Greensboro Six, Black golfers who teed up against segregation, to be honored with mural at Gillespie Golf Course

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A Greensboro golf course is getting a new art installment.

Gillespie Golf Course on Florida Street was infamously known for excluding golfers of color until six Black men came along and challenged the law.

Though Gillespie was city-owned and, at the time, it was illegal for city-owned golf courses to be segregated, the course nonetheless operated as if it were a private facility. It did not allow people of color to play on the course, even though their tax dollars helped to keep it running.

The start of change at Gillespie began on Dec. 7, 1955. Six men marched into the main office, each left the $0.75 fee on the counter and proceeded to the green to hit some golf balls. They were harassed by one of the golf pros as they played and were ultimately arrested. Their arrests led to years of court battles, and their case eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court.

Exactly seven years to the day after they first walked on the segregated course, Gillespie was integrated on Dec. 7, 1962. The day before it was set to reopen as an integrated course, the clubhouse was burned down, causing significant damage and leaving the course with only nine of its 18 holes.

The story of the Greensboro Six is known in this community and is commemorated at the golf course through historic markers, but it’s about to get a major spotlight. A mural, stretching 90 feet wide and 20 feet high, will cover the wall of the first tee building on the course. The mural depicts the six men side-by-side in their golf gear, standing tall and ready to play, much like they were on that December day in 1955.

“The story of these six men, even though it’s not told as much as it should be, the story and their impact is larger than life. So why not honor them on a wall that’s really big as well?” said Ryan Wilson, CEO of First Tee of Central Carolina.

The course commissioned Vincent Ballentine to complete the project. The Brooklyn, New York-based muralist was chosen out of more than 50 applicants.

“Including the people in the community that made it into what it is is pivotal to bringing authenticity and making it valid, making it into something that not only is just a painting on the wall, but something that resonates throughout the community,” Ballentine said.

Wilson said they picked Ballentine “because he gave us an image that was a new image and something that presented these six men in a different way. So rather than having that court case, his image is of six men dressed in their golf clothes holding their clubs, walking out to do something profound.”

In addition to the mural this year, the PGA of America REACH Foundation gave the Gillespie Golf Course a $250,000 grant for revitalizations. The grant is awarded by the PGA of America in conjunction with the 2025 PGA Championship.

“The grant is kind of focused on making enhancements and improvements to Gillespie to just bring the facility up to standards of place where it needs to be. It’s an awesome facility, but also the golf course, the greens out there, are really old. They’re 80-plus years. The same greens that people are out there putting on today are the same greens that the Greensboro Six played on when they played their round all those years ago,” Wilson said.

There will be an official public unveiling of the Greensboro Six mural right before the 85th annual Wyndham Championship in August.

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