Golfing Pioneer Charlie Sifford Honored With Street Name
WEST ATHENS (CBSLA.com) — LA golfers celebrated the honoring of golfing pioneer Charlie Sifford, who had a street officially renamed after him on Sunday.
Sifford, who some call the Jackie Robinson of golf, was the first colored player to earn a PGA membership card, back in 1961. The newly-named Charlie Sifford Drive, outside the Chester Washington Golf Course, leads the way to the course he called home.
At the Advocates Pro Tour Championship, golfers such as Vincent Johnson showed up in dozens as part of the honor.
"To stick through that, let alone the rigors of just playing good and bad, it was 'they don't want you here'" Johnson said. "I don't know if I could have stomached that."
Another attendee was Sifford's son.
"Through his whole career, he received death threats and warnings about things will happen to him if he came to the golf course, and stuff like that," Sifford's son Charlie said.
Sifford died in February at the age of 92.