Civil rights legacy of Charlie Sifford, ‘Greensboro Six’ honored at Gillespie Golf Course

Chris Simkins approached a wall outside of Greensboro’s First Tee building, beaming as he stretched out his arm and touched his late father’s hand. At least, metaphorically speaking.

Dr. George Simkins Jr., a second-generation dentist, is remembered as “Greensboro’s Martin Luther King Jr.” His civil rights journey began in December 1955 when he and five of his friends attempted to integrate Gillespie Golf Course — just six days after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama.

That story of the six Black men who fought to desegregate the whites-only golf course is now permanently imprinted at Gillespie, where a mural honoring the Greensboro Six was unveiled on Monday.

The mural, developed with community input, aims to honor Greensboro Six’s impact on golf and the positive influence of local youth organization First Tee — Central Carolina.

Chris Simkins knew very little about his father’s story as a child. He associated joy with Gillespie; the way his father held his hand on the green and the laughs he shared with his golfing buddies.

Chris smiles as he describes it now. The origin story of Simkins Jr. at Gillespie, which Chris learned in his 20s, is underlined by fear, intimidation — and the bravery his father and other activists showed in the face of it all.

“I never learned about the story of the Greensboro Six in school because it was not in history books,” Chris said. “This mural is great because it sheds light on a story that really a lot of people don’t know about. But they will now, after this. Hopefully it will inspire younger generations to not only learn about the story but learn to play golf and learn to love the sport.”

Charlie Sifford Sr. just wanted to play golf

The mural also features Hall of Fame golfer Charlie Sifford Sr., who was born and raised in Charlotte and the first Black man to compete in a PGA Tour event in the South. He did so in the Greater Greensboro Open at nearby Sedgefield Country Club, in 1961, facing significant hostility, including death threats. This week, Sedgefield will host the 85th Wyndham Championship.

Charles Sifford Jr. was in Greensboro on Monday to take it all in. He knows the legal battles and intimidation his father faced. Sifford Sr. wasn’t trying to break down barriers, but simply play golf. His 1992 autobiography is appropriately named “Just Let Me Play.”

“They heckled him all around the golf course, but he managed to shoot even par that day,” Sifford Jr. said of his fathers’ historic Greater Greensboro Open performance. “Which was amazing, considering you got people yelling on your backswing, calling you names.”

Sifford Sr. received an anonymous phone call after the first round. In an 1985 interview with The News & Observer, he explained it was a death threat.

So what kept Sifford Sr. going?

“Determination,” Sifford Jr. said. “He had made up his mind when he was a little kid. That’s what he wanted to do for life. And he wasn’t going to let anybody or anything stand in his way. He was going to work hard, and he figured sooner or later, things would change.”

‘They had every right to play’

“Did you hear about Nocho?”

The question came from an older gentleman, strolling by the mural Monday afternoon. The murals’ creators, Vincent Ballentine and André Trenier, listened as the passerby explained the history of Nocho Park Golf Course — the Greensboro municipal nine-hole course built and designated for Black golfers in the 1950s.

As Chris explained, the fairways at Nocho were covered in weeds and rocks. Patches of dead grass dotted the greens. The whites-only Gillespie, in comparison, was pristine.

“They felt, if their tax dollars were used to build and maintain this course, they had every right to play at Gillespie,” Chris said.

So one chilly day in December, Simkins Jr. and his friends — Phillip Cooke, Joseph Studivent, Samuel Murray, Elijah Herring, and Leon Wolfe — decided to challenge the segregation at Gillespie. They paid the 75-cents greens fee and began playing. Shortly after, the head pro, Ernie Edwards, confronted them along with the local sheriff. Edwards cursed. He threatened. Then, Simkins Jr. famously told Edwards the group was playing for “the cause of democracy.”

Edwards and the sheriff retreated, but Simkins Jr. was still worried.

“I had to keep a club in my hand, just for protection,” Simkins Jr. told the Greensboro News & Record in 1990. “I was nervous out there, and after nine holes I couldn’t take any more, and I said ‘Let’s get out of here.’”

