Northwestern Celebrates Pioneer Horace McDougal

EVANSTON, Illinois — Though his name is unfamiliar to many, Horace McDougal was a pioneer at Northwestern University and in Chicagoland golf. This spring marks the 100th anniversary of his arrival at Northwestern and debut at the Big Ten Championships, just one chapter of a distinguished life during which research shows he was “the first black intercollegiate golfer.”

A native Chicagoan, McDougall was raised at 8812 South Ashland Avenue in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on the city’s south side, and attended Calumet High School. Much of what is known about his career in golf was chronicled in the comprehensive ‘Game Of Privilege: An African-American History of Golf’ by Professor Lane Demas of Central Michigan University. The author, a 2002 graduate of Northwestern, specializes in the history of race and popular culture in America – specifically sport and African-American history – and also penned Integrating the Gridiron: Black Civil Rights and American College Football.

One of the first references to McDougal came in 1911 when he was runner-up at the Western Interscholastic Golf Tournament at Ravisloe Country Club in Homewood, Illinois. It was the first tournament for the “young Afro-American golfer from Calument High School,” and, “the race was well represented by him, he being the only golfer entered.”

In 1915 he is referenced as the head caddie at Chicago’s Beverley Country Club during a period when the historic club was being renovated by legendary architect Donald Ross. In 1917, after President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for “a war to end all wars” that would “make the world safe for democracy,” McDougal was one of many across his generation who fought for the allied powers in World War I as part of the 8th Illinois/370th Regiment where he served in the medical unit overseas. He was active in veterans organizations for the rest of his life. 

Upon returning home, he enrolled at Northwestern as a member of the golf team, where he represented the Wildcats at the 1923 Big Ten Championships hosted at Evanston Golf Club.

Before, during and after his arrival at the University. McDougal undoubtedly used his standing in the game to advance the interests of African-Americans in golf. He was reported as a founding member (along with fellow Chicagoland pioneers Walter Speedy and Robert ‘Pat’ Ball) of the Windy City Golf…