LOOK BACK KAPPA HISTORY
Left: George A. Roddy, Sr. Right: Excerpt from The Kappa Alpha Psi Journal , May 1930.
“MCDOUGAL’S PIONEERING EFFORTS TO INTEGRATE COLLEGIATE GOLF OPENED THE DOOR FOR ANOTHER MIDWESTERN KAPPA BROTHER, GEORGE A. RODDY, SR. , TO DO THE SAME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA.”
GEORGE RODDY: THE HEIR APPARENT
McDougal’s pioneering efforts to integrate collegiate golf opened the door for another midwestern Kappa brother, George A. Roddy, Sr. (Gamma Chapter March 31, 1928), to do the same at the University of Iowa. Roddy, a native of Keokuk, Iowa, was the eldest of three children. He attended and graduated from Keokuk High School, an integrated institution where he is assumed to have learned to play golf. Presumably, Roddy was introduced to the sport by being allowed on the course as a caddy. Roddy was a gifted four-sport athlete (track, football, wrestling, and boxing) who lettered in his junior and senior years at Keokuk H.S. Following graduation, he enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1928. Due to his family’s inability to provide Roddy with bus fare, he walked the estimated 100 miles from his home to Iowa City, Iowa, carrying a suitcase and his golf clubs. Upon arrival at the University of Iowa, Roddy sought to join the school’s golf team. He was compelled to beat 33 contestants individually, one of whom
was the university champion. Roddy beat all of them to secure his spot on the team, thereby becoming the first Black golfer on the Iowa Hawkeyes team, and second (to McDougal) to integrate a collegiate golf team; both at Big Ten schools. Roddy captured his first collegiate golf tournament (the All-University Golf Championship) win in May 1929, when he defeated the Iowa City Country Club champion. He secured a back-to-back win at this annual tournament in May 1930, when he set a new Finkbine Field amateur course record of 72, making him a two-time All-University of Iowa Champion (1929 & 1930). In October of that year, Roddy won the Eastern Iowa
Golf Tournament, where he shot 158 for 36 holes against strong winds. Roddy became the University of Iowa’s golf team captain in 1930 & 1931 and was a member of the State Championship and State Collegiate Championship Teams during his senior year in 1931. Despite Roddy’s proven com- petence, he faced the same racial discrimination McDougal experi- enced in Chicago when he was barred from competing in the Big Ten Championship Tournament held at the Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette, Illinois. This racial restriction prematurely ended Roddy’s season and collegiate play. The May 19, 1931, Iowa City
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