Native Links: The Surprising Connections between Our First Peoples and the Game of Golf – 11/30/2023

Native Links: The Surprising Connections between Our First Peoples and the Game of Golf
Thursday, November 30th
6:30 – 7:30 pm

Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host a presentation by Dr. Mark Wagner in honor of Native American Heritage Month.

Just as there can be no history of America without recognizing our Native and First Peoples, the history of golf now cannot be fully told without Native Americans. Why? A number of tribes in the new millennium, aided in part by gaming licenses, have built resort golf courses, employing some of the finest architects of our era: the Jones brothers, golfer Ben Crenshaw and his business partner Bill Coore, Jeff Brauer, Christine Fraser, and Notah Begay III, a professional-golfer-turned-TV-analyst.

Some 55 tribes now own and operate golf courses, and some have hosted events by the Professional Golf Association and the Ladies Professional Golf Association. This work led me to discovering the Native individuals who played a role in golf, including Frank Dufina, Rod Curl and others.

This aspect of Native history, however, has been long overlooked until now. Dr. Mark Wagner will consider the philosophies of the earth that Tribal Cultures bring to course design, and consider some of the key Native figures in the game, which indisputably begins with Oscar Smith Bunn, who was born about 1875 on the Shinnecock Reservation on Long Island and went on to become a Shinnecock tribal trustee, a Hall of Fame caddie, a professional golfer and teacher, and a woodcarving artist.

Sponsored by Friends of Jacob Edwards Library.

Uh I’ll tell you the story of how I got on this idea of uh Native Native links I’m writing a book called native links but I’m going to begin with a land acknowledgement uh we acknowledge the traditional ancestral unseated territory of the nitm Nation on which we are working and curretly Performing we

Recognize and respect indigenous peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between indigenous peoples and their traditional territories this acknowledgement is essential to the the human rights work across the world it is essential to our mission I’m sure the library’s Mission as well uh to explore

The full Human Experience so uh yeah again delighted to be here and um want to tell you about this project I’m working on which began about a year and a half ago uh I write I write for Golf Course architecture and I have stuff in

The Boston Globe as well uh and I went down to Lake of Isles which is in uh Connecticut at Foxwoods and that is a native owned uh Golf Course um and I went there because I was interested in the designer the designer’s name is rhes Jones who’s the

Son of also one of the big figures in Golf Course architecture Robert Trent Jones Reese Jones lives in Milton uh he and his brother have taken on the family business of Designing courses high-end courses and I’m interested in the Jones Brook others and so I went down there and I’m writing

About Lake of VES and I’m like this is kind of interesting that the tribes with the resources from casinos have museums now the pat Mash Tucka pits have a award-winning Museum archives schools healthc care and also golf courses right so for a nerd a golf nerd like me I’m like well

That’s really kind of interesting right um because you don’t in fact um if if you would Advance the slide um when I say when I tell people I’m writing a book on Native Americans in golf the the response is universally golf you know the people can’t believe

It um and people just don’t get that connection between Golf and Native Americans and it’s really a very recent development right so Lake of Isles was the beginning um of a movement and now 55 tribes around the country have golf facilities and in fact I just got back uh I’m going

To tell you about it uh I went to the Native American open there’s a Native American open there was a third Native American open in October uh and um I’ll tell you about that as I go but um to a golf historian uh no you can leave leave that

There um golf for uh research nerds like me can be connected to everything right Babe Ruth and uh there’s a golf ball on the moon moon right the moon shot uh Mary Queen of SP Scots was a golfer uh the um and so for me it’s not surprising

That we can connect it to the recovery of the tribes and U and some sort of justice for the tribes right because I think we’d all been as as mature and educated people I think we’d all agree that the the Native Americans were uh experienced one of the worst historical

Crimes uh in history right uh and we’re still trying to sort that out through sovereignty through resources and and and golf amazingly enough um there’s 562 tribes in the country recognized tribes and this is a book that I’m writing now for not only Golf Course architecture I’m also writing for uh ICT

Which is a news site an indigenous news site called Indian country today that’s what they used to be known as um and I’ll share some of those links with you later uh but they’re pushing this book I C is very much uh loving this book uh

Which is a a glimpse of the 562 tribes across the country so anyway let’s try and make this as interactive as possible I’m going to ask you a question here’s your uh here’s your exam uh what when you think of Native American tribes of consequence who do you think of and

Why sitting bow right why sitting B my hero he’s your hero because I wish he had more ammunition would have been different things would have been a lot different if Sitting Bull was running things today for sure uh Sitting Bull he’s the one who took down kuster right yeah pretty much yeah

