unñú

that this is where they learned to pl ay. if you got thin skin, if you can't take it, wrong pla ce. [music playi ng] cy young, jr.: muni, that was the blacks fi rst started play ing. billy gardenhight: one of the best pl aces where you see camaraderie with the white and the bla ck. pete mcdaniel: it's you, the golf ball, and the golf cour se. no one can influence tha t-- no o ne. [theme m ic] - [a nnouncer]: major funding for reel south was provided by: etv endowm ent, the national endowment for the ar ts center for asian-american med ia south ar

ts and by the corporation for public broadcast ing, a private corporation funded by the american peop le. [birds chirping] unky mus playi ] coez baxte i got io golfnd reallstar te gettg just swamped th fai re d mistak and frurati on i id, th is my ge! [laughs] is is my g e. billgardhight: ercise, t what ty buddie have n, you ow. en t preachers geout th e. anthey cus ery noand th . pete maniel: obsession is e word, anit'sure insa ty. cy yng, jr.:t's someing fferent

ery ti you swinthe club.dal raord: i beeve we a p lay the ga for theame thin and we have fo400 ye s.that etional feeling imp ac that'she momen thate play for.dwight bson: and play ery day at i canet up t ofhe b. matt bacoate, jr.: mental therapy, physical ther apy, and sp ort. cy young, jr.: but hower, it'the chal nge is what love out playing golf. 's the challen . it'she purchal nge. te mcdanl: becau nhing ats you like golf just absutely hamms you on d ays. buthen the nexday, itmay kissou on the ch eek anleave u justotally in le all ov aga inspeake2: i think it helpmy ment outlookjust genal lyyou know. billy gardenhit: i jt put christ fst, fami second, anthen golf. cortez baxter: when everything cut and dried, said and do ne e swg is thehi

ng. upr bo, lower dy-- 's got tmove tog her.it's jt like m ic rm on evybody knows the muni. just about everybody in western north caro lina that learned to play golf, thi s is where they learned to play it, including me. [jazzyusic]darius rker: likit is toy, on mt mornin at ni--

in t 1920s, lf had ctured e intere and imanations m an and in this booming city of asheville, north carol ina, public parks were being built for the residents and touris ts including a public golf cour se. it was to be one of the finest courses in the coun try, according to the desig ner. but it would not be so difficult for the average go lfer to despa ir. and it was said that at $0.50 a rou nd the course would soon pay for its elf. keith jarrett: you know, it was the first municipal golf cou rse north osouth calina th the ient of g ting the golfo the common m . rius rucr: the coursedesignerould bece a legend. and his na was dond ro ss. he was a scots man. he had come to america with $2 in his poc ket. quickly establishing himself, first as a play er and then as the foremost builder of golcour ses. the rmland ang thswannanori ver so becamthe hevillemunicipagolf course, which opened in 19

27. while ross built both private and public cours es he was on record saying, there's no good reason why the l abel "a rich man's game" should be hung on go lf. cy young, jr.: to me muni is very histori calbecausthat washere theblacksirst staed playing. usic pla ng] billy gardenhight: two fellow friends of mine was talking about caddying the biltmore for est. and the money that they made, $3 and $4-- back in '45, that with a lot of mo ney. and i went to the golf course with t hem. and the first day there, i made $3, man, and thought i was ri ch. that's at start me to ddying, u kn ow dari rucker:he guyswho we caddying hereat t muni d the otr cls in the940s and 50s re carrying a trition at we back a w genera ons. golf had ce to asheville and many places in the s outh during the later part of the 19th cent ury. d photogphs ugh the ca

des sh the clo relationship afrin-americ s had working at the clubs often carrying the clu bs. it was money, yes. but it was, you mighsay, a med b ag billgardenhit: well,you had me good guys and you had some that had nothing to do with y ouor wha ver. dwig bryson:h man, you got rks everhere you go. don't ca what yo do.but y not work fo 'em caddifor 'esometimes you hato ansometimeyou didn't.dariusucker: but it introduced them the gamthat wou chan the liv es arning it and aying it any w they could. biy gardenght: wel we lened our ings frothe guy thate caddiefr om. te mcdanl: the teaway, how theyet up to t b all, and l of tha- we got th from them.dwightryson: and if yo found 5 iron, 4 ir on at was t club yomasted d yoplayed wh it softer that, i wasa pro th, i thought.

