First Black pro golfer honored
Inducted into local hall of fame
Charles Sifford, who in 1961 became the first African American to compete on the Professional Golf Association Tour, was inducted into the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame Tuesday.
Sifford, a Charlotte, N.C., native, scored one of his key professional wins in 1969, when he took first place in the prestigious Los Angeles Open. The 89-year-old golfer began his career at age 13, working as a caddy.
Because of the exclusion of Blacks from professional golfing, he would go to work as a personal coach to people like bandleader Billy Eckstine and play in tournaments organized by Black golfers.
He first attempted to participate in a PGA tournament in 1951 at the Phoenix Open, but was rebuffed by threats. Then in 1957, he won the Long Beach Open, which was not an official PGA Tour event but was co-sponsored by the organization and had some well-known White players in the field. That title helped pave the way for his PGA debut.
Jurors heard evidence Tuesday in the penalty phase of the trial of a 23-year-old gang member convicted of gunning down a standout Los Angeles High School football player whom he mistook for a rival gang member.
Prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty for Pedro Espinoza, who killed 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr. on March 2, 2008, while the defense will ask jurors to recommend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jamaa Fanaka, born Walter Gordon, on Sept. 6, 1942, was an American filmmaker best known for his 1979 film, “Penitentiary,” and one of the leading directors of the L.A. Rebellion film movement. Fanaka died April 1, from complication of diabetes. He was 69.
SAN FRANCISCO—California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced a settlement with Arbitron Inc., the nation’s dominant provider of radio audience ratings, over allegations that the method it used to collect ratings information discriminated against radio stations with predominantly African American and Latino audiences. The settlement is the result of a consumer protection lawsuit filed jointly by the state of California and the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Jury deliberations will continue in the trial of Donald Bottoms, Christopher Shrauger, Steven Burns and Christopher Crews, four inmates charged with murder and conspiracy in a race riot that left a Black inmate dead at a county jail facility in Castaic recently. Four other inmates, David Reynoso, Osbaldo Valenzuela, Enrique Reyes and Andres Madrigal, are also charged.
Boy, maybe it’s just me, but January 2012 is turning out to be a transitional doorway for a substantial number of those who have spent an enormous portion of their time here contributing mightily to the growth and expansion of our human engagement and civilization in diverse ways.