As I’ve gotten into this history I mean the history of broken treaties and and murder and I mean the has anyone seen killers of the flower Mo uh we went and saw that um that’s about the oage murders and in fact there’s a connection to golf um which

I’ve written about right because when the oage struck oil and became the richest people in the world per capita for a while for a short while they built a golf course they built a golf course by a a fellow named Maxwell Perry and they wanted they’re driving nice cars

Pierce arrows and uh wearing jewelry and nice nice Linens and um they wanted to learn how to golf as well so I have a little section on that in my book um yeah but the history of the of the the slaughter the stealing of the land the broken treaties like the US government

Uh in fact that’s kind of a challenge in my project is because when they say are you native I’m not I I like to say I’m a poor white ask that question I’m a poor white boy from New Jersey that’s what I tell him and uh in fact when I went to

The Native American open um I asked if I could come as as effectively press and I had to interview over Zoom with the council tribe and I had to interview the sh with the shok council as well when I’m doing another project and uh they interviewed me and they’re

Like what what is your intentions and and then they’re like okay wait here and they shut down the zoom and I waited like a good 10 minutes and they come back and they’re like okay you can come because they and and they explain themselves they said we’ve been double

Crossed so many times right not only the broken treaties from way back but researchers will say I’m going to come in and research your family structure or your energy policy and they criticize the you know the tribes and water policy it’s a big and the tribes uh have a lot

Of water rights on their land and that runs a foul of local municipalities and so on so um they they get criticized you know and uh that that’s one reason why they’re building the golf course is water but anyone else want to answer the the final exam who do you think of when

You think of Native American tribes why Thanksgiving because that was the the whites meeting the na of yeah that’s one of the narratives of our history right is that the uh the white settlers well that that speaks to the peats because that was the tribe um the first the

Quote unquote first Thanksgiving was the peats I’m going to talk about that in a moment so when the the the Irish were experiencing famine the chakas sent resources and the Irish have memorialized that with a beautiful beautiful sculpture when I I was out at the so welcome um we’re just having an

Informal discussion about some research I’m doing on uh golf and and Native Americans um and I’m explaining it it takes a while to explain why that makes sense all right and it’s because uh if you go to the next slide it’s because of the peats right the peats I would argue

Are the most consequential tribe not only for the first Thanksgiving but because they’re the ones who started really suing for the right for gaming SU doing for the right to get more land right so it’s really an interesting history here the peats were down to two

People two women at one point and one of the women Elizabeth George floof called in her uh I think he was a grand nephew and on her deathbed she made him promise that he would continue and try and revive the peat Nation his name was uh

Skip Hayward this is in this is in Stonington Connecticut right down where foxw is so that was where the reservation was where foxw is it was shrunk down at one point it was down to about 200 Acres right it’s now up around almost 2,000 acres so they fought back and got resources and

Whatnot and Skip Hayward promised his his uh grandon I guess her name would be that he would he’d try and revive the peats now that’s an interesting story in itself I’m not going to get go too far down that road um but uh he did he

Started to agitate for the rights of the tribes and in 1983 Ronald Reagan recognized the pat nation and began to recognize the tribes and then Along Comes the gaming Act of 198 yeah 1988 and Skip Hayward opened a bingo hall and the bingo hall did very well

And then he built Foxwoods and Foxwoods is an enormous success and that’s one of the issues here is that some of the tribes have built casinos that are not successful so we went to one out in New Mexico when I went out for the Native American open it was kind of dismal

Right Foxwoods is a big deal right they bring in Sher and you know Taylor Swift and everybody and but uh skip Hayward it’s kind of an interesting history again I don’t want to go too far down this road but when he started getting money what did he do well he he does he

Does want to go into golf but he starts giving money to politicians and in fact uh he starts buying with the money from the the casino um Foxwood is the most successful Casino in the country Indian or not right and it’s an enormous success and then the mohigans have since built one

He starts to uh Pony up to the Democratic party giving large amounts of money you know we’re not talking $100 we’re talking like $20,000 here $40,000 there and then the Boy Scouts are next door in Lake of Isle and he says I want that’s reservation land I want to buy it

And so he gave so Congress is about to make the decision on the night before he gives $100,000 to the Democratic party yeah he bought it and that’s one of the the uh ironies right or one of the the uh complexities of all this right is

That the uh the other thing is and this uh is a knock on the peats as well uh is that people started coming out the woodwork right and saying I’m 116th because that was the that was the level you had to be for pequa nation 116th

