Charlie Sifford to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

From ESPN Golf:

 

Charlie Sifford, the first black golfer to join the PGA Tour, is among the latest Americans tapped to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President Barack Obama announced Monday.

The medal is given by the president and represents the country's highest honor for a civilian. Obama will present the awards at a ceremony Nov. 24.

Sifford, 92, will join Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as the only other golfers to be awarded the Medal of Freedom. He owns two career PGA Tour victories, but he spent the best years of his career simply trying to play, as the PGA had a Caucasian-only clause. Sifford led the effort to have that clause rescinded in 1961, but he still faced ridicule and death threats.

He became the first black golfer inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.

Tiger Woods tweeted congratulations to Sifford after the announcement.

Others who will also receive the award are: performers Stevie Wonder and Meryl Streep, choreographer Alvin Ailey, musical theater composer Stephen Sondheim, former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw, author Isabel Allende, scientist Mildred Dresselhaus, economist Robert Solow, and actress Marlo Thomas. Ailey, who died in 1989, will receive the medal posthumously.

"From scientists who kept America on the cutting edge to public servants who help write new chapters in our American story, these citizens have made extraordinary contributions to our country and the world,'' Obama said in a statement from Beijing, where the president was traveling for an economic summit.

Past sports recipients of the award include Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Ernie Banks, Earl Blaik, Paul Bryant, Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio, Billie Jean King, Robert J.H. Kiphuth, Stan Musial, Jack Nicklaus, Buck O'Neil, Jesse Owens, Arnold Palmer, Richard Petty, Frank Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Dean Smith, Ted Williams and John Wooden.