cortez baxter: now, y'all will make the second course. and 's--hey're onthe tee ght downhe re.now,ust go rht do the h l. you'll s ' em. e starte- i geteveryby ned . likeoday, itasn't nowe at. but so days, it's he ic. you knowhat i mean?you got lks impa ent. ifou can'trive turn youlicense in. it's jussomethin that like to do. fact, ion't ow what wo ulddo if didn't he th to fallack on ani enjoit thoro hly. mean, it not worto me. pete maniel: hs soone who tot al in love with the gamof g ol you nt to seanld-timerho eatst, livest, breats it?that's bax. [mic playing]

cortez baxter: i never thought it'd go this far. never thght i'dget is deep it. t i get ep and deeper.matt bacte, jr.:'ve be chargedith rtez stating that i'm the one that got him hoo ked. cortez baxter: a friend of mine, he brought a 7 i ron toork onni ght. he wasn'a golf . wa't nonbeside crew o there ofi ve-- clnup cr .we staed pitchg arnd with at c lu buthey hadorseshoeox es. i n't knowhat e diance horsh oe-- t anywaywe'd chi wi that 7 on. and e day, o of theuys sa let'go to thgolf course. i said, ll i n't have c lub.i don'have-- didn't ne of u thonly tng we d beeen us w that 7 on. d we camout re andwe jusknocd

it around. i ot a-- i s livingt 111 and street. shot 111hat da at's the rson i remembert so viv ly. that wasure, the.if i wn't learngi'd tu it lo e. but learn sothing every time i pk up a club.i te folkshat, a theylook ame like,ou're crazy. but do. it so much to arn. it's big, biga me.pete maniel: billy waa stud-- likelarger than li fe.they cled him ack ja -- u know, e blackjack nkl s.big ma could h the bal a mi, a greashort ga me. he was friendly when he knew y

ou.but he didn'tnow you,he could bkind of ern. and at's how wkind of looked to billy,lthough heas n't th much olr than wwe re. heas like elder statesmabecaus he had so mh experi ce.he was great p yer. d -- you kw, he ndof tk over bck g ol inhiarea, tobe hont with you. chare coxie: playeda lot th billy d billy uld hit it. billy uld holdhis own th it.he and would py, and wd have a l of fun geth er lly's ke me. 's getti a littl old w, and e can'get arou like hused o, but 's stilllly gardhi ght.cg robson: i gladsee him t he re th has bn his life. thisas been s life-- olf.i'm glado see m up, co b ackto plang aftere hathat legaken o . yoknow, yothink abt th at he didn golf alhis fe, he cldn't

do hat. you n't kn ow. yoknow t t? yodon't know. billy gardhight:well, my mom, she al ways told me to don't be afraid to do what you got to do. so we'd be walking through town a lot of times, and people used to step off the side walk to let white folks by. and e'd tell me stay othere, you k now. so i just grew up that w . most stores had two founta ins. they had one white and one colo red. sears & roebuck and all those places, that we couldn 't-- wa't supsed to dnk ouof the wte fountain. and wh we goto high hoola lot us usedo say, don't wt no lored war to da want ite wa r. we'd go er the and getrun outhe storor whatever. at's morli it. ight bryn: most acks uldn't py out re until mond ays. weouldt pl ay t i coulsneak on the back ni ne. billy rdenhigh no, whe i fit saw

ityou kn they hadhat theyalled cadds' day, whicwas monday. so i started hanging around the clubhou se picking up balls and washing down the por ch. at the age of 13 i started playing pretty g ood. anthey wou take mearoundnd they would mb le.and ife won moy, i'd get a ttle b .so that'the wai rely gottart ed [mic playing] speaker 3: aww, man. billy gardenhight: people would drive by the golf co urse and they'd holler at and throw s tuff outhe car m or wh not. back when th did ange, in 954, when they made the ruling that they had to integrate public parks, a fella named boris la yton and myself went to the golf course on sun day. i had a lot of mirac le. i wasn't sca red. and the next day in t paper it had negroes show at golf cou rse. and people in beverly hills talking about sell ing their houses and whatn

ot. and it went on like that for a few d ays. then the golf clubhouse got burndo wn sohey figured at somne set the clubhouse on f ire because of t his. but at that time, a lot of black f olks were just raid to do things because thi ngs would haen to th somet e.dariusucker: even before the fire, it was clear that many in ashevi lle opposed desegregation at m uni. the ty enterined ofrs to sell theou rse to a prite groupn order skirthe deseegation sue. but biy and hers prosted the citcouncil et ing, and the sale was stopp ed. billy gardenhight: the lawyer a sked meo make aittle sp . and made a speh that iwould ke to be pro one dayand pleaseon't selthe go course,nd whatnot. councien laugh at us, id y'all boys gon back me. wein't goi to sellthatolf cour, you know. d here ware with lawyerand anher eldey man. th called em b oy u know, things ke that,you kn,

