It’s the golden anniversary for the Ebony Ladies Golf League, and they’re bringing the celebration to the silver screen.
The group, which makes its home at the Joe Louis Golf Course in Riverdale, will mark their 50th year in person during a gala celebration Sunday at Idlewild Country Club in Flossmoor, and they also will be featured prominently in a documentary scheduled to be shown in October.
Tracy Raoul, president of the Ebony Ladies Golf League, has been working on a three-part film titled “ACCESS,” which examines the long relationship between African Americans and golf in the Chicago area.
“The goal is to, God willing, win an Oscar – surely God willing,” Raoul joked. “But it’s really just to give recognition and highlight Chicago’s impact.”
The Ebony Ladies’ home course is named after the late famous boxer Joe Louis, and he has a prominent role in the documentary, which is scheduled to debut at 6 p.m. Oct. 28 at the South Shore Cultural Center.
“Everyone knows him as a boxer, but he was a phenomenal golfer,” Raoul said. “He was a pioneer of getting courses to drop their Caucasian-only rules in the early 1960s.”
In 1986, the Riverdale course changed its name from the Pipe O’ Peace Golf Course to the Joe Louis Golf Course and Sports Complex in his honor. It was a course he played at several times, according to Raoul, including in a 1962 tournament with baseball legend Jackie Robinson and tennis star Althea Gibson hosted by the Choi-Sette Golf Club.
When the Ebony Ladies Golf League was founded by Louise Horne in 1974 at the Riverdale course, they formed the first African American women’s golf league in the state. There were clubs around the area, including Choi-Sette, but theirs was the first sanctioned league.
It was made up of a group of competitive golfers from around the Chicago area who played in clubs such as the Choi-sette, the Chicago Women’s Golf Club and Par 17 Ladies.
The founders established pink and black as their league colors and broke up their league into various divisions. More than 400 women have held memberships over the years.
Miljan Akin, 92, and Lorraine Rice, 91 are founding members still active in the Ebony Ladies.
Akin, a Chicago resident, is an Air Force veteran who is not playing as much as she used to, but still loves to be around golf.
“It’s a sport that keeps you on your toes,” she said.
Akin said because the women in the league were so competitive in the 1970s, she’s not surprised the league has lasted so long.
Rice, also of Chicago, was among those early competitors and has a wall full of plaques dedicated to her golfing accomplishments.
Opportunities were scarce for African American women in the late 1960s, but Rice had an opportunity to learn the game through some work outings at General Dynamics. A few years later, Horne and the Ebony Ladies provided more opportunities to play competitively, something Rice still appreciates.
“I met a lot of people through golf and I have done a lot of traveling,” she said.
At 91, she doesn’t have the same skills as she had when she was younger and once shot a 79. But she said she enjoys the camaraderie of the sport. Rice is a mentor to younger golfers and while she marvels at their power, she thinks they should develop an all-around game.
“It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive,” she said. “You can hit the ball far but most of them can’t hit it in the cup.”
Ellie Fox, 85, of Calumet Park, joined the Ebony Ladies a year after it was formed and admitted that her balance wasn’t quite what it was when she had an 18 handicap, but she still loves playing — and dressing to the nines.
“I don’t mind telling you that if I can’t hit the ball well, I’m still going to look good on the golf course,” Fox said.
Raoul has positions with several area golf clubs and leagues in the area and she said she is proud that since she took over the Ebony Ladies in 2022 membership has gone from 46 to 81 members.
Raoul tries to convince anyone who will listen that golf is a great game.
“You can play golf whether you are a toddler or an elder,” she said. “When you are in the grave, that’s when you don’t play anymore.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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