Russ Gre e n: Honori ng H BCUs on th e Golf Course Russ Green has a love for golf and Black women. During his healing journey to becoming more evolved, (a goal we should all share), he found a way to bring those passions together while honoring his HBCU roots via the HBCU Golf Tournament. Entering its third year, this is a passion project that continues to evolve in both size and impact. While working for BET, he came across two organizations, Men Stopping Violence and My Sister's Place, where he recognized some of his personal relationship flaws. The more he learned, the more he realized that most of his relationships were unhealthy and no one was coming to save him. If we want things to change, he needed to “be” that change. He started workin on himself and found that a lot of healing took working place on the golf course or out in nature. As a father, it was especially important to him to break the cycle and heal his traumas. Each time he played, he noticed a lack of Black women on the green, unless he brought them out himself. Less than 3% of players recreationally are Black people and he wanted to be a part of helping to change that landscape and statistic and just like that, a tournament was born. In the first year, over $4,000 was raised. They did 10 times that in year two, raising over $46,000, and are continuing g to grow each year. 6
While Golf was founded in the 1800s, Black people were not allowed to play until about 70 years ago. Many people are familiar with Tiger Woods but don’t understand the significance of his legacy. This tournament actually encourages first-time players to come out and learn and get introduced to the sport with more than 50% of the participants never having touched a club before. A big part of the magic is holding space for Black people to gather and play together. It’s rare on a gold course to look at the team in front of you and behind you and see people of color. The conversations that happen are also inspiring and create agents of that change. For more information on the HBCU Golf Tournament, to play or support, visit https://hbcugollournament.com/.
written by : Morgan Fykes | @morganfykes
