Twice as Good: The Story of William Powell and Clearview, the Only Golf Course Designed, Built, and Owned by an African American

K-Gr 3–For third-grader Willie Powell, the new golf course was a beautiful sight. One day, he approached two white golfers and asked the kinder looking of the men to teach him to play. His reply was, “Son, didn’t anyone ever tell you that your kind is not welcome here?” “Of course, Willie knew he was different. He was the only Negro in his class.” Awhile later he returned to the course and ran into one of the men he’d met earlier. This time he agreed to let Willie carry his clubs. The youngster remembered the words of his principal, “If you are going to get ahead in this world, Willie, you can’t be as good as the white children; you have to be twice as good.” As he caddied and earned a little money, he also studied the game. Later, while in the army, he was stationed in England where “no one seemed to think golf was a game for whites only.” Three years later, he returned to the United States and noticed that his daughter had “the grip of a champion golfer,” and he was determined that one day there would be a course where she could play. In 1948, he opened the Clearview Golf Club in Ohio. Velasquez’s large illustrations, often full spreads, capture the sense of time in soft, pastel shades of green, blue, brown, yellow, and pink. An inspirational story, suitable for Black History Month and for children interested in the game of golf.

William (Bill) Powell’s story is an inspiring one, to be sure: The grandson of slaves who was raised in Minerva, Ohio, and found it difficult to pursue his love of golf because of discrimination. It prompted him to build his own golf course, Clearview Golf Club, which opened in 1948 in East Canton, Ohio, the only course designed, built, owned and operated by an African-American.

Now his story is told in a children’s book, “Twice as Good,” written by an award-winning children’s book author Richard Michelson and illustrated by Eric Velasquez. The title is derived from a lesson taught him in childhood, that “if you are going to get ahead in this world, you can’t be as good as the white children, you have to be twice as good.”

Despite growing up in a community that was racially segregated, William Powell persisted in playing the game he loved, golf.

Young Willie could only caddy on the golf course near his Ohio home, although one white man did let him play. Returning home after World War II from England, where he golfed as much as possible, William was barred from the local greens, denied membership in the whites-only (until 1961) PGA and turned down for financing from the GI loan program. Nonetheless, he found a piece of land where, with private financing, he designed and built the first integrated golf course in the United States. Clearview opened in 1948 and is now a National Historic Site. When his daughter was born, he designed a golf club just for her. Michelson, the author of As Good As Anybody (illustrated by Raul Colón, 2008), has written a straight-forward narrative spiced throughout with inspirational thoughts. At one point, Willie’s principal tells him that in order to succeed he must be “twice as good” as the white children. Velasquez, the award-winning illustrator, paints his figures in linear poses that are unfortunately more static than active.

A useful title in which young readers can gain an appreciation of a ground-breaking African-American sports figure. (author’s note) (Picture book/biography. 3-7)