by Terry Marsh

Created on: March 08, 2009

Bill Spiller was the first African American golfer to play in a PGA tournament event. As a professional golfer, his name may never be associated with the greats of the game. But his tireless efforts for inclusion into the world of professional golf, and specifically the PGA Tour, have opened doors for other black golfers who benefited from his decade long battle with golf's premier tournament sanctioning committee.

Without Spiller's efforts, there may not have been a Tiger Woods, Jim Thorpe, Calvin Peete, or Lee Elder. Though golf had been played by African Americans for years, blacks were not allowed to participate in events sponsored by the PGA of America, the successor to today's PGA Tour, until Bill Spiller took his challenge to court in California. Spiller filed a lawsuit in 1948 based on being excluded from playing in the Richmond Open, a PGA of America sponsored tournament which turned away Spiller and his playing partner, Ted Rhodes.

Spiller and Rhodes qualified for the Richmond Open in January 1948 by finishing in the top 60 at the Los Angeles Open two weeks earlier. But tournament officials prevented them from playing because they were not members of the PGA of America. However, PGA of America bylaws stipulated that membership was only open to Caucasians. Spiller challenged those bylaws, fighting the PGA of America for 13 years, often depending upon caddying jobs and teaching golf lessons to feed his family because he was unable to earn a living on the professional golfers tour.

Bill Spiller was born on October 25, 1913 in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. He was a natural athlete who lettered in two sports while in high school, but didn't begin golfing until he was 30. He attended Wiley College in Marshall, Texas and earned enough credits to obtain his teaching certificate in Texas, but moved to California to live with his mother. Spiller's golf game was completely self-taught, learning his swing by mimicking professional golfers. He was a quick study, and by the mid-1940's, he had become good enough to win a number of black amateur tournaments.

But Spiller wanted to compete against the best, and the best players played on the pro circuit. His motivation came from the Los Angeles Open, when on opening day he shot a 68 to tie for the lead with Ben Hogan. Though he didn't fare as well for the rest of the tournament, he felt that this qualified him to play with the best.

Up to this point, the only events that black golfers were allowed to play in were tournaments not

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