Peat and if you could show that then you got the benefits that came with that right so in fact when we were out in New Mexico they were criticized in the pequ they’re like 116 that’s not right but anyway the money comes all these challenges and these complexities right

The night before the vote on Lake of Isles he gives $100,000 to Democratic party and needless to say Clinton you know flexed his muscle and said yeah you can have that land and they got it from the Boy Scouts and now you could argue whether that’s a good thing or not but

Then they brought in because they have this money rolling in they bring in the best architect in the world ree Jones who’s considered the open doctor right each year he goes and fixes the open course and uh he’s you know he’s an artist as far as I’m concerned and he

Builds two you know state-of-the-art courses it’s called Lake of a and there it is there’s a there’s a hole there and you see Foxwoods in the background there and they move into golf and so you see Rees Jones um they were the turtle of the fox and the Democratic party you

See Reese Jones built the the bunkers with their tribal symbol the turtle and there’s one over here that has a fox uh and uh it’s absolutely stunning landscape you know just absolutely beautiful in every respect uh very very high end and um and that’s where where I started

Researching uh Natives and golf it really begins in the ’90s with the gaming act uh starts generating revenues and now a lot of tribes move into it right uh they build courses as a way to generate economy on their land and that’s what the that’s what the natives consider sovereignty right sovereignty

They consider the the 562 uh Na Nations they consider themselves their own Nations they are sovereign Nations within the United States sovereignty is very much from the Native point of view about economy right creating economy from your own land that’s an interesting point in itself right when you think back when we all

Had family farms and we were generating economy with our land uh fishing in our in our ponds and you know generating our own food maybe we are a bit more independent and Sovereign back then I don’t know now we go to the McDonald’s and all hell broke loose right um but

Anyway um it’s an interesting question that once you have that economic impact from the land from the reservation then you have recovery right so the decimation that the native tribes experienced through the broken treaties through the genocide the plagues the wars there is some measure of recovery

Going on right even though for a lot of these nations it’s still uh a struggle and there you know in a lot of places like North Dakota and elsewhere we all know um there’s drug addiction problems alcohol problems and um you know golf is just one 55 tribes out of this so that’s

What that’s a tenth of the number of tribes have the golf facilities that are bringing in the money and again the casinos in the Gulf doesn’t mean money automatically right Foxwoods was was unique in that sense and Skip Hayward was a player and knew how to do it right

Um but anyway uh being able this is Lori Potter a peat uh who I interviewed for this project she says uh being able to provide jobs housing healthc care Pharmaceuticals cultural educational opportunities secure Community are among the our highest priorities as a tribe so the pequots are kind of an ex exception

Although I want to tell you about the open so um 55 as as I noted Now operate golf courses some have hosted events by the PGA and the LPGA so the LPGA has a a strong relationship with a number of these facilities and again the successful ones are bringing in uh the

Best guys to to build these things so Robert Trent Jones Jr reys Jones Ben khaw uh Pete Dy Pete and Alice Dy Christine Frasier um Jeffrey Brower these in my world these These are people who are like artists right they’re they come in and they shape a course into to a land

That is from my point of view I don’t know if there’s any golfers in the room um a delight to walk through right it’s about being for me golf is not about pars and birdies for me it’s about being outside being with Monica being with my family and friends and being in nature

Right that’s what uh that’s it’s kind of like fishing in in a certain sense right um just being outside and and in nature so um now there aren’t this is one thing I’m working on now now is there aren’t many economic impact studies because again the tribes are very reluctant

Right to share and in fact there are stories of corruption needless to say once the money starts coming in people take money uh there’s corruption up in the the um northern Midwest with uh meth methamphetamine production on some of the reservations so I’m not going to

Sugarcoat this in any way uh there are challenges and there are many examples actually of tribal Chiefs who get in there all of a sudden people are like hey you know uh hire my guy and I’ll give you $50,000 and they take it right um I would

Right no I’m just kidding um but so there’s not many studies of economic impact among the tribes but there is one that I want to show you and this is the United Nation and they have a relationship with the LPGA and they just had an inaugural uh

Um I must have skipped a question there what’s the economic impact of the United Nation in Wisconsin Green Bay Area if you guessed 744 million you’re correct um a Norbert College Study estimated the tribes businesses events and members directly contribute 494 million sustained more than 3,000 jobs annually

Indirect spending is factored in the you factor in the velocity of money and so on and so forth uh it’s 744 million more than 5,000 jobs being generated by casinos markets healthc care and the Onida have a a beautiful state-of-the-art course called Thornberry which I’m hoping to go to so