stick th you ll yo life, y k now. darius rker:he cit reilt the ubho uswithout e secondlo or. but er the next few ars, tegratedlay increa d, and asheville muni became the first municipally ow ned public course in the south to embrace full desegregati on. billgardenhit: buafter we got started, man, they start flirti ng. i said, oh. pete mcdaniel: but this was freed om. this gave us a place to pl ay. that's the greatest rt about olf ishat it'sn invidual e ort. it you, thgolf bal anthe golfourse. one cannfluenceha t-- no oneyou're totallyn cont l. and r people or a people--ho had never en in corol of anythingi th in thatas a reaappeal of the ge of g f. rius rucker:fter bil and the other african-americ ans flooded out to muni and played any day they wanted, in 1959 a group of pla yers organized the skyview golf association

and tourname nt. its hope was to promote golf in the black commun ity and help players to become professio nal. the first skyview golf tournament was held in 1 960. and it soon became one of "the" tournam ents on the african-american golf circu it. [music playi ng] cortez baxter: skyview was the biggest thing in western north cali na. dwight bryson: b big jor ev ent. billy gardenhight: well, the best year, we had 254 golf ers. dwight bryson: people from north, south, east, west-- they're coming in cadill acs. they're coming in buicks fords, even taxica bs. cortez baxter: well, it's got a long, colorful histo ry.

charlie coxie: yeah, i've seen this place just covered up with peo ple. you couldn't be-- you couldn't get a rking ple anywhere around h er paul evett: i rember bacin the day whenou wouldave crowds of people actually lined up on t front se anon the bacsi de. tt bacoatejr.: my of thegolfers o becamega players they play here every y ear. dwight bryson: and these guys, they all play in wha t's called the chitlin' circ uit. and they play in their tournaments all arou nd you kn ow. cortez baxter: we had some tremendous golf ers come thrgh h er pe mcdanie you nam it, ey playehe re. e elder,harlie ons, chuc thorpejim thor, jim dent james black, nate starks bobby stroble, all the gre ats play here, ithis touam en you were a black golfer and you were worth your sa lt you played in the skyv iew. billy gardenhight: oh, man, i know it w as-- it was beautiful to se

e-- at that time, i would say in 1963, ' 64 that many black folks mixed with a few white fol ks. pete mcdaniel: and these gu were good. they'd come on this golf course and shoot 63, 64, or 65. cy young, jr.: the first time i remem ber this guwas onhe pro t m-- black guy-- and his name was chuck tho rpe. and chuck was getting ready to hit the ball on the first tee, and he was using the 3 wood off thero und, and knocd it on e gr ee and i thought, holcow, at man c play so g olf. and guess wh at? he was tou gh. i'll never forget him. heck of a golf er. pe mcdanie there weren't many tournam ents that blacks could play in. billy rdenhigh well, had n

er happed beforlike t s. they h had touamts but usll y it was tournantthat was spons ed by white folks in miami or califor nia or somewre like at. but asheville, north carol ina? dwight bryson: it was good for the communi ty. most of the adult blacks knew the skyview was coming to to wn. it was like the parade christmas para de. "skyview's in to wn. skyvie w--" billy gardenhight: skyview really was jumping at one ti me. i mean, we had a party on thursday ni ght. and we'd have a thousand people at the da nce. dwight bryson: band, banqu et-- they'd call your name on the speaker. "andinner ofirst pla --" mattacoate, .: betiful fe ingthat it eated wiin me, a i'm re, manyther neg es. it hadn indeble ma rk [music playi ng] paul everett: i really wish that african-americans

knew about the history of what took p lace as their partipation increasein g olf.and yohave qui a fegolfers now o have nidea of ck in the day en we hato go ve inhe private hom beuse we wen't allowed to live in the motels and hotels in asheville because of the jim crow l s.and, you know, that evol ved. anhow i catell youstories that you pba bly wouldn believebut lot of t guy - i ow of onguy, bby stroble, heould tral with afryingan in higolf bag because we weren't allowed to eat in certain restau nts and whatnot.and yojust didhe bestyou cod with wt you d. buthe stors are plti fu jee alle well, ts waone of t only places weould pla you ow, backn the y. they g a lot ohist ormostll of thblack pros thareally-- hat pled the tr used to play e sk iew. back tn it was more afrin-amer anson thega tour,ack in t '60snd '70s,han

it is now. beuse theyad thesetype trnaments here yocould pl every week. this walike a springbod to trying to get tthe a to ur.but noyou don'have--eitherou play the pga touror plathe wecom you go nd j ob. pete mcdaniel: it was a place for them to play competitively and earn a little bit of m oney and plus get their hustle on. which it was-- they a lot of ti mes made more money hustling than they did from the g olf tournament purse its elf. keith jarrett: chuck thorpe, quite a charac ter. you have part of the thorpe golfing fam ily. he wonhe skyview five or six ti mes. they came to town and it was just-- it was rollicki ng. and all these guys were like th at. they were characte rs. and you don't see that much anym ore. and it's-- i miss th at. and miss tha part of the skyv iew. buit was fun back in the d ay.

