Golf Legend William Powell to Be Honored at PGA Championship

Aug. 11, 2009— -- Tiger Woods' many accomplishments are well documented but, now, an unheralded giant of golf who paved the way for Woods is set to have his day in the sun, after a long and inspiring journey.

For William Powell, 92, the adage that "golf isn't a game, it's a choice one makes with one's life" rings true.

Powell has been encouraging players -- young and old -- to share in his passion for the game of golf for more than 60 years, and he will receive the PGA of America's 2009 distinguished service award Wednesday as the PGA Championship kicks off at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

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"The thing I like about golf -- it requires honesty," Powell told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts. "You can take a minister out and play golf with him and you can find out if he is a believer himself."

But Powell's love of the links wasn't always well received. In the 1940s, when he returned home to a segregated America from World War II, he was not welcome on many courses in his home state of Ohio.

"I just got tired of the -- all the garbage," he said. "Because a fellow's skin was white, he could play at a golf course and I had to wonder whether I could play."

Powell, a gifted athlete who began playing golf at the age of 9 and was captain of his high school team, took matters into his own hands ... literally. He set out to build his own golf course in East Canton, Ohio.

"He was just obsessed, to be frank with it," Powell's son Larry said. "It was something that he wanted to do and he put all his effort mentally, emotionally, physically into accomplishing his goal."

In 1948, with the help of friends and his late wife, Marcella, Powell's field of dreams became a reality.

"I didn't do it for black people," he said. "I built it for everybody."

Clearview Golf Club is the only U.S. golf course designed, built and owned by an African-American.

Family Business for Golf Pioneer

Today, Clearview Golf Club is still very much a family business. His children, Larry Powell, the course's superintendent, and daughter Renee help run the club.

With a golf course as a backyard, Renee Powell picked up her first club at the age of 3. She went on to play professionally for the LPGA for 13 years, one of only three African-American players to compete on the tour.

"I taught my daughter golf so she could go out and do things that I couldn't do," Powell said. "And bless her soul, she did it."

Today, Renee is the club's head golf pro.

"Golf is such a very natural part of my life and everything that I've done," she said. "You know, you always have to be able to give back to society. And that's certainly one of the things that my father has certainly taught me, along with my mother."

Clearview Golf Club is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and each year the Tiger Woods Foundation awards the William and Marcella Powell scholarships to honor the Powells' work.

As for Powell, he is proud to be receiving the PGA's highest annual honor.

"They're taking me for what I am because I've earned it," he said. "I don't think you should give anybody anything. Let them work for it and then they appreciate it."

And many appreciate the perseverance of a man who reminds us all that in the game of life -- as in the game of golf -- it doesn't take a hole in one to have a perfect game.