You can yeah there it is there Thornberry Creek at Onida um and they had an inaugural Thornberry Creek LPGA classic that had the largest impact single impact on that that economic uh generation from the tribe right the LPGA the PGA yeah like it or not they bring in huge money right you

Go to those things um I think they estimate that just the merchandise alone these things I know I still haven’t convinced Margaret that this is good yet Margaret’s Margaret’s uh uh she’s gonna resist to the end but uh you know like the US Open the L LPGA women’s final

Oh the li no the Liv I’m I’m against the Liv just so you know we’re we’re in agreement there I’m against the Saudi back Liv for number of different reasons but uh it’s like millions of dollars a day in hats and shirts and Logo balls and stuff like this uh it’s huge money

That flows into these these events and so the tribes were smart to build these courses that would sustain high-end golf facilities golf uh events there’s one I just went to called Santa Ana peblo and here it is here um I went to uh in October the Native American open they

Have their own open each year and uh this was at San An pble in October this is the uh tribal chair of the Taya Pueblo that’s Jay Garcia and his friend is the treasurer Larry Pascal I went and played golf with them um we’re good friends now and I’ll share the Articles

I’ve I’ve published two articles from this event and I have a third coming out uh the third one’s going to be about this guy here his name is Jimmy Squire uh Jimmy is an ampute a veteran amputee missing a leg and he shows up this was

I’m I’m writing this story now um really sweet guy he’s from Oklahoma he’s from the absentee shauny tribe of Oklahoma that’s his tribe and he shows up to agitate for a handicap flight you all know what that is that would be a a category of the event in which

Handicapped golfers could play and so Jimmy shows up and says hey we’re here and he goes around and plays handicapped flights all around the country and he wins he just won a veterans one in Oklahoma which I’m going to report on and of course Larry and Jay he’s extremely enthusiastic and

Optimistic Jimmy he’s uh uh he struggled the day I was with him but uh they were like immediately oh yeah no next year definitely handicap flight absolutely and this is um Robert kachet and he is the nephew of Jim Thorp the great athlete Jim Thorp he’s also

From Oklahoma and uh he’s going to be part of my book as well I interviewed him about what it’s like to be related to Jim Thorp uh the great um football baseball player uh and there’s a connection to Southbridge about that did we talk about that Margaret um Jim Thorp remember he was

The Olympian he he was considered the greatest athlete of all time he won the decathlon and the pentathlon in 1912 well he comes back and I think it was around 1918 or so there was a manager in the minor leagues who wintered in Southbridge I shouldn’t go down this

Road because I’m not remembering his name um but uh the TNG outed Jim Thorp as having received money for playing baseball and that came through Southbridge that guy dropped a dime in the end it was just all nonsense and they stored his medals postumus right it was again more crimes against uh the

Natives right Jim Thorp should not have been stripped of his of his medals in any way that was just totally unfair but it was the tngg that that pushed that um so anyway here’s these guys at at the Native American open San ano absolutely stunning Exquisite Golf Course um that’s

The winner Eric Frasier I spent a little time with him uh he was the male winner one by one stroke he’s a Navajo he is trying to make it as a pro this is another interesting story as well um It Ain’t Easy right it ain’t easy I

Interviewed him just go back to Eric for a second honey um and uh when I got to him he’s like I gotta go I’m going to the San Diego open right they’re just on the go right it’s 247 to try and make a living as a golfer

You know you think Tiger Woods and those guys have it easy and you got those mouthpieces like Phil Michelson sounding off um those guys are the you know they’re the exception these people are working they’re working really really hard and as natives face challenges that you know a white guy from Notre Dame

Wouldn’t face right as I said to somebody uh if Eric had gone to uh you know uh UNLV or something like that or or Notre Dame he’d have the backing of Ford or or tailor made or Titleist yeah go do does the um tribe support him yes

Yeah they have some support so for example Robert KET the relative of Jim Thorp he’s sponsored by a diner in his home uh reservation right so it’s not the kind of money that you would think would follow them right even around here you might be able to convince like

Handover insurance or somebody right they’re getting sponsorships from diners and local energy companies and stuff like that it’s a you know it’s discrimination r large right because go to Sky song for a minute this woman her name is Sky song Alexis her last name is the name of her tribe she’s

A Canadian she won the women’s uh uh flight by 15 Strokes she’s an extraordinarily good golfer and she did make it and get sponsorship one year they sponsored it to go around to uh various tournaments which she w won she after she she came here and won this one

