Black History Month: Calvin Peete

By Tom Lang

   As the February calendar turns and America celebrates Black History Month, the late Calvin Peete, clearly comes to mind as one of the best black golfers ever in the U.S.

   Peete was one of the greatest African American ambassadors of the game – and the most successful before Tiger Woods entered the scene. Peete is a Detroit native, the eighth born of nine children in his family.  

   Very remarkably, Peete didn’t pick up golf until age 23 but went on to formulate a career of 12 PGA Tour wins, including at least one win in each year from 1982-86. Most impressively was Peete capturing the 1985 Players Championship, which is arguably the best professional field in the world of golf each season. 

   In 1984, he won the Vardon Trophy for low scoring average. Peete was twice a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team during his forties in 1983 and 1985 (2-1-1). He also finished among the top five on the PGA Tour money list in 1982, ’83 and ’85.

   Peete was well-known for driving accuracy – he won that statistical title for 10 consecutive years on Tour (1981-90). All those years of success was despite a less-than-normal swing due to breaking his elbow falling from a cherry tree in Traverse City as a child and it not healing correctly. He could not fully extend his left arm, and he said several times that it helped him be the most accurate driver of the ball in the game. What an amazing athlete to adjust to the game in that way.

   Peete retired from the PGA Tour in 1995 but continued to play on the Champions Tour through 2001. He played in eight Masters Tournaments, eight U.S. Opens and nine PGA Championships with a top finish of third in the 1982 PGA. He was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 1993.

   He died in 2015 in Atlanta after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 71.