Our history:
In 1945, there were four close friends from Houston, Texas; (Charles M. Washington, Eugene Harrison, Lee Powell and Howard McCowen), World War Two veterans who had a vision after returning from the war to play the game of golf. They were very knowledgeable of the game based on their background as caddies. During this era the City of Houston did not have a public golf course that African Americans could play on. Therefore, they had to travel to cities such as San Antonio and Dallas to pursue their dreams. It was not until June 19, 1946 that the City of Houston allowed the "colored" group to play a half day tournament.
On April 18, 1947 Don Robey (Executive Chairman of Clinton Park Country Club and Election Campaign Chairman for Mayor Oscar Holcombe) was appointed as Tournament Chairman to approach Mayor Holcombe for permission to obtain the use of one of the Municipal Parks in the city, preferably, The Memorial Park, for a three day period of June 18th, 19th and 20th to host a golf tournament. Robey was appointed Tournament Chairman by the group of business men, golf players and supporters whom he was able to secure in Mayor Holcombe’s campaign. The group, named the Houston Golf Association, invited as Guest of Honor, Joe Louis (Heavyweight Champion of the World). This letter of request was received in Mayor Holcombe's office on April 19, 1947.
On February 13, 1948, a motion by Councilman Needham that the recommendation of Councilmen Bailey and Holmes on the request of Don Robey to hold the Annual Houston Negro Golf Tournament at Memorial GC on June 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th be adopted and the request was granted.
Between 1949 and 1950, the group did not host a tournament due to lack of participation and, in the meantime, a white group formed, also using the name "Houston Golf Association." Since the original group did not host a tournament for 2 years, they had to restart the appeal process and the request was referred to the Director of the Golf Department for recommendation.
Early in 1951, after running into many complications and several years of appealing to the City of Houston, Mr. Charles M. Washington (Tournament Chairman) submitted a letter to Mayor Oscar Holcombe requesting permission to host its first Negro Open Golf Tournament. With a signed petition from other black golfers, and giving up its original name, the city granted the group permission to host the event. Since the motion wasn’t passed until July 7, 1951, it didn’t give the group enough time to obtain sponsors and finances needed to host the event that year.
In June of 1952 the group under its new name of Lone Star Negro Golf Group, hosted the first $1,000 Negro Open Golf Tournament from June 17th thru June 21st. There were 80 participants, of whom 12 were from out of state. The tournament attracted players from all over Texas, Louisiana, California, and as far as New York. The event continued to grow attracting players such as: Charlie Sifford, Pete Brown, Ted Rhodes, and Houston’s own golf professional, Willie Brown. As the tournament grew Joe Lewis, Jim Brown, and Dallas, Texas star Lee Elder took part in the event.
On September 18, 1952, Jack Spear (Director of Municipal Golf Course in Houston, TX) submitted a letter to the Mayor (Oscar Holcombe), indicating the group had submitted ten requests to host a golf tournament. He used the results from the Negro Open Golf Tournament to get the Mayor to deny the request. He stated that the group only had 68 players in their tournament. He indicated that if the course was open, the number of white players would have been a total of 598, thus indicating that the City has a loss in revenue of $448.50. He also indicated, out of the 68 players, a half dozen were caddies. He recommended that the request be denied. After the request was reviewed, Mr. Spears revamped the letter, stating; “the tournament had a total of 80 players, of whom 12 were from out of the city, making a total of 68 local players”.
The group continued to host The Negro Open Golf Tournament until 1990. The winners of the Lone Star Golf Association Professional Division were: 1953 –Ted Rhodes; 1954-Bill Spiller; 1955-1956 Charles Sifford; 1958-1961 Pete Brown; 1962-1966 Willie Brown; 1980-1983 Lee Carter; 1984 Mr. Woodard; 1985-1986 Chuck Thorpe; 1989-Bobby Strobel; and 1990-Jessie Allen. This event open doors for players such as Charlie Sifford, who was the first African American to not only play on the PGA Tour, but also the first African American to win on tour.
In 1985, the Lone Star Junior Golf Program was born. LSGA President, Mr. Eugene Floyd and LSGA Tournament Director, Mr. Joe Solomon hosted one of the largest Junior Golf Camps in the City with over 150 young boys and girls in attendance. With the help of the City of Houston and Hermann Park Golf Course, the camp was a huge success and the program has since continued.
Though the fight was hard and long, the organization continued to strive. Each year during the month of June, Lone Star Golf Association hosts an Annual Golf Classic in honor of its past director, Mr. Charles M. Washington. Revenue from the tournament supports the organization’s Junior Golf and Scholarship Program.