She had won one previously in Ontario uh ex exceptional athlete right but of course she stopped like like all us do she had two kids she’s native she’s on a reservation she’s not you know again if she had gone to Notre Dame uh you know forward or you know the

Catholic Church will be back in or something like that they they are facing challenges that uh you know we’re all white in this room right I mean we don’t we don’t see it right we’re getting by right uh there’s she was an absolute Delight to spend time with and again

Extraordinary and so one of the reasons why I’m writing one I in my in my article about this I said you know hopefully sponsorships will follow hopefully as we as we uh make this story known you know someone will come up and say I’m going to sponsor uh Sky song for

A year I asked them how much it would cost to be sponsor just be free to play golf about $70,000 right that’s not you know that’s a that’s a good amount of money but it’s not like you know a million dollars right I mean it’s not uh so Sky song was

Delightful and and she’s hoping she’s hoping that she gets the sponsorship but an energy company in Canada sponsored her for one year and she wins tournaments so go ahead now this is uh what I wrote write about I had an essay um this week appear this is Jason Montoya the first

Peblo PGA member uh he is 34 and has spent his life playing golf at Santa Ana and has now established a golf school called Elevate golf Mind Body um delightful guy and he does programs not only in golf but on nutrition um School prep and so on so

Forth so it’s a whole it’s a kind of holistic approach to it’s not just hey go out there and play golf um it’s um you got to get you know grades in school learn how to study learn how to take care of yourself he’s got a whole um and

In fact in fact Nota beay who taught Jason uh has a whole thing against alcohol that his his whole program is called water first I’ll tell you a story about that in a moment but these two this is Madison long she is a cord delene and that’s Zachary blue eyes is

Navajo this weekend December 2nd and 4th they’re in a PGA program they’re going to Las Vegas and the PGA is supporting them in this um where they’re going to a showcase uh for junior golfers who are black and brown from underrepresented groups they’re the only two natives going uh they’re two of 24

Kids who are being supported by a program called uh Pathways to Pro progression by the PGA and I just featured that in one of my articles and I’ll again I’ll try and share those Links at the end if I remember um but they those kids were great um Zachary is

A very DEC highly decorated young uh Native golfer he just has picked it up from when he was seven goes out and wins tournaments he played the he he won a national title last year the national junior Championship which is um Nota Bay thing Madison is also

Just a great golfer better than me for sure um and she finishes kind of more midling but Zachary finishes on top so you see here he’s wearing a metal he meddled at not and they didn’t even have a junior flight he meddled in the men’s flight at the Native American open which

Is like you know I think he came in third behind Eric and uh so this this project is anyone have any questions we can be informal I I just what’s happened is since I started writing about this when I started at Lake of a on the peats it’s

Kind of popping I actually have a book contract uh that I’m working on and people are really really interested in this subject um first of all but among the natives I find two camps one is some natives are like what they didn’t even know this happening right we have golf courses the golfers

Right tell me more right and then there’s the subculture of the golf folks and they’re hungry for this when I sent the essay on the Native American open um the the responses I got from the team out there at Santa Anna was just like this is incredible you know they

Couldn’t believe they were getting that coverage right um and they’re like this is stunning well done you know they just are thrilled that they’re getting the coverage so uh not beay uh is the he’s not the first some people say he’s the first but not beay

Won four times on the PJ tour he was Tiger Wood’s roommate at Stanford right they won two national championships together he is Navajo and he he plays at Santa Ana and so all the people I’m working with were are friends of in fact I’m in touch with

His brother Clint beay who runs exactly that it’s called the NB3 fit golf fit program right so they identify young kids who want to golf and they take you know 15 or 20 each year give them give them good gear right that’s a big issue uh give them nutritional programs

Right because that’s a big issue for native tribes uh give them School prep right so that they uh because you know very few people reach the level where you can really make money in golf right they’re going to they’re going to become teach they’re going to become maybe run

The pro shop or what if they want to stay in the industry right there’s a lot of jobs but it’s very rare that someone gets to that level that Elite level where you’re actually making uh a lot of money but again these two were identified to be part of a PGA program

Called PGA Pathways to progression it’s a year-long program uh and I celebrate this in in the essay I published this week in ICT again I’ll share those links if I can get them um there were 24 people of color right from underrepresented groups who the P PJ

Identified and said we want to we want to they took them to TPC Saw Grass which is in Florida one of the big PGA courses they did a week-long training in college prep nutrition and um you know self-confidence programs like that they all played there then they gave them

Grants the PJ gave them grants to hire coaches and get gear and in fact in the essay Zachary talks about this in my essay how he’s going out to tournaments and he’s playing against kids who live on country clubs you know they’re white kids who live on country clubs and they

