Bill Spiller

​Bill Spiller was a talented golfer, who qualified for a PGA tournament, but was prohibited from playing in it.  Being held out of an event that he was qualified to enter did not sit well with Spiller to say the least.
 
Spiller worked as a railroad porter to supplement his move from Oklahoma to Southern California.  Surprisingly, Spiller did not start to play golf until he was 30 years old.  After being challenged by a coworker, Spiller found himself entering and winning blacks-only golf tournaments. 
 
It was when he and fellow black golfer, Ted Rhodes, were held out of the 1948 Richmond Open, that Spiller made his presence known, and made sure that his voice was heard.  The two hired a lawyer to battle the Caucasians Only Clause of the PGA. 
 
Then PGA president, Horton Smith, convinced Spiller and Rhodes to drop their lawsuit against the PGA, on the promise of Smith ending the discrimination and segreagaion that his organization legally sanctioned.  Smith did not follow through with his promise and in fact, further fueled the segregation by encouraging tournaments to rename themselves as Open Invitations, but to not invite black players. 
 
Spiller was obviously disheartened by Smith’s reneging of their agreement, and ceased competing, to become a caddy.  It was while he was a caddy in California, that he was approached by noted political writer, Harry Braverman, to speak with the state’s attorney general. 
 
Stanley Mosk, the attorney general for California at the time, told the PGA that it was not going to be allowed to host any tournaments in the state of California as long as the Caucasians Only Clause existed.  The PGA eventually dropped the racist clause from its legislation in 1961, as a reaction to the backlash it had been receiving, and being banned by other states from holding tournaments, at the encouragement of Mosk.  
 
Spiller’s best days as a professional golfer had dwindled away slowly by the time the clause was eliminated.  At 48, he managed to place 14th at the Labatt Open in Canada, in his one and only full professional season as a golfer.  Spiller’s fight opened the door for young black golfers to play a sport that was known for keeping them out.