23rd
ANNIVERSARY
HAROLD DUNOVANT
PRO-AM & CORPORATE
CHALLENGE
The National Black Golf Hall of Fame (NBGHF) was founded in 1986 by the late Harold Dunovant, the PGA’s first Black Class A professional and one of the many pioneer Black golfers.
The first National Black Golf Hall of Fame, 36-hole Pro-Am Tournament was held July 19-20, 1986 at the Bel-Aire Golf Course in Greensboro, North Carolina. The event would be one of the stops on the Black Tour which had survived integration and still had approximately twenty-five (25) tournaments a year. The tournament’s first purse was $12,000. In the inaugural year, there were sixteen (16) inductees into the Hall of Fame including such notables as Charlie Sifford (recently inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame) Calvin Peete, Lee Elder, Jim and Chuck Thorpe, James Black, Bill Spiller, and Ted Rhodes.
The tournament attracts both amateur and professional. With a cash purse for the pros and merchandise and trophies for the amateurs, the tournament is one filled with Black golf history and spirited competition.
The NBGHF Pro-AM has been hosted by the Bel-Aire Golf Course in Greensboro, North Carolina for seventeen (17) years. Along the way, over ninety-five (95) persons - male, female, Black and White – were inducted into the Hall. The tournament was held in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2003 and then was not played for two years due to Harold Dunovant’s passing and subsequent reorganization by the Board of Directors. In 2006 & 2007, the tournament was played in Auburn, Alabama at the University Club at Auburn University and hosted by the Tuskegee (Alabama) Area Chamber of Commerce in 2006. The Hall of Fame Weekend and tournament is moving to Atlanta in 2008 where Sugar Creek Golf & Tennis will serve as the host course.
Harold Dunovant had hoped to house the Hall of Fame in the Triad area (Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point NC) because of his roots in the area but circumstances prevented this from happening.
The event is open to both men and women and is highlighted by the Induction ceremony on Saturday night after the first round of play.
Jeff Dunovant, Harold’s son and also a PGA Class A member, is now in charge of the NBGHF and PRO-AM tournament. Jeff and his family remain firmly committed to re-energizing the tournament and completing Harold Dunovant’s dream of erecting a permanent facility for the National Black Golf Hall of Fame.
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