Hire coaches and the parents are pushing them out there and they’re they’re playing with the the prov1 ball and all that stuff and he’s like I don’t I didn’t have that right well now the PGA is creating a program for these guys and uh these these kids and so this weekend

Is the show okay so NBC is doing a program on it Sunday uh I’m in touch with the um the vice president of Player Development at the PGA is a gentleman named Kenyata Ramsey is running the program and in fact I was emailing with him today wishing him luck for the

Weekend U but he said that there’s a program on NBC Sunday at 1 that they’re going to feature um this program and I’m in touch with these these kids parents and they’re all really jazzed right because they’re getting everything you know Hotel flights gear and the Showcase

Is for college right so the all the golf college coaches from around the country will be there and hopefully well Zachary’s a junior so he’s really um ahead of the game Madison’s a senior in high school hopefully on Monday morning she’s going to wake up and have a

Scholarship right to uh one of the good golf programs right um that’s what that’s what they’re hoping for and they also the PGA sees this as an ongoing program so Kenyatta said this is my last job he’ll never leave this job right the PJ really wants to do this for more and

More kids for exactly that reason to you know get these kids out there we talked about this at my last presentation where you know why isn’t Southbridge opening up kassy to kids like because if you got um asthma problems right if you got focus problems uh if you got depression

Issues among the youth get them outside right get them in the fresh air I mean that’s my my on golf right even though I like the game I mean I just like being outside and breathing fresh air and um that’s what some kids don’t have they

Don’t have access to that stuff um so my argument in all of this again I’m hoping that my book will be out hopefully next time this this time next year Margaret will be here and I’ll have a book in hand uh the book is called native links

Um the surprising history of our first people in golf and I’ve cover some really amazing stuff which I’ll talk a little bit more about but one thing about the Native American open I want to tell you uh I love sports Don and I coached Town soccer do you remember that story

About Wilson Reich saying uh sorry to the young black boy you remember that story at all Monica can I talk about this anyway I was coaching soccer with Don and everybody and Wilson Reich was was like a rotating Captain one day and there was a black boy on the other team

And they went out to shake hands and flip the coin and Wilson out of the blue unprompted goes up to the black yeah he goes up to the blackb says I’m sorry for what my people did to your people no I swear to God it’s really one of my

Favorite stories in life I love that story and Monica and I bring it up every once a while remember when Wilson did that I mean talk about just natural you know goodness and and moral you know dignity right anyway I’m at the I’m at the awards ceremony for um the native

American open and I sit down next to Bowman wisdom Bowman wisdom he’s an Oklahoma 80 years old 81 years old was in the Army at Fort Hood with Elvis Presley because the Army was the only way out of the reservation he graduated high school he joined the army was at um

Fort Hood in Texas with Presley had all these great stories and he was you loved golf right so we got to talk we hit it off you know and we’re sitting there eating our bites and burgers together and um we just are really rapping and his family’s there uh he he felt like

The competition was too stiff right so he wanted a flight for 80 plus year old threat and uh so we get get to talking and um I you know I said I my usual rep you know I’m just a poor white guy from New Jersey right and he says the white

People he says the worst thing the white people brought here is Christianity and alcohol and so we started rapping on that I said well you know Christianity we’re going to have to talk about you know alcohol well I’m going to stay away from the bar since you said that

Right and uh um but he’s introducing me to all these sober golfers including Jim thorp’s nephew right Robert KET and he he brought up like four five guys who came up and said their first line was I’m sober seven years or I’m sober nine years right because in in the

Native American Community it’s rampant people don’t even understand I don’t know if it’s a genetic issue I from what I read and understood there’s more to it it could be a genetic link to their I I think that that’s pretty well established but I don’t know the science

Of it to talk too much about it but but also just the economic and social challenges that they faced right where addiction becomes you know we see that in in a white ghetto as well right um but no Nota beay to go back to Nota who’s now a very very successful

Commentator course designer designer and runs his foundation is at Santa Ana and I didn’t know that when I got there I got there and I see NB3 that’s what he calls himself mb3 water first big truck big truck just says water first and I learned that not

Bay had a problem with alcohol he won four times on the tour and then spun out right got a DUI crash his car and he didn’t want to be the drunken Indian you know he didn’t want to be that um that Meme right and so he he cleaned

Himself up and in doing so realized that he could have a better career as a commentator you know for all the Dei stuff obviously and and also representing uh the tribal Nations and all that stuff so he became a commentator left golf he developed a back problem as well it’s a longer story

