Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Celebrates Pioneer Horace McDougal
2/20/2023 11:30:00 AM | Men's Golf
First black intercollegiate golfer worked tirelessly to advance the sport in Chicagoland
A native Chicagoan, McDougall was raised at 8812 South Ashland Avenue in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on the city's south side, and attended Calumet High School. Much of what is known about his career in golf was chronicled in the comprehensive 'Game Of Privilege: An African-American History of Golf' by Professor Lane Demas of Central Michigan University. The author, a 2002 graduate of Northwestern, specializes in the history of race and popular culture in America - specifically sport and African-American history - and also penned Integrating the Gridiron: Black Civil Rights and American College Football.
One of the first references to McDougal came in 1911 when he was runner-up at the Western Interscholastic Golf Tournament at Ravisloe Country Club in Homewood, Illinois. It was the first tournament for the "young Afro-American golfer from Calument High School," and, "the race was well represented by him, he being the only golfer entered."
In 1915 he is referenced as the head caddie at Chicago's Beverley Country Club during a period when the historic club was being renovated by legendary architect Donald Ross. In 1917, after President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for "a war to end all wars" that would "make the world safe for democracy," McDougal was one of many across his generation who fought for the allied powers in World War I as part of the 8th Illinois/370th Regiment where he served in the medical unit overseas. He was active in veterans organizations for the rest of his life.
Upon returning home, he enrolled at Northwestern as a member of the golf team, where he represented the Wildcats at the 1923 Big Ten Championships hosted at Evanston Golf Club. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and active in the Chicago Alumni Chapter.
Before, during and after his arrival at the University, McDougal undoubtedly used his standing in the game to advance the interests of African-Americans in golf. He was reported as a founding member (along with fellow Chicagoland pioneers Walter Speedy and Robert 'Pat' Ball) of the Windy City Golf Association, described as, "the first time in history a golf club composed entirely of members of our Race has been granted a charter."
In 1926 he competed in the inaugural national championship for African-American golfers at Mapledale Golf Course in Stowe, Massachusetts. A landmark event, this is where players formed the United States Colored Golfers Association, the Black national golf tour that would exist from 1926 until the 1980s. Nine of these players came from Chicago, including McDougal, Ball, and Speedy.
Despite the advancement these players created for themselves and others, fierce resistance still existed. In 1942 it was reported that, "the Hale America national open golf tournament bowed to jim crowism at Olympia Fields and the Chicago District Golf Association as well as the United States Golf Association did a retreat which could only be compared with that of Napoleon from Moscow." McDougal and several other golfers of color, despite paying the registration fee and playing a practice round, were told that only whites could play the Olympia Fields course.
At this time McDougal for years had published bylines in the Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper that, "was far and away the most important publication in the colored press," according to the New York Times. Following the Hale America exclusion, he penned a passionate op-ed that appeared in Black newspapers nationwide under the title 'Fascism In Golf':
Dear Editor: May 25, the Hale America National Open golf championship qualifying rounds began all over the United States. This tournament, for years the most coveted crown in the honorable sport of golf, is sponsored by the United States Golf Association, headquarters of which are in New York City.
At the proper time, seven Negroes sent their applications to enter this event to the U.S.G.A. office and received their acknowledgment cards with thanks. These cards each directed the entrant to attend the local qualifying round at Olympia Fields Country Club on May 25, contest other entrants for a place in the sectional competition to follow on June 5 and 6.
On presenting themselves to the proper parties on Thursday and Friday, and to familiarize themselves with the course, these entrants, after consulting and telephoning, were told that they could not be permitted to use the course because of a local rule which stated that 'only white persons were permitted on the course.'
The writer happens to be a veteran of World War I still suffering from wounds received from battle contact with the enemy. The other six are all subject to selective service in the combat division. While we are at war with an enemy who overlooks nothing that will reduce the morale of our men and their loved ones, is it patriotic and American-like to give that enemy additional material for his fiendish work? Are not men, who represent the cream of our nation's intelligence to be most highly censored (to put it mildly) for being so woefully prejudiced?
In spite of such treatment, in many other lines of endeavor, 'this noble race of people remain steadfast in their local support of the STARS AND STRIPES which we all LOVE.
Horace M. McDougal
For 25 years before he passed away in October 1957, McDougall was the head clerk in the operations department for the City of Chicago.
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Acknowledgements: In addition to Professor Demas, Northwestern University archivist Kevin Leonard, USGA senior historian Victoria Nenno, Miami (FL) professor Dr. Marvin Dawkins, and NYU professor Dr. Jeffrey Sammons are owed a great thanks for their assistance in researching the details included here.
