LOOK BACK KAPPA HISTORY
“ MCDOUGAL MATRICULATED TO NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, WHERE HE WAS INITIATED INTO KAPPA ALPHA PSI FRATERNITY, INC., THROUGH THE THETA CHAPTER, MARCH 1, 1921.”
graduation in 1915, he was head caddy at Chicago’s Beverly Country Club and often played with and against local Black pioneer golfer Walter Speedy, who was 18 years his senior. McDou- gal, Speedy, and other Black golfers faced constant obstacles in playing in tournaments against their White coun- terparts, especially on Jackson Park’s links, where they regularly played and practiced. One of the barriers McDou- gal and other Black players faced was a mandate that players must be members of “a regular organized golf club” to participate in golf tourna- ments. These circumstances resulted in McDougal, Speedy, and a few other Black golfers establishing the Alpha Golf Club (1915), one of the nation’s first Black golfing clubs. The Alpha Golf Club was succeeded by the Windy City Golf Association (1920), the first all-Black chartered golf club, for which McDougal was elected as its vice pres- ident. Neither club was recognized by the White golfers, and the Black golfers were further restricted from playing in the city’s amateur golf championship tournaments. The Windy City Golf Association came to be known as the Pioneer Golf Club (1930). McDougal
was initially elected secretary at its inception and subsequently elected president in 1932. Two years after graduating from high school, McDougal enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I. He was assigned to the 370th Infantry Medical Department Detachment as a Private First Class. His unit was shipped to Brest, France, where they were dis- patched to the sites of conflict. 1918 newspaper accounts list McDougal as one of several soldiers who were severely wounded while serving overseas. There are no sources available to describe the specific injury he received. Upon being discharged from service in 1919, the government bestowed a distinguished service citation upon McDougal. He subsequently returned to the links and continued his participation in golf tournaments. McDougal went on to caddy for several notable figures, including pro boxer Joe Louis, track phenom Jesse Owens, baseball great Jackie Robinson, jazz singer Billie Eck- stine, and trumpeter Louis Armstrong. McDougal matriculated to North- western University, where he was initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi Frater- nity, Inc., through the Theta Chapter,
From top: Horace H. McDougal, circa 1920s. Excerpt from The Chicago Defender , July 31, 1920.
runner-up in the same tournament and was recognized for his proficiency, as well as for being the lone representa- tive of the Black race. Following McDougal’s high school
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