Jefferson Golf Course renamed to:Bill Wright Golf Complex
Celebration:October 19, 10-2:00
at Bill Wright Clubhouse, 4101 Beacon Ave. S
Celebrate this historic event,share food, share stories and hit a bucket of balls.RSVP: kckcolombo@gmail.com
Seattle Parks & Recreation Board Meeting, April 25, 2024, Seattle Parks Director, AP Diaz announced that Jefferson Golf Course will be renamed to the Bill Wright Golf Complex.The Seattle Parks & Recreation news release stated, “Bill Wright was the first African American to win a United States Golf Association (USGA) event, winning the 1959 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.” He was a Franklin High School graduate and played “college golf at Western Washington University,” winning a golf championship in 1960.
In 2013, Wright was enshrined in the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame. He was a regular at Fir State Golf Club. Also, he went to the Jefferson Golf Course.
1. This has been in the works since 2021. Why did the Beacon Hill council feel that it was necessary to change the golf course’s name?
The renaming of the Golf Course has been in the works since 2021. According to the President of AP National Golf Club, Derek Liddell it was necessary “so that Seattle residents show and prove inclusion is real.”
“Bill Wright is a hero for inclusion that fought for all people before it was even fathomed to be the right thing to do,” Liddell added.
The president of LikaVibe Radio Akil Washington said it was “long overdue.” He feels it is important to acknowledge “local champions and heroes that overcame racial barriers in a sport that at the time was exclusive to non-whites.”
2. How did Bill Wright’s contributions help Black people?
Liddell said Wright’s contributions showed Black people could “enjoy the game of golf” and excel at the sport too.
Washington echoed similar thoughts. Wright showed that “when given an opportunity Black golfers could prepare and equip themselves to play championship level golf, not just compete but win,” Washington said.
3. It was quoted, said the name change “is an appropriate gesture to pay homage to struggle and sacrifices of Bill Wright and his family.” What sacrifices did Mr. Wright and his family make?
In response to a question about the struggles and sacrifices Bill Wright and his family made, Liddell stated Bill and, “his family and Fir State filed a complaint to the City of Seattle to petition their lack of ability to join a golf club and establish a handicap to compete in golf tournaments.”
Liddell added the governor placed a mandate for other non-Whites to join but the golf clubs reluctantly moved in that direction. He met the requirements “for the city amateur. Yet he “couldn’t play due to lack of handicap.” In essence, he “sacrificed his passion to play and his ability to provide for his family due to exclusionary practices of the times.”
4. What impact did Bill Wright have as the “first African American to win a United States Golf Association event” locally and nationally?
Not only does being first is a challenge but also it paves the way for others. Liddell mentioned Wright showed blacks could do well in golf when he won “the USGA Public Links.” He added he was an example to other Blacks that they could be successful at golf.
Washington compared it to Jackie Robinson in the MLB when he entered in 1947. Wright’s first made it possible for others such as Charlie Sifford, the first black golfer “to join the PGA tour in 1961.”
5. How does the family feel about the naming of the golf course?
Liddell says that the Wright family “is ecstatic.” This was never a goal of theirs, “but the fact that is happening is a testament standing up for what is right.”
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