Remembering Black golf pioneer Calvin Peete

As the U.S. and European teams tee off in the 2025 Ryder Cup competition this weekend at the treacherous Beth Page Black course near New York, it is the 40th anniversary of the late Calvin Peete’s second appearance in the historic tournament.

Peete became the first Black golfer to be a member of the Ryder Cup American team in 1983, and the squad won the coveted cup.

The Europeans won the 1985 match, bringing Peete’s team record to 1-1, but he excelled in both events. Peete’s individual Ryder Cup match record was 4-2 with a tie.

He won over 64% of potential points for the USA, which ranks 37th on the all-time points list.

Peete’s path to 12 PGA tournament wins and two selections to Ryder Cup teams did not begin on country club courses or on a college team.

In a 1983 New York Times article, Peete said he saw how much money pro golfers were earning, which swayed him to give the game a try.

Born in Detroit in 1943, Peete would later live with his grandmother in Hayti, Missouri. At 11, he and his father moved to Pahokee, Florida, and he would later drop out of high school in eighth grade.

A self-made entrepreneur who picked beans and corn to support his family, Peete would purchase a station wagon and travel to sell vegetables and other goods to migrants. He was in Rochester, New York, doing that when he decided to take up golf at age 24.

Within six months, he was breaking 80, and a year later he was posting scores in the low 70s.

To put that in perspective, I and many other golfers who have played scores of rounds have never shot under 80 over 18 holes.

 Peete was skilled with his driver, rarely missing the fairway. He was admittedly a poor putter once he earned his PGA Tour card, but his driving accuracy helped him stay competitive in his early years until that part of his game improved.

Peete led the PGA Tour in driving accuracy for 10 straight years starting in 1981. He earned the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average over Jack Nicklaus in 1984. 

“Some of the players still drive farther than I do,” Peete said in the Times’ profile. “But I’m always in the fairway, and they’re sometimes in the trees.”

Peete’s first PGA win was at the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1979, which made him the fourth Black golfer to win a PGA event. Pete Brown, Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder had previously won tournaments.

Peete won four tournaments in 1982, tying Kansas City native Tom Watson and Craig Stadler for most on the tour. His biggest individual title came in 1985 when he won the PGA Players Championship tournament.

As his career was taking off, Peete knew that Ryder Cup eligibility standards included having at least a high school degree. He would return to Detroit to take the GED high school equivalency test in 1982, and he passed.

“I love this game. You’re out in the fresh air and you can meet good people, like the president of the United States — I once played a round with President Ford — and you have a chance to make $400,000 a year,” Peete told the Times.

Peete would win $3.2 million combined on the PGA and PGA Champions tours, and Elder and he were the first Black golfers to play in the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.

After the 1983 Masters, Peete was asked his opinion of the tournament’s traditions.

“Until Lee Elder, the only Blacks at the Masters were caddies or waiters,” he said.

“To ask a Black man what he feels about the traditions of the Masters is like asking him how he feels about his forefathers who were slaves.”

He, and other Black golfing pioneers, helped smooth the path for a young golfer named Tiger Woods, who made his PGA debut in 1996.

Peete died at the age of 71 on April 19, 2015.

The Reid Roundup

Luther Burden III had his first breakout NFL game with three catches for 101 yards and a long touchdown from QB Caleb Williams on a trick play in Sunday’s win over Dallas.…Former NFL receiver DeSean Jackson has Delaware State at 3-1 in his first year as head coach the 3-1 Hornets are ranked seventh in the NCAA HBCU Top 10 poll…Coach Michael Locksley has Maryland at 4-0 after topping host Maryland 27-10 last Saturday in his team’s Big Ten opener. The Terrapins host Washington and Nebraska respectively on Oct. 11 and 18…Does anyone really care that Kawhi Leonard might have received $22 million to circumvent the NBA salary cap. I’m a fan of journalist Pablo Torre, but this story is overblown.