daus rker:0 year lar, thekyviewradioncontinueevery ju, with billy stilrunning e tourna me from the registration ta e.petecdaniel: i left here in 1993. i've en gone yea rs daus rucke and a d thatrew up i muni comeback to ay conneed tois rootsn go lf pete mcdanie it's 10-over,ight n . but at's a rig ht cortez bter: is that right? te mcdaniel: thas all ght. ey're familyplain ansimp lemost of the olde guyselped rae me.lonnieilli: i remeer wh you were a little baby.pete mcdanl: it ju warmmy heart ust to s them, a see thestill ove the divot, ai say, d ill lovi this game. richd pea, wt's ppenin', aby? richarpea: howyou do' brot r?how's erything? te mcdanl: how you doin', m man? chard pea: good ein' you man. loe gillia i guessi've beecoming o h ere for 40me yea .and it almost ke a homom ing, becausas soon you e each o er u want thug eachth er. yowant to eet each other with

some al mea ng anstrengthf all ofthe yes that goes by. and that reallywhat's iorta nt usic pla ng] dariusucker: t tourment connues to bng peopltogeth . fred turn: i'm rdy toet out he and e what can do is morning. dari rucker: witfolks li brotrs fred d leroy rman king therip fr chicagoevery ar to co eteon t course eyrew up on. ed turma i'm e of the g uys, i n't careow well know u,en i t it up m wholattitudehang es cause m a winner. and i believthat i c beat the average guy out th ere. pete mcdiel: they'rall nervous.they'rout hereoday aying in golf toname nt anit chaes everyth ing. ur nerveare e dge.lee shherd: heguys, ad to e everyby again is y ea assual, fothe skyview. thfield

is littlelit this ear.but xt year 'll be full.i guartee you at. i omise yoth at. pe mcdanie i wouldlike to paho mage tohe peoe whoseshoulds we s tandon todaymembers the skiew golfssociation. cy yng, jr.: can't say enough about b ly. 's a pio er. anhe's thene thatengineed the svi ew. d he'seally pued it hard. anit makesim fe good wh everhe is ab to see many ople comg out fo it.lee eprd: thisis bil gardenhig htthe direor of th skyviegolf assiati onhe'slso my f her. t if youould, give hiround ofppla us [cheerg and apau se] usic pla ng] petecdaniel:ou see all of tse old pple out re. it's a bygon era.we'rstill holdg on. 're still play g. 're stilenjoyinghe g am t we jusdidn't tnsfer ou love othe gameo ouki ds. keh jarret especlly inhe skyview

i don't see young african-american golfe rs. i ven't foye ars. that unfortute and ipe that end willha nge. pete maniel: aolf tourment at has mnt this mu ch which has that much history, can't just go a way. and the way for its legacy to live on is through yo uth. [mus playi ] darius rker: andilly? heoldiers , playing every y he can enjoying eve round h can. billy gaenhight: well, i love it. i'm just glad i'm able to come out and pl ay. someeople, wn they have ampations a thi ng ke that, ty just ge up. i'm not ging up. i says i gonna keep goi till i--thgood masr come aer me. usic pla

ng] fredurman: ienjoy eing thi cause i e the pele are ming tog her. ani really feel that this is the way it should be all of e ti mepete maniel: h are we goi to ge know ch othernles we g to kn each her? you knowhat i mean? and thgolf crse is a perct p la meet ople people w may n ha anything common expt trng to play thiga me. rtezaxte i justnjoy l ife. i enjoy it. [mus playi ng] my wife told me one day, said, honey you nna die the go cou rsi sa, i'd diha ppy.[funky music playing]

♪ - [announcer]: major fundi ng for reel south was provided by: etv endowm ent, the national endowment for the ar ts center for asian-american med ia south ar ts and by the corporation for public broadcast ing, a private corporation funded by the american peop le. ♪ you' watchinpbs. ♪♪

w

p on "reel south." - [woman] it became this placthat was a safe ha ven for black famies to bui a comni ty - [verie] th histori african-erican t own is engfed by ius tr - [wan] u've got4 industri facilit ies and tremendous potential for incide nts and releases every d ay. - [verie] anone man refuses to leave his h ome and his ancestral commun ity. - [stacey] my relatives are direct descend ants of the pple who foded moss lle. freela ve [valerie discer "mosslle" up nexon el sou th.