The golfers tossed their clubs and shoes into their car trunks. As Chris told it on Monday, one of his fathers’ friends remarked, “This isn’t finished, right?”

Nobody answered. They didn’t need to.

“They all knew there would be another episode to their daring and defiant adventure,” Chris said.

That evening, Simkins Jr. and his friends were arrested and charged with trespassing. They spent a few hours in jail before Chris’ grandfather bailed them out. During their trial, a naive Simkins Jr. observed the sheriff, solicitor, and judge laughing and lying on the stand, which made him realize that they had no chance of a fair trial. Their collective guilt was predetermined.

Chris described the ordeal as a “defining moment” for his father, one that sparked his 40-year career as a civil rights leader.

Simkins Jr. went on to help integrate the Greensboro City Council, swimming pools, tennis courts and hospitals. He mentored people like Skip Alston, the Greensboro Board of Commissioners chair and former president of the state NAACP organization. He also encouraged Sifford Sr. to break the color barrier at the Greater Greensboro Open.

But before he became a forceful leader, Simkins Jr. faced the legal repercussions of his actions. The Greensboro Six were sentenced to 30 days in jail. They appealed to a federal court where Judge Johnson Jay Hayes ruled that anyone who paid taxes and could be called to fight for the U.S. had the right to use public recreational facilities.

Hayes ordered the club to be integrated within three weeks.

“In about two weeks time, the clubhouse mysteriously burns down,” Simkins Jr. recalled in a 1997 interview for UNC’s Southern Oral History Program Collection.

The Greensboro Six lost their 1959 Supreme Court appeal, but Chief Justice Earl Warren’s dissent led Gov. Luther Hodges to commute their sentences. Gillespie golf course, later refurbished, hosted Black golfers like Sifford and PGA Tour winner Jim Thorpe.

The Greensboro Six have all been dead for over two decades. Sifford Sr. died in 2015. But at the mural unveiling on Monday, Chris and Sifford Jr. both had a feeling their respective fathers were celebrating along with them.

“I’m sure my father is jumping for joy in heaven right now,” Sifford Jr. said.

‘What they did helps pave the way’

Gillespie is now home to First Tee-Central Carolina, an organization that empowers “kids and teens through the game of golf and life skills instruction.” Golf has never been a racially diverse sport, but First Tee is trying to change that. After the mural unveiling, an estimated 75 children — including 5-year-old Greensboro resident Parker Johnson — participated in First Tee’s youth golf clinic.

“It’s his very first time actually having a golf club in his hand and swinging the ball and being out on the course,” Jayvon Johnson, Parker’s father, said. “He loves it now.”

It was unsurprisingly difficult for the youngster to describe exactly what fascinated him about the sport. But he happily described putting the ball “on the thing” (the tee) and displayed some coordinated swings on the driving range.

Jayvon learned about the clinic through a mutual friend and said he is going to sign Parker up for First Tee in the fall. And maybe, when Parker is older, he’ll look back at the mural overlooking the range and learn about its significance.

“It helps pave the way for [Parker] to even have the interest — to even have the access to this,” Jayvon said. “I’m inspired, by not just them, but also inspired by watching him fulfill the legacy of what those men were able to do years ago.”

After First Tee’s clinic wrapped up, the participants walked by the new vibrant, multicolored mural. Some stopped, placed down their golf bags, and stared.

Ballentine, the murals’ lead artist, stood in front of his creation to soak in the scene. There was pressure, admittedly, to ensure each figures’ likeness was accurate. To depict these activists’ stories in an honorable way.

And, if Monday’s reception and the pure wonder on the attendees’ faces was any indication, Ballentine and Trenier succeeded.

As the relatives of the Greensboro Six gathered for photos in front of the mural, a woman approached Chris. She identified herself as one of his father’s former employees and remarked, “he’d be very proud.”

“Yes,” Chris replied, staring upward at the towering painting of his dad that now overlooks Gillespie, “he would indeed.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Civil rights legacy of Charlie Sifford, ‘Greensboro Six’ honored at Gillespie Golf Course."