Theodore Rhodes (November 9, 1913 – July 4, 1969) was an American
professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
in the mid-twentieth century, a time when African American golfers were a rarity.
Rhodes helped break golf's
color barrier
Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...
. A native of
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, he dominated the Negro
UGA circuit, winning around 150 tournaments from the late 1940s to 1960, including four National Negro Open titles. He qualified for high-profile
PGA tournaments but was denied admission because of that organization’s “Caucasian-only” clause. His perseverance in fighting such discrimination benefited future generations of minority golfers. An example is
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...
who, during his historic first
Masters victory speech, mentioned Rhodes as one of the pioneers who paved the way for him to compete in major golf events. After Rhodes' death in 1969 (age 55), the
Ted Rhodes Foundation was established to promote youth golf and support golf teams at historically black colleges and universities(
HBCU
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...
s).
Rhodes' home course in Nashville was re-named in his honor. He was inducted into the
Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame which honors athletes, teams, coaches, sports writers, and sports executives for their contributions to sports in the state of Tennessee. The Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 19 ...
and the
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame The Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame is a non-profit corporation established in 1991 by the Tennessee Golf Foundation. The hall of fame is located at the Golf House Tennessee a 21,000 square foot golf complex in Franklin, Tennessee (near Nashville), wh ...
.
Early life
Rhodes was born in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, the son of Frank and Della Anderson Rhodes. He was a self-taught golfer, learning the game in his teenage years while working as a caddie at Nashville's Belle Meade Country Club and Richland Country Club.
There were no local courses in town open to African Americans, but being a caddie at a country club allowed him to observe how the game is played, and was a source for some discarded golf clubs.
Rhodes practiced the game at a local baseball field called Sunset Park using sticks with homemade flags as pins.
He attended Pearl-Cohn High School and caddied on the weekends.
In the late 1930s, Rhodes joined the
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...
(CCC), a
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
program that provided jobs for unemployed young men.
He served in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. When his tour of duty concluded, Rhodes was discharged in Chicago, where he met entertainer
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously a ...
and heavyweight boxing champion
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...
. He taught both men to play the game of golf,
and served as Louis' personal instructor, valet and playing partner.
Louis facilitated Rhodes' moving to southern California in the late 1940s, to be coached by
Ray Mangrum
Ray B. Mangrum (June 17, 1910 – April 2, 1975) was an American professional golfer and the older brother of a more famous golfer, Lloyd Mangrum.
Mangrum began his golf career in the 1920s as a club professional in Dallas, Texas, eventually bec ...
, brother of champion golfer
Lloyd Mangrum
Lloyd Eugene Mangrum (August 1, 1914 – November 17, 1973) was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle."
Early life and family
Mangru ...
.
Golf career
While living in California, Rhodes competed in select white-run tournaments that permitted Black participants, such as the Tam O’Shanter and the L.A. Open. The Tam O'Shanter was his first exposure playing before large crowds that could be hostile.
However, the majority of his competitive play took place on the Negro league
United Golf Association
The United Golfers Association (UGA) was a group of African-American professional golfers who operated a separate series of professional golf tournaments for Blacks during the era of racial segregation in the United States. It was said to have sta ...
sanctioned tournaments.
He had great success in these tournaments, winning six times in a row from 1946 to 1947.
He won four UGA Championships and the National Negro Open. Over his career, he won about 150 tournaments.
Courses he played included
Rogers Park, Tampa
Rogers Park Golf Course is a historic public 18-hole golf course in Tampa, Florida. Land for the park was acquired by the City of Tampa in 1947 and was used for picnics and games by black residents during the era of racial segregation in the Unit ...
and in the
Canadian Open.
He was one of the first African Americans to play in a
U.S. Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...
.
In 1948, it was held at the
Riviera Country Club
The Riviera Country Club is a private club with a championship golf course as well tennis courts in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of the Westside of Los Angeles, California.
The Riviera was designed by golf course architects George C. T ...
in Los Angeles. His participation established him as one of the first African American professional golfers.
Discrimination

Rhodes and fellow African American
Bill Spiller
Bill Spiller (October 25, 1913 – 1988) was an American professional golfer who helped break the color barrier in the sport.
