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Nine years ago, at the 40th anniversary of their special amateur golf tournament, charter members of the Par 4 Golf Club reflected upon the amazement of reaching that milestone.
“I remember one of our guys back then, Will Wood, he was from Mississippi, and he said, ‘I would have never dreamed when we sat down that day to come up with this idea, that it would still be here.’ And all of the members felt the same way,” said Walter Wallace, who was part of that original committee five decades ago.
Even though the golden 50th anniversary is next year, there’s a special attachment to the current one.
After a four-year absence, due to ongoing issues related from 2020 with the initial onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Calvin Washington Memorial Par-4 Golf Tournament, presented by Par 4 Charities Inc., will be staged again Friday through Sunday.
The tournament rounds are Saturday-Sunday at Osceola Golf Course, which has been this event’s long-time home.
“The toughest part was trying to keep everyone together in the organization,” said Wallace, who has been helping organize the tournament every year. “We did lose some members and it has been tough not having it these past four years, but we have a lot of dedicated people helping to make it happen.
“We’ve been in this for all these years, we’re not going to let it fold we’re going to keep it together. We hoping the next generations will help keep it going.”
Wallace said the committee knew it was vital to get the tournament restarted. Though this year’s advance entry registration numbers are small in comparison to the tournament’s peak years, the hope is to build toward making the 50th anniversary year much greater.
The tournament remains the longest-running stroke play amateur tournament in the area. The golf tournament is inclusive to all players.
It began, of course, as a way back then to enable black golfers to play in a tournament and to travel to a few other cities in the Gulf Coast to play and meet new friends.
So many of the original committee members, like co-directors Raymond Griff and Ralph Stallworth, are still as involved as ever. Some of the former winners like Billy Brent and Clint Hollinger are still competing and helping run the event like they always did.
That’s what Calvin Washington did with his smile and welcoming personality all through the years until he passed away in early 2016. The tournament quickly changed to honor his name.
The Par 4 Golf Club was recently presented the Founders Award at the African American Golfers Hall of Fame ceremony and banquet at Eastpointe Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens.
“We’ve done a lot of good things for the community here in Pensacola and we’ve helped a lot of kids learn how to play golf through clinics,” Wallace said.
The next important step is trying to build the numbers of Par 4 Golf Club members. Wallace said he tries to explain to high school coaches and teenagers playing football and basketball to follow the lead of famous athletes.
“Why is golf so important? This is something you can do the rest of your life,” Wallace said. “You cannot play football the rest of your life, or basketball, baseball, either. Golf, you can play it for as long as you can. So I am trying to express that to these kids.
“There is so much money left on the table for African American kids to play golf in college, simply because they haven’t been exposed to golf. They could be getting a scholarship,” Wallace said. “Golf is so valuable. I try to tell people, do you realize that Emmitt Smith plays golf? And Derrick Brooks plays golf? And Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley … they all play golf.”
Wallace goes back to when the Par 4 Tournament was part of the “Chitlin’ Circuit” with tournaments in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Now, the event is part of the 14-tournament group with the Southern Association of Amateur Golfers. In addition to Pensacola – the only Florida stop on the tournament circuits – other events are in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
SAAG was founded in 2016. It includes Gulf Coast tournaments in New Orleans (2 events), Gulfport, Mississippi, and Mobile, which will hold its 64th annual tournament run by the Gulf City Golfers Inc. in mid-July at Mobile’s Azalea City Golf Course.
“Mobile has the oldest one,” Wallace said. “All of us have been able to sustain ourselves. Once we formed SAAG, we did that to support each other’s tournaments. We start in April and go through the cycle. Our final tournament is in August, this year in Gulfport, as a championship.”
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com
WHAT: The Calvin Washington Memorial 49th Par 4 Golf Tournament
WHEN: Saturday-Sunday (shotgun starts each day)
WHERE: Osceola Golf Course
WHO: Tournament open to all amateur golfers
ENTRY FEE: $100 (includes green fee, cart, food, soft drink beverages)
PRACTICE ROUND: Friday
INFO: Stroke play. Divisions are Men’s Open Flight, Seniors (65-and-older), Women’s Flight. Late Registration available. Contact Osceola Golf Course for form or Raymond Griff at (850) 255-0693.
REGISTRATION CHECK-IN: Friday from noon to 5 p.m. Tournament party is Friday 6 p.m.-9 p.m. at Kappa Alpha House on West Gonzalez Street.
