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Date: 04 Nov 2006 13:58:41
From: IMJ
Subject: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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Before Tiger, there was Peete
By Thom Loverro
July 29, 2006
The slender elderly man holding court on the fairway at Langston Golf
Course yesterday morning with a group of young black children summed up
his life and his lesson for them with this dead-on verbal strike: "I am
considered the best ball-striker in the history of the game," Calvin
Peete said as the kids surrounded him. "A black man. So they can't say
that we can't do it."
Calvin Peete did it and did it well. He was considered one of golf's
most accurate drivers when he played in the 1980s and won 11 PGA Tour
events, including the Tournament Players Championship in 1985. He is on
the short list of pioneers in golf who have blazed the trail Tiger Woods
has since set on fire. Peete, like Charles Sifford and Lee Elder before
him, not only had to blaze that trail as one of the few black golfers to
have an impact on the game, but did so while battling a debilitating
disorder -- Tourette's syndrome, which wasn't diagnosed until seven
years ago.
He had it since he was a young man -- the neck-jerking, the shoulder
movements -- but it became more pronounced, and eventually drove him off
the Champions Tour by 2001. But Peete left his k on that tour as
well, and is still listed number one in driving accuracy percentage --
80.9 percent -- in 56 senior events.
Peete, 63, says his Tourette's is now under control. When not with his
family in Florida, he spends much of his time coming to places like
Langston and helping mentors like fellow African-American Golfers Hall
of Famer Jimmy Garvin -- who runs the course and oversees myriad youth
golf and education programs at Langston -- convince young black men and
women that they can succeed. Not just in golf, but in life.
"I try to stress education with the kids and the respect of bettering
ourselves," Peete said. "When I talk about golf, I always try to connect
it to the lessons of life. I know that is what they do here at Langston,
tie the golf to life lessons. "Kids need the expert guidance to make
sure they get on the right track. They need the right teachers. Mentors
and teachers are very important."
Garvin is a legendary mentor for the programs he runs and assists at
Langston. He helped organize a Hall of Fame weekend in the District to
raise money for the youth golf and education programs at Langston.
Peete's appearance at a tournament yesterday was part of that, as is the
basketball clinic Calvin Murphy was scheduled to run today in the
District.
To have someone like Peete -- a black man who has walked the course with
Jack Nicklaus and competed against Lee Trevino -- adds weight to
Garvin's lessons. Despite the Tiger Woods phenomenon, there are even
fewer black golfers today. Woods is the only one.
"It means a lot to have someone of his stature come back to Langston
Golf Course -- a course built in 1939 for blacks and a place where
Calvin played years ago -- and give his time and energy," Garvin said.
"He feels the same way as I do about kids, and in particular the support
of young African-American kids."
One child asked Peete how he started as a professional golfer. "After
two years of picking up the golf clubs, I was watching television one
day, and I saw Lee Elder playing golf, with the greatest golfer of all
time, Jack Nicklaus," Peete said. "I was really impressed. I said,
'There's a black man playing with the best golfer in the world. If I
practice just a little bit more, I could be doing the same thing.' That
is what made me want to pursue a professional career.
"Other than that, I was like everybody else, I just wanted to go out and
beat my buddies. But when I saw Lee Elder, I said I wanted to play
against the best like he did."
Peete would do just that, and has nothing but fond memories of playing
on the PGA Tour.
"Jack Nicklaus and I were playing once at the Tournament Players
Championship at Sawgrass Country Club," he said. "We were playing the
last round, maybe the 13th or 14th hole. It was a narrow hole and pretty
long. Jack hit a three-wood off the tee. I hit my driver from
everywhere, I don't care where it was at.
"I'm 10 or 15 yards in front of him. He hit first, and he is on the
green. When I got ready to hit, 185 yards with about a 20-mile-an-hour
wind, and when I got over the ball, I am not even thinking this. My
caddie was standing beside him and his caddie, and he said to his
caddie, 'Watch when Calvin hits this two-iron, I bet he don't take a
blade of grass.' I hit that two-iron like a frozen rope, and as we were
walking, Jack said, 'You know Calvin, you have to teach me that shot.' I
said, 'Me teach the greatest golfer in the world?' He said, 'Calvin, we
learn from each other. We help each other, and if there is anything I
can ever do for you, don't hesitate to ask.' That was special."
Despite Woods' popularity not translating to more players on the tour,
Peete, whose wife Pepper runs the First Tee youth golf program in
Jacksonville, Fla., remains hopeful a new generation of young black men
and women are coming to courses across the country. "Tiger has had a
great impact on young kids," Peete said. "My wife is the director of the
First Tee program in Jacksonville, and we have noticed more and more
kids coming out, 8 and 9 years old, and they all know Tiger Woods."
But Peete doesn't know Tiger Woods. "I have never met Tiger Woods," he
said. "But, by the same token, he has never met me." He should, because
Calvin Peete helped clear the fairway for Tiger Woods.
=A0=A0=A0=A0
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Date: 06 Nov 2006 10:38:22
From: Aunt Judy likes it in the rear
Subject: Re: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:
> Manco wrote:
> > IMJ wrote:
> > > Before Tiger, there was Peete
> > >
> >
> > Tiger is Cablanasian. He's not black.
>
> HAHAHA. You are the only one in the world who believes the media story
> that kultida is his birth mother. Tiger looks 100% black. Not that
> there's anything wrong with that.
So, turd tampee, is there any truth to the rumor that blacks are
"better hung" than whites? I guess that's why Tigger gets you all hot
and bothered, eh, Aunt Judy? :-)
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Date: 04 Nov 2006 18:29:15
From: pete z
Subject: Re: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:
> Manco wrote:
> > IMJ wrote:
> > > Before Tiger, there was Peete
> > >
> >
> > Tiger is Cablanasian. He's not black.
>
> HAHAHA. You are the only one in the world who believes the media story
> that kultida is his birth mother. Tiger looks 100% black. Not that
> there's anything wrong with that.
No, there's two of us. You think Earl didn't know who the mother was?
That's really weird. I don't think it works that way.
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Date: 05 Nov 2006 03:51:12
From: jeffc
Subject: Re: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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"pete z" <pz0326@aol.com > wrote in message
news:1162693755.815290.63700@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:
>> Manco wrote:
>> > IMJ wrote:
>> > > Before Tiger, there was Peete
>> > >
>> >
>> > Tiger is Cablanasian. He's not black.
>>
>> HAHAHA. You are the only one in the world who believes the media story
>> that kultida is his birth mother. Tiger looks 100% black. Not that
>> there's anything wrong with that.
>
> No, there's two of us. You think Earl didn't know who the mother was?
> That's really weird. I don't think it works that way.
Tiger's father is only half black anyway.
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Date: 04 Nov 2006 18:22:00
From: Laura Bush murdered her boy friend
Subject: Re: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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Manco wrote:
> IMJ wrote:
> > Before Tiger, there was Peete
> >
>
> Tiger is Cablanasian. He's not black.
HAHAHA. You are the only one in the world who believes the media story
that kultida is his birth mother. Tiger looks 100% black. Not that
there's anything wrong with that.
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Date: 04 Nov 2006 16:37:07
From: pete z
Subject: Re: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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Manco wrote:
> IMJ wrote:
> > Before Tiger, there was Peete
> >
>
> Tiger is Cablanasian. He's not black.
Yes, Tiger has cleared the way for future Cablanasians.
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Date: 04 Nov 2006 20:46:19
From: Manco
Subject: Re: Before Tiger, there was Peete
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IMJ wrote:
> Before Tiger, there was Peete
>
Tiger is Cablanasian. He's not black.
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