9 NOVEMBER 13-19, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Community, has just been incredibly con- nected to this program, and we have now become the primary path to receiving Evans Scholarships in the state of Colorado. As a direct result of that, the Evans House went from 98 percent White men to 50 percent women, and men and women of all colors. If I do nothing else in my tenure at the CGA, I’ll feel pretty darn good about that.” Even if they had not challenged Denver golf’s racial barriers in 1961, Flanigan and Biffl e would have im- pacted generations of local golfers and put clubs in the hands of an untold number of kids who would not have been exposed to golf without the in- fl uence of the East Denver Golf Club. “[Biffle] didn’t try to coach us much in golf, but he was certainly a life coach,” Mate says. “At practice, he would get us started and then drive his Cadillac up to the fourth tee and he would stand on the tee box, and he’d have these Wilson Staff Pro Staffs in sleeves and if we hit the green, he would give us a golf ball. …Sometimes he’d play with us. He’d go out and join us and we played for fi ctitious money. I once owed him $20 million.” Although the East Denver Golf Club faded away in the 1980s, its members remained a fi xture at City Park. Flanigan and Biffl e’s friendship spanned parts of six decades. In 1997, when Tiger Woods won the Masters, Flanigan invited his old golf buddies to celebrate. “I had the fellows over to the house, had them bring some barbecue and catfi sh,” Flanigan told the Denver Post. “We sat there and were just over- whelmed.’” Biffl e added. “I was delighted to see him win that, and do as well as he’s done. It opens a lot of doors for Blacks. I think you’ll fi nd more and more Black kids taking up golf because of him.” Biffle died of pulmonary fibrosis in 2002, but the former long jumper lived long enough to touch the Olympic torch one last time as it passed through Denver on its way to the Games in Salt Lake City. After his death, members of his blood fam- ily and golf family spread his ashes at City Park. Despite multiple bypass operations, Flanigan played regularly at City Park into his eighties. He died in 2008, a few years before the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse, named in part after the pioneering judge, opened in Denver. In 2018, Park Hill Golf Course shut down indefi nitely. The Clayton Trust sold the land to developers who sought to turn the golf course into a commercial real estate venture, but a conservation easement placed on the property dictated that the land remain green space. Despite ballot proposals and litigation seeking a lifting of the easement, the prop- erty remained an empty, dystopian shell of a former golf course for years, with “Keep Out” signs dotting the perimeter. In early 2025, Mayor Mike Johnston announced that the city had agreed to a land swap to acquire the property and end the stalemate; last month, the park reopened at least partially as open space. Money from the just-passed Vibrant Denver bond package will help complete the former golf course’s transformation. Around the time the Park Hill Golf Course closed, City Park Golf Course underwent a massive renovation, part of a fl ood-mit- igation plan to make the course more sustainable. As Woodard envisioned, the new layout includes a dedicated four-hole course for juniors. The club- house atop the hill provides a view of the city skyline beyond the neighboring Five Points community, with the Front Range and the Rocky Mountains in the background. A display in the lobby in- cludes a brief history of the East Denver Golf Club, with photos of a young Tom Woodard receiving instruction in the junior program. “Tub” Morris, the former CGA ex- ecutive who told Flanigan the CGA would not accept Black clubs, was in- ducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Bob Shearer, the owner of the Park Hill Club, was inducted in 1996. Woodard was formally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012, but notes that neither Flanigan nor Biffl e is a member. “That’s something I think must be ad- dressed,” Woodard says. “Those two men did as much for golf in this state as anyone else.” David Duberstein is a recipient of the 2024 Coyne Prize and a member of the Colorado Golf Association. A Denver East Golf Club team photo for a 1958 tournament in Springfi eld, Illinois. DENVER EAST GOLF CLUB
