Lions Municipal is the first golf course in the South to desegregate and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its role as a civil rights landmark. Muny became a place where all people, regardless of race, could meet and play golf together.
In late 1950 – following the Supreme Court’s decision in Sweatt v. Painter but well before Brown v Board of Education – two young black youths, one a caddie just 9-years-old, walked on to the course and began playing. Still in the throes of the Jim Crow era, there were not yet any integrated public golf courses in the south. The Muny staff working that day called City Hall to seek advice on how to handle the trespassing youth. After a quick discussion with council members, Mayor Taylor Glass said, “Let them play”. This simple act – allowing a couple of kids to finish their round – is how Muny earned the title of the first peacefully desegregated course. From that day onward, Lions Municipal Golf Course was open to all who came to play.
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