8 NOVEMBER 13-19, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | law clerk who was part of Flanigan’s regular Sunday foursome, was the eventual winner of the tournament, establishing the East Denver Golf Club as a perennial force among CSGA clubs. Hosting the tournament turned out to be a pivotal moment for the East Denver Golf Club. The joy and camaraderie members found in the regional gathering launched the club into growth mode. Shortly after the tournament, and perhaps infl uenced by other CSGA organizations, the East Denver Golf Club inquired with the USGA about proper procedure for establishing a women’s division, and created a free junior program to ensure that future generations would be exposed to golf at no cost to their parents. “When we moved to Denver, we moved literally two blocks from City Park. Seven kids in my family...you ain’t getting no allow- ance with seven kids. So, I went down to the golf course to caddy and shag balls,” recalls Woodard, a member of the East Denver junior club who later spent a few years on the PGA Tour. “This junior program that got me into golf was run by the East Denver Golf Club and was 100 percent free. You didn’t pay a penny...I spent all my time at the golf course. I ventured down there to make money, but it was all over when I started playing. I was out there golfi ng my ball.” When Denver next played host to the CSGA tournament, in 1954, America was in the early stages of a golf boom. President Dwight Eisenhower was perhaps the most famous golfer in the world, and attracted national attention to golf in Denver. Along with Augusta National, where he played fre- quently during his presidency, Eisenhower’s other home course away from home was Cherry Hills, about ten miles south of Mamie Eisenhower’s parents’ home. Ike was at Cherry Hills the weeks before and after receiving the Republican nomina- tion in 1952. He vacationed in Denver his fi rst three years in offi ce, when a typical day started with the president handling offi cial duties out of Lowry Air Force Base in the morning before playing Cherry Hills in the afternoon, with matches arranged by club pro Rip Arnold. In 1953 alone, Eisenhower played sixteen rounds of golf in Denver. During another trip, Ike suffered a heart attack the morning after playing 27 holes at Cherry Hills. While golf was growing in popularity, Black golfers were fi ghting for equal playing opportunities. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Edu- cation, which established that segregated facilities were unconstitutional, Alfred and Dr. Hamilton Holmes, a father and son, demanded that Atlanta integrate its golf courses. After an initial ruling in their favor that set aside certain days of the week when Blacks could play, the Holmes family ques- tioned whether they should accept limited access at the expense of full integration, and there was dissent among their supporters as to how far the Holmeses should push the case. Future Supreme Court Justice Thur- good Marshall, serving as the director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund at the time, was skeptical of devoting resources to a case about golf. Like others at the organization, he believed the case would benefi t a privileged few and would take the NAACP away from its core mission. “As the suit headed to the Supreme Court, it became clear that Marshall was wrong: vigorous reaction from both whites and blacks made Holmes v. Atlanta far more than just a case about ‘a few doctors,’” wrote Lane Demas in Game of Privilege. “Instead, it was one of the fi rst instances in which all Atlanta citizens confronted segregation in post-Brown America.” Finding a Solution After Biffl e was turned away from Park Hill, his foursome fi led a complaint with the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commis- sion alleging Park Hill practiced a policy of discrimination “based on race and ances- try.” Shearer, who operated the course, was named as a defendant along with the Clayton Trust, which still owned the land. Because the mayor was a trustee for the estate, Biffl e’s attorneys argued that the land was subject to the city’s anti-discrimination laws, which prohibited public facilities from refusing service to Blacks. The Colorado Committee to Oppose Dis- crimination implored the mayor to act. “It is true that access to golf facilities may not be as serious as in the other areas but, because athletics and sports have generally been fi rst to open doors to persons of all races and creeds…we were deeply shocked and troubled by the recent incidents in which some of our citizens were denied equal golf opportunities,” the group wrote. The committee’s acknowledgement that golf was not as “serious” as other areas was reminiscent of Thurgood Marshall’s posi- tion, yet the CCOD worried that reports of discrimination at the height of tourist season would give visitors the wrong impression of Colorado. Mayor Richard Batterton instructed City Attorney Robert Wham to investigate; he wanted to understand his liability as mayor and did not want to be an accessory to discrimination at Park Hill. In addition to Biffle’s case, the mayor was aware of Judge Flanigan’s rejection by the CGA and was sympathetic to his cause, although he did not have jurisdiction over the private organization. Batterton had a professional