I 27-7 lead. Hampton' me in Golf trorn he biogtry of Georgia 0 Palmer ark By NA�NIEL SCOTT 8ftIlw,..,_ DBTROIT- This is Shelly Wellons' story. He is 71 and he is a volunteer golf instructor at the Pal­ mer Park Golf Course .. He will be teaching Detroit area high school students the art of golf that he began learning at ten, when be lived in strictly segregated Cor­ dele, Georgia. At that time, in the "Roaring Twenties," Georgia, like most of America, was a hotbed of bigotry. Blacks, who at the time were politely refercd to as Negroes and coloreds; "auntie" and "uncle", regardless of the age; or the outnght melicious and degrading, "nigger" when the urge gripped any whi te person. Blacks were allowed to be caddies but could not compete with whites on the golf course, Wellons said. But Wellons had a vision. His vision included the right to be all he could be and he. chose to play gotr, Today he teaches the young and reflects upon his amateur and profes­ aional days when he played in tour­ naments with the likes ot Teddy Rhodes, Charlie Siffords, Howard Wheeler, Ben Crenshaw and Arnold Palmer, WELLONS SAID liE never Camed a great deal pf money because olfing was not his primary source of ncome and "Blacks couldn't play in • he kind of tournaments where I : .. ould have been able to earn re- "Joe Louis could drive the ball good spectable money." and did become a pretty good Boxing, which some have refered amateur player." 10 a "brutal, dumb sport," had Black participants on a professional IT WOULD NOT be too far­ level, but golf as in some circles fetched to assume to that Louis, be­ called" a rich man's game," and cause of his character, world probably began to open up for popularity and love for the sport of Blacks after Jackie Robinson inter- golf, indirectly or directly wielded greated baseball. influence and helped paved the way The late Teddy Rhodes, whom for Blacks to compete in the arena of Wellons knew presonally, is said to golfing. have been the first, as far as Black Wellons played with Louis more golfers were concerned and ifhe was than once, as early as the mid-4