honor of my life to play in a professional tournament in my home state.” But before he could issue Sifford a formal invitation, he had to clear it with both the executive committee of the Jaycees and the board at Sedgefield. “There was a lot of back and forth and a lot of mixed feelings,” he says. “Remember, no black golfer had ever played in a PGA event in the South, and there was some trepidation. But in the end, they decided to issue him an invitation,” adding, “It ended up being a unanimous vote, and to tell the truth, there was less hassle over that than the negotiations over the contract with Sedgefield.” So, Kiser phoned Sifford with the good news, and he excitedly accepted the invitation. “He told me what he’d told Dugan that this would be the highlight of his career,” says Kiser. “He said Dugan had played a big part in helping him get started.” August 2014
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