While your watching, keep an eye out for John Shippen at several key moments, including:
5:36 - Receiving the second-place cup while smoking a cigarette.
5:47 - Shaking hands.
6:01 - Holding his hat.
6:56 - Sitting on the ground holding his hat.
7:06 - Sitting on the ground holding his hat.
The First National Colored Golf Championship
In July 1925, Shady Rest Country Club hosted the first National Colored Open Golf Championship. 30 golfers competed in the tournament. Harry Jackson of Washington DC won the championship with a 299 over 72 holes.
John Shippen Jr. placed second with a 302 over 72 holes. The tournament's success paved the way for the United States Colored Golf Association. Four years later, the organization was renamed the United Golfers Association.
United Golfers Association
In 1925, a group of black businessmen formed the United Golfers Association (UGA) to promote black involvement in golf. The UGA consisted of several tournaments for African Americans when many tournaments discouraged black golfers from playing. The United Golfers Association saw some of the best black golfers play in their tournaments, including John Shippen Jr., Bill Spiller, Ted Rhodes, Lee Elder, Pete Brown, Willie Brown, Jr., and Charlie Sifford. Until 1961, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) had a law written as: "for members of the Caucasian race.” This clause is known as the “Caucasian Clause.” The law was repealed, which resulted in the United Golfers Association and its tournament concluded. Black golfers struggled to gain national attention for a few decades as the UGA slowly grew its audience.
Newspapers and other news outlets regularly reported on UGA events. The tournaments highlighted black golfers' struggles during the Jim Crow Era. The UGA had tournaments in many areas of the United States, including Washington D.C., Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.
By 1950, the Pittsburgh Courier had expanded its coverage of UGA events, creating a ranking system of golfers within UGA events to compare them to white golfers. The Pittsburgh Courier wrote in 1947, “A banner year for Negro golfers and the number of big tourneys being held across the country indicates that the game is growing by leaps and bounds within this particular group of people.”
Women of color were continuously unrecognized until well into the 1950s. Ann Gregory was considered one of the best women golfers of her time, as she was the UGA’s women's champion in 1950 and won six of the seven tournaments that she competed in that year. Unfortunately, Gregory could not participate in white events until the late 1950s.
The UGA allowed black golfers to gain popularity when they could not play on the PGA tour. Pete Brown, a black golfer, stated that the UGA “launched my career. Without the UGA, I never would have played completive golf.” By 1951, the United Golfers Association had 53 golf clubs. There were over 8,000 individual memberships, of which approximately 1,400 were women.
Ann Gregory, one of the foremost African American women golfers of her time, showcases her powerful swing during a UGA tournament in the 1950s.