Stackhouse To Make A Good Bit Of History
STEVE EUBANKS
History will be made at 7 a.m. Thursday. And for most, it will go largely unnoticed.
Mariah Stackhouse, a 17-year-old
qualifier from Riverdale, Ga., will tee off
in the first group at the Broadmoor. In
so doing, she will become the youngest
African-American woman to play in a U.S.
Women’s Open and the first black teen-ager since Renee Powell in 1965.
Most people will be surprised that this
record has stood for 46 years, especially in
an era when teenagers have become such
a staple of the women’s game. But for
most, this milestone will be greeted with
collective shrugs and a few “Huh, that’s
nice” comments.
Our game has come a long way since
players like Ted Rhodes and Charlie Sif-ford broke the color barrier in the middle
of the last century, and even further since
Tiger Woods roared onto the scene with a
racial background that generated at least
as much buzz as his golf. The game might
not be totally color-blind, but we’re getting
closer.
Tiger’s niece Cheyenne Woods was the
medalist in the stroke-play portion of last
week’s U.S. Women’s Public Links championship, and the most popular player
in the field until being eliminated in the
quarterfinals. And her race went largely
unnoticed.
Stackhouse almost never thinks about
her accomplishments in terms of “first
African-American” this or that. “I didn’t
even realize I was the youngest,” she said
with a broad, infectious smile when in-
formed of the record she would set. “I just
don’t think about it like that.”
And why would she? One of the top-
ranked juniors in the country and this
year’s player representative on the AJGA
board of directors, Stackhouse has never
experienced a single racial incident on the
golf course, a fact that makes her father,
Ken, very proud.
“In my house, it is forbidden to be at all
racist,” Ken said. “I’ve experienced black
racism as well as white racism and I know
that no matter which side you’re on, rac-
ism has ignorance at its core. I refuse to
allow Mariah or my son (John) to remain
ignorant. Their mother and I insist that
they be knowledgeable and educated and
that they treat all people with respect.”
Education is a constant theme with the
Stackhouses. Despite Mariah’s junior golf
success – she has won two AJGA events
in 2011, is a two-time Georgia Women’s
Amateur champion, and made it to the
Sweet 16 in last year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior
– there is no talk about turning pro early.
Last Friday, she committed to go to Stan-
ford, where she plans to stay until she has
her degree.
“I definitely want to play professional
golf after college,” Mariah said. “But when
you look at the tuition to go there, why
wouldn’t I take advantage of a full scholar-
ship and finish my education when I know
golf is going to be there afterward? If I
came out, I would have to come back and
pay that tuition myself.”
So refreshing is Mariah’s message that
it’s hard to believe she’s real. Then you see
her with young kids, patting their backs,
encouraging them, seemingly always
ready with a kind word and quick smile,
and you realize that this young lady has a
lot more going for her than golf.
“I don’t look at myself as a role model,
but I am more aware of younger girls who
get excited to play with me and I look at it
as my responsibility to be nice and en-
couraging,” she said. “In my first Women’s
Open sectional qualifier, I’d never played
with a pro before. I had a lot of questions,
but she was not friendly at all. I said right
then that I would never be like that. If
someone has questions, I want them to
feel comfortable asking me. I always want
to be friendly.”
The title “the next Tiger Woods” gets
thrown around too casually, just as “the
next Nicklaus” was a generation ago. The
truth is there won’t be another Tiger or
Jack. There can only be players who build
on the foundations laid down by those who
came before them. No matter how she
plays at the Broadmoor, Mariah Stack-
house could be one of those players.