Biography
Spiller was born in Tishomingo, Oklahoma and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma with his father when he was nine yea ...
were among the top winners in the Los Angeles Open; in fact, Spiller was in the spotlight after tying Ben Hogan with a 68 in the first round.
The fact of Spiller being a Negro was avoided in press accounts of that opening round.
Their low scores qualified them to play in the
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 3, 1905, and has a Richmond, California, City Council, city council. Open;
however, after a couple of practice rounds at Richmond, they were told that they were disqualified because the rules there were different.
The tournament was open only to regular members of the PGA of America. They were deemed non-members because of a "Caucasians only" rule. This clause in the original PGA Constitution was written in 1918 and never changed.
Humiliated, Rhodes, Spiller and a third Black golfer Madison Gunther called a press conference, then contacted a sports producer at
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
who broadcast the story nationally.
They initiated litigation against the
Professional Golfers' Association of America
The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of professional golfer, golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to est ...
(PGA) seeking removal of the association's "Caucasian only clause". Rhodes said, "Those guys don't hit the ball any better than we do. All we need is a chance to get in there and shoot with them."
They agreed to drop the suit if racial discrimination was halted. Although Rhodes, Spiller and Gunther prevailed in the out-of-court settlement, the PGA circumvented the agreement by changing its tournaments to "invitationals" and invited only whites to participate.
The clause was removed at the 1961 PGA Annual Meeting.
[PGA of America bestows membership upon late African-American pioneers](_blank)
Legacy
Rhodes returned to his native Nashville in the 1960s where he mentored several black PGA players including
Lee Elder
Robert Lee Elder (July 14, 1934 – November 28, 2021) was an American professional golfer. In 1975, he became the first black golfer to play in the Masters Tournament, where he missed the cut. Elder was invited to the tournament after he won th ...
and
Charlie Sifford
Charles Luther Sifford (June 2, 1922 – February 3, 2015) was an American professional golfer who was the first African American to play on the PGA Tour. He won the Greater Hartford Open in 1967 and the Los Angeles Open in 1969. He also won the ...
.
He provided golf lessons to
Althea Gibson
Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African America ...
, former U.S. and
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
tennis champion.
Rhodes was known for his distinctive clothing and sense of style both on and off the course. His daughter Peggy Rhodes-White said, “He had golf shoes to match every outfit and color of pants he wore.”
His nickname was "Rags". Some thought the nickname was for his stylish wardrobe. But, according to author Pete MeDaniel, the name was given to him when he was teased about the tattered clothes he wore as a young caddy in Nashville.
He died at the age of 55. A month after his death, the Cumberland Golf Course in Nashville was renamed "The Ted Rhodes Golf Course" in his honor. The Ted Rhodes Golf Classic Charity Tournament was soon inaugurated and became an annual event that, as of 2025, will celebrate its 56th year.
In 2009, the PGA of America granted posthumous membership to Rhodes, Spiller, and John Shippen. The PGA also has granted posthumous honorary membership to boxer Joe Louis.
During his first Masters win speech,
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...
mentioned Rhodes as one of the pioneers that paved the way for him to play golf. In 1998, Rhodes was inducted into the
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame The Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame is a non-profit corporation established in 1991 by the Tennessee Golf Foundation. The hall of fame is located at the Golf House Tennessee a 21,000 square foot golf complex in Franklin, Tennessee (near Nashville), wh ...
and in 2010, into the
Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame which honors athletes, teams, coaches, sports writers, and sports executives for their contributions to sports in the state of Tennessee. The Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 19 ...
. He was named to the
National Black Golf Hall of Fame The National Black Golf Hall of Fame was started by Harold Dunovant, the first African-American to graduate from the PGA of America's business school in 1964. He was unable to become a Class A PGA Member for six years because no one would sign his a ...
in 1986.
The
Ted Rhodes Foundation was created in 1993, a non-profit entity that supports golf teams at historically black colleges and universities, such as Nashville's
Fisk University
Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...
. Among other functions, it supports urban junior golf programs, such as
First Tee of Tennessee. The foundation is run by Rhodes's granddaughter Tiffany White.
References
External links
Ted Rhodes Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Ted
American male golfers
African-American golfers
Golfers from Nashville, Tennessee
Civilian Conservation Corps people
1913 births
1969 deaths
20th-century African-American sportsmen