Home ♃ Recent Stories ☄ Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History

Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History

2552
0
Carol Rose, left, and Theresa Sams at the Powder Bowl Classic, an annual United Negro College Fund benefit played in Tuskegee, Ala., circa 1960. (Provided photo)

Anya Alvarez

©2016, The Shadow League

Carol Rose, left, and Theresa Sams at the Powder Bowl Classic, an annual United Negro College Fund benefit played in Tuskegee, Ala., circa 1960. (Provided photo)
Carol Rose, left, and Theresa Sams at the Powder Bowl Classic, an annual United Negro College Fund benefit played in Tuskegee, Ala., circa 1960. (Provided photo)

By all accounts, Molly Schiot never intended to be a sports historian. As a director based out of Los Angeles, her credits include witty films, music videos, commercials, and even a character as a housewife in a short film called Wonderfluff Sandwiches.

So when she ventured to write “Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History,” she stepped outside of her comfort zone.

It all began when she ran across a story about African American women in Washington D.C., who founded the Wake-Robin Golf Club in 1937.

“The Wake-Robin story was the foundation to my journey into women’s sports,” Schiot said.

The Wake-Robin founders pushed to desegregate public golf courses in the D.C. area by drafting and sending a petition to Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes. To help pacify their needs, Ickes approved construction of a 9-hole course of an abandoned landfill area in 1939.

While this course provided a place for African Americans to play golf, the women of Wake-Robin continued to push Secretary Ickes towards desegregation. In 1941 he issued an order to make all public golf courses open to all.

For full story…  TheShadowLeague.com

 

This story originally appeared on TheShadowLeague.com, a site dedicated to journalistically sound sports coverage with a cultural perspective that insightfully informs sports fans worldwide.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here