PORTSMOUTH GOLF COURSE INTEGRATED - The Washington Post

August 07, 2024

Celeb Gist

PORTSMOUTH, APRIL 8 -- The private, all-white Bide-A-Wee golf course was opened to the

public today after 34 years of using city land, and the first player to

tee off was black.

Harold Goodman, a 51-year-old shipyard worker whose children gave him

a set of golf clubs for Christmas, led an entourage of reporters through

the light rain toward the first tee.

"This is a commitment I have to my kids," he said. "I have instilled

principles in them, and when they gave me a set of clubs for Christmas,

I told them that as soon as Bide-A-Wee opened, I'd be there."

In a lighter moment, he told reporters he hoped he would be able to

hit his first shot. He did -- 50 feet, into a puddle.

The golf course has been operated on 134 acres of city land by J.

Chandler Harper since 1954. Harper pays $300 a month for the land, and

his lease expires in 1992.

Harper subleases the course to the private Bide-A-Wee Golf Club Inc.

The club has never had a black member.

Last year, Harper, 74, asked the council to extend his lease for five

years so he could make about $100,000 in improvements. He said he needed

the extension to give him sufficient time to recoup those expenses.

The extension was opposed by black civic groups that claimed the club

and course were thinly veiled forms of segregation.

The course was opened to the public today under an agreement that

allows Harper to keep the lease as long as the public -- including

blacks -- is allowed access to the course. The agreement also prohibits

the private club from discriminating against those applying for

membership on the basis of race, creed, nationality or sex.

Goodman teed off shortly after George C. Jones, a black who was

rebuffed on two earlier tries to play golf on the course, asked to be

allowed to become a Class A member of the club. He was given a list of

the club's board of directors so he could contact members to ask for

sponsorship. The club requires two sponsors for each applicant.

Club President Leon Lastings said he would sponsor Jones, but added

that the club membership is currently full, and there is a waiting list

of 22 names.

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