But anyway his program there is about sobriety right in part Healthy Living nutrition and and water first that’s the name of his program so when the the native golfers arrive at Santa Ana as I did there it is his truck is right there NB3 water first and that’s one of his

Big deals and so and that was the interesting um conversation with Bowman was about alcohol and Christianity we didn’t get into that but anyway I told him the story I told him the story of Wilson I said I have to tell you my favorite story of sports and I said um

Young boy in the soccer field went up to a black boy and just said I’m sorry for what my people did to your people and I said Bowman that’s the way I feel you know and he was totally he totally was down with that and he was going to go

Back to Oklahoma and start his own open which was going to be bigger than the Native American open he’s a he’s a really lot of fun to be with um so anyway uh my argument is if the Arc of History bends towards Justice right that’s the great line of Martin Luther

King um the Resurgence of Native American tribes is a shining example in my view that the game of golf has aided in this process is not a surprise to historians of a sport that by its nature right if you if it’s played well requires truth-telling humility and a love of the

Land and that’s the argument of my book basically is that um uh this Resurgence of tribal golf facilities uh aided by the casinos Sometimes some some tribes have golf without casinos uh is is spurring a economic uh sovereignty in some areas that is benefiting the kids you know they’re creating an industry of

Teaching and healthy living and get through school that’s one one thing Bowman said again and again Education First right that’s what I tell my kids it’s not golf it’s education um yeah so okay yeah so let me I I’ll pause here and see if anyone wants to um

Ask any question questions or discuss things but in my research after I started writing about Native Americans and uh golf courses which again is popping like people are buying the Articles and people are really interested in this subject which is good for me um I discovered this guy Oscar

Bun is a shinok Monto Indian native East End of Long Island where and we’ve been down there I’ve been down to meet his um his relatives and the shinik reservation is here and then the shinok Hills Golf Course is like literally you know 50 yards away and that stolen land

The golf course is stolen land needless to say uh and but it’s also supposedly according to the people I talk to or Listen to It’s Sublime it’s one of the most beautiful courses in the world right all the Architects say that it’s the number one shinok Hills he helped

Build it him and the shinok tribesman right so so the the colonist came in did them dirty on some land deal right they get the hills and they build their golf course on the Hills the shinok reservation is actually the shinok reservation is quite beautiful they have

The bay um but it that’s shrunk down from what they originally had right he was born in 1878 he didn’t meet his father his father was a whaler named wus spun who died in a shipwreck when Oscar was was quite young like a year old um he grew up on the reservation and

Avoided the fates of a lot of his tribesmen by getting on the work cruise and they built shinok Hills then he began to caddy and he was a gifted athlete and so everyone started noticing so that was all being run by a family called the duns Dunn and Bun it can get confusing

But the duns were Scottish Willie Dunn Seymour Dunn they were part of that wave that came over Harry Varden um that came over to teach Golf and build the courses right so he fell under the tutelage of Willie Dunn who was a golf club maker and then later Seymour

Dunn and he they started noticing oh Oscar can really play this game and so he played in the second US Open and the fifth US Open so in 1896 he represented shinok Hills at shinok Hills and in 1899 the first US Open played south of the Mason Dixon he represented shinok Hills

Again in Roland Park Baltimore so he’s a gifted golfer and then he followed Seymour bun out to the adarand deex and taught Golf out there at Lake Placid um sarenac Lake he had a job in Jacksonville Florida couple Winters he set course records in Connecticut and

Florida and then uh I I just finished a chapter in which Harry Varden the great English great english golfer he didn’t call himself English he said he was a jersey man he’s from the island of Jersey um he came over and did a tour in 1900 and he toured from March to

November he played nine 90 matches for $500 and a bottle of Scotch for each and he took all comers he went from Florida to Colorado to Chicago and he met up with Oscar bun at Lake Placid and so I’m uncovering this it’s really a fascinating story and I’m finding some

Things that are um haven’t aren’t really known it was known that they played right and that Varden won the first match but I recently uncovered that they had a second match and it’s documented in some newspapers out in Lake Placid and Bun won the second match and so I

Have a chapter on this and I’m suggesting in my chapter I’m suggesting well they might have just hit it off right because Oscar was known to be very jolly he had the first uh stick built house in the reservation he and his wife Mary deaun had a room half the house was

A music room they had a piano and they like to dance and they like to socialize uh and he was you know skilled enough not only as a golfer but socially to make a living as a golf pro despite the enormous challenges that a shinok Monto native would have had at that time

