Peter May presents "Changing the Course"

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ABOUT THE BOOK

The compelling, little-known story of Charlie Sifford, the first Black golfer to get his PGA card, and Stanley Mosk, a crusading civil rights attorney and California Supreme Court justice, who together made history by taking on the PGA and the Caucasian Only clause in its bylaws.

It began with a chance meeting at a Los Angeles country club in 1959. That was the day Charlie Sifford, the first Black golfer to get his PGA card, and Stanley Mosk, a crusading attorney general of California and future state Supreme Court justice, met for the first time. Little did either of them know that it would grow into a history-making alliance that would end segregation in professional golf.

In Changing the Course: How Charlie Sifford and Stanley Mosk Integrated the PGA, Peter May tells the captivating story of Sifford and Mosk’s battle to end the rank racial discrimination that had been codified in the constitution of the PGA. Black golfers who preceded Sifford, such as Bill Spiller and Ted Rhodes, had unsuccessfully challenged the PGA’s discriminatory policy. Sifford had been fighting the PGA for years just to be able to compete with the white players. Mosk had little knowledge of the PGA or the fact that Blacks were being discriminated against by the organization’s by-laws. But the golfer had a cause that the attorney general was only too eager to champion. The two made for a powerful pair.

Changing the Course focuses on the individual journeys of Sifford and Mosk before delving into the crucial intersection of their lives that changed the professional golf world forever. Their stories provide a window into the changing landscape of mid-20th century America when the nation was forced to confront its history of racial injustice in professional sports and beyond.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter May’s most recent book, The Open Question: Ben Hogan and Golf’s Most Enduring Controversy, was a finalist for the Herbert Warren Wind Award. He also is the author of The Big Three: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish: The Best Frontcourt in the History of Basketball; The Last Banner: The Story of the 1985-86 Boston Celtics, the NBA’s Greatest Team of All-Time; Top of the World : The Inside Story of the Boston Celtics' Amazing One-Year Turnaround to Become NBA Champions and, with former Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey, Won’t Back Down: Teams, Dreams and Family. He was a staff sports writer at The Boston Globe for two deacdes, focusing on the NBA and the Boston Celtics. While at the Globe, he also covered three Super Bowls, two World Series, the 2004 Olympics and a number of international basketball tournaments. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, ESPN, Boston Magazine and WBUR, an NPR affiliate in Boston. He is a former lecturer in journalism at Brandeis University.

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