relationship with the judge and was set to reappoint him to the bench the following month, and the swearing-in ceremony might be uncomfortable if the situation was not resolved. Ed Mate, Biffl e’s former student, is now the head of the CGA. He says the organi- zation missed a warning that would have helped it avoid the controversy that erupted after Flanigan was turned away. During one of his many roles at the organization, Mate interviewed Denver golf historian Dan Hogan about the incident. Hogan, who was White, played most of his golf out of City Park alongside Flanigan, Biffl e and other members of the East Denver Golf Club. Be- fore the 1961 tournament, Hogan was invited to address the CGA Board of Governors at Denver Country Club. “My purpose was to see if they might consider membership for the East Denver Club in the Colorado Golf Association,” Hogan said. “They didn’t think it was a good idea. I told them…they might reap a whirlwind about that and it could have been avoided. They were a well-organized club with as much right out there as Wellshire’s men’s club or City Park’s men’s club to be a part of the Colorado Golf Association, but they didn’t feel it was the proper thing to do at this time.” As Hogan predicted, word of Flanigan’s rejection soon spread around the country. “This is part of our history,” Mate says. “It’s not something that we’re proud of, but we need to be honest with ourselves. This is part of who we were. Part of what society was.” Denver Rabbi Robert Hammer dedicated a sermon to Flanigan’s plight. “A Negro can- not play golf on the sacred links of Cherry Hills Country Club?” Hammer said from the bimah. “There is no reason for this and there is no excuse for this.” The Denver NAACP mocked the CGA by honoring the eventual champion, Sam Valuck, as the “Caucasian Amateur Golf Champion of Colorado.” Rip Arnold, the Cherry Hills pro who arranged games for Eisenhower, wrote Flanigan a letter of apology. Meanwhile, City Attorney Wham held a series of meetings with a delegation rep- resenting the East Denver Golf Club that included former State Representative Ike Moore, Flanigan’s old law partner, and law clerk Benny Collier, Flanigan’s frequent golf partner. The East Denver emissaries made the recommendation that legislators enact a policy barring discrimination on munici- pal golf courses. Wham secured sponsors on Denver City Council, and in November 1961, Ordinance No. 316 passed unanimously, making it unlawful to knowingly conduct a golf tournament if any participation is known to be denied because of race, creed, color, national origin, ethnic or religious consideration. Wham suggested to Batterton that the recommendations be followed in conjunc- tion with holding informal talks with the CGA, and not as a substitute. It’s unclear whether such talks materialized, but the CGA Board of Governors dropped its ban on Black clubs the following month and approved the East Denver Golf Club as its newest member. The CGA President said the board “felt that our responsibilities to all of the citizens of Colorado should be paramount and override any private or self- ish considerations.” Passing the Baton Woodard, whose fi rst set of golf clubs and shoes were given to him by Flanigan, became the fi rst Black man to make the fi nals of the CGA Championship. He credits the East Denver Golf Club not only with getting him started in golf, but with supporting him fi nancially for his fi rst few years as a profes- sional golfer. “I said at ten years old, ‘That’s what I want to do for a living.’” Woodard remembers. “‘I want to go to the golf course every day and play golf,’ and I did it.” After his career as a professional golfer ended, Woodard returned to Denver to work as a golf professional, eventually rising to Di- rector of Golf for the City of Denver. Inspired by the junior program that fi rst exposed him to the game, Woodard established the city’s First Tee program that provided instruction to hundreds of local children. Mate, who has known Woodard for years, also dedicated his professional career to expanding golf opportunities for Denver youth. After working his way up from intern to head of the CGA, Mate created the Golf in Schools initiative, which works with local schools to provide instruction on-site. “Schools are desperate for these types of programs,” he says. “When we show up with instructors, equipment, thoughtful curriculum that is safe and fun, and you see kids that never even knew what a golf club was hitting that ‘birdie ball,’ you just see that big smile on their face of that shot euphoria that those of us who fell in love with the game have all experienced.” Like Woodard, Mate caddied at City Park as a kid and earned an Evans Caddie Scholar- ship at Boulder. His proudest accomplish- ment as head of the CGA is its Solich Caddie and Leadership program, which now has four chapters in Colorado. “Boulder is not exactly the most diverse city,” Mate says, “But if you walk in the Evans Scholarship House and look at the com- posite, you would see women, men, Black, White, tan, because of the Colorado Golf Association. …We have a diverse population. The Ethiopian Community, the Hispanic Jerome Biffl e (far right) was an Olympic track star and amateur golfer from Denver. DENVER EAST GOLF CLUB Changing Course continued from page 6