And and um so I call up I call up I go out and I meet his great grand nephew who’s an artist like a really uh successful artist has his own Gallery his name is David bun Martin he studied with Robert renberg uh Charles Earl Wilson and I

Said what about a portrait of Oscar and he said well of course you know and I said well how much would that be and he’s like well I get about $99,000 and I’m like can’t do that um but there was a a lawyer involved Allison Singh was

Involved and I said Allison could we we put this deal together she’s like she’s she’s more money than I am um and she’s like nah I can’t do 9,000 right so me being me being a poor Jersey Boy I called the USGA Museum and library and I

Said hey you know Oscar bun you know that story they’re like not really and I I shared my chapter with with them and they had a record of him in the opens right and I said would you be interested in a portrait of Oscar bun done by one

Of his relatives uh her name is Rosemary maretz is the director and Margaret will know I don’t know about Southbridge but some libraries have acquisition funds museums and what you want you want to get in on that um and I said they said well how much would it be and I developed a

Relationship with Victoria Neno who’s a senior historian there and I had a conference call with them and they’re sing they said how much would it be and they said I said well 9,000 plus shipping and framing they’re like we’ll do it they didn’t even blink they didn’t even blink it was not you

Know and again that goes back to the usgaa which holds the US Open tens of millions of dollars in merchandise alone right I mean so they got money anyway this is it this is just finished and this is based on the two existing photographs of Oscar bun we’re

Going to go see this over uh the holiday he’s just finished this like literally this week yeah there’s two pictures of Oscar bun one is on his b icle and you can see he’s wearing a shirt and tie which which I never noticed until uh David painted the portrait you know so

He’s on his way to work at the club right and um and then the other picture of him is an Indian guard at a Indian shinok uh event a ritual of some kind and so using the technique of um his teacher Charles Earl Wilson who’s very famous for representations of Native

Americans and cowboys in Oklahoma he used that technique to create this portrait this the Brooklyn Eagle did a lype type of thing you can’t tell this is Oscar but there was a um article about Oscar teaching Golf and they ran him swinging and so the three images

That we know of Oscar uh are are incorporated into this um this portrait which will hang at the usj Museum and Library yeah you know David’s very reserved and you know again like a lot of natives you know he doesn’t know how to take a poor boy from Jersey but I

Keep on saying I’m just so happy about this project you know I can’t and I keep on calling um I came on emailing Victoria I’m like when are we going to have a reception you know we got to have a reception and really have an unveiling

And and really bring this to light and you know everyone so far is like well you know right now it’s drying and so in fact this is not the final version the final version has some beach plums right there but um yeah it’s really uh just U

It’s going to be the last chapter of my book will be that unveil ing at the Museum but we’re going to go down uh and see David at his uh Gallery over over the holiday and see this up close and in person so again that’s all a way of

Saying I think this subject is worth exploring in a lot of different ways right uh not only because of you have this history it’s not only Oscar bun I’ve written about other figures along the way Frank defina um he was part Chaka up in Michigan uh Rod curl the first Native to

Win on the PGA tour Rod curl’s Sons uh Steve McDonald so you have this chronology through time going back to the fir this is the first American Born golf pro he is the first America every up to that point it was all the Scots and the Brits he’s the first American Born golf

Teacher and no one knows that right because of racism and discrimination right and so when you tell that to people in fact whatever I don’t I don’t want to carry on too much but when I’m I’m revealing this story and there’s a big Journal called the golfer Journal

There it appears that they’re going to run this story but when you tell those guys are sponsored by titlist and a Kush net and all that you tell them this and their their minds explode they can’t believe it they think golf is just a white boy Country Club game you know and

But you go back through history uh and you find this really surprising um chronology of natives in GF and and so from from Oscar uh there was a gentleman by the name of Frank defina who taught golf on maeno island in Michigan and he was the longest serving golf pro in

History and that’s recognized by the PGA so he’s known a little more than Oscar um but he he just knew it from the start he wanted to be a golf teacher he started teaching at a small small club on maeno island when he was like

14 and he just wanted to stay there and he he taught until 1963 so from like 1912 to 1963 uh Frank defina taught uh at this club on Ma Island never left the island other than for a few tournaments and um so it’s really fascinating history and anyway comments or questions I know

We’re at time Margaret thank you so much um I love coming down here and and sharing my research and um thank you for the support uh as I said my book will be out hopefully at this time next year and I’ll be out with a box of books in

My trunk again thanks for the Southbridge Library Friends of the library uh and I’ll come back anytime Universal reconciliation and healing through golf that’s my I would give you this well thank you for coming thank you very much Mark if anyone wants this is um