Courtesy of Jacqueline Nickelberry
Sports Illustrated and Empower Onyx spotlight the diverse journeys of Black women in sports—from veteran athletes, to up-and-coming stars, coaches, executives and more—in the series Elle-evate: 100 Influential Black Women in Sports.
Growing up in the Michael Jordan era at the Chicago Bulls, Jacqueline Nickleberry’s life was centered around sports, but she considered herself far from an athlete. Nickleberry describes her younger self as a bookworm, Scrabble player and member of the speech team.
In an effort to get her off the couch and into something more physically active than reading, her mother enrolled her in tennis. Nickleberry immediately fell in love with the sport and trained feverishly. For her, it was not about competition, but only about the joy of the game and a good sweat. “I believe endorphins are real,” she says. “It gets you pumped up and gives you energy. I believe in all the good benefits of exercise.” Although her path to fitness has been varied, Nickelberry is still very much in love with the game. But these days, golf is what has the LPGA board member’s heart.
Twelve years ago, Nickelberry and her husband joined a sports club in New York where she intended to play tennis as she had during her formative years, until a friend, who was the club’s first black member, told her, “You should play golf. will change your life.” And so she took a golf lesson and fell in love with it, as she had fallen in love with tennis many years before. One lesson became many as she immersed herself in the sport and honed her skills over the span of several summers. The more time she spent playing golf, the more vocal she became as a black woman on the course in a sport traditionally reserved for rich, white, cisgender men. At the age of 20, Nickelberry lost her mother and everything she had yet to learn about life. He credits his time on the green as a constant opportunity to learn, an opportunity to create friendships and business connections with people from all walks of life.
“You spend five hours with someone over and over again, learning about their children and their values and how they think about life and marriage and friendships,” she says. “It really filled a hole for me. My mother was irreplaceable but I filled the void by having a woman in my life who could tell me about the next stages of life. Golf really did that for me.”
In the summer of 2020, in the weeks following George Floyd’s murder, Nickelberry, like many others, felt emotionally raw. At first, she was reluctant to return to her predominantly white golf course for fear of being misunderstood. Determined to find her “happy place”, peace of mind and some understanding in the midst of all the world’s chaos, she headed for the green. Instead of being greeted with hostility and contempt, she found meaningful conversations about race, gender, and class.
“I wanted to be with my people because I thought only my people understood this hurt,” Nickelberry says. “What I’ve found is that more of us understand that injury.”
Nickelberry’s bookish proclivities and athletic prowess provided a well-rounded foundation that led to her attending Spelman College, where she earned her undergraduate degree in 1999. In 2003, she received her law degree from Georgetown University and practiced law in New York, advising an entertainment company, before that they turned to careers in philanthropy. Nickelberry has led significant initiatives for the Apollo Theater for nearly a decade, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to support emerging artists and young patrons.
Nickelberry eventually channeled her philanthropy and commitment to equity, diversity and equity into her role at the Harlem School of the Arts (HSA), where she currently serves on the board of development and executive committee. During her tenure at HSA, she raised over $1 million for the school’s 2019 annual gala and secured six-figure donations to help the school community as it recovers from challenges exacerbated by the pandemic.
Nickelberry’s full schedule of travel, speaking engagements, philanthropy, golf and other professional commitments doesn’t leave much time for her passion project, Jackie UnFiltered. This lifestyle site began as an exploration of how Nickelberry wanted to present herself to the world through style, fitness and food. Instead, she developed skills like photo editing and website management that would come into play later. “Jackie Unfiltered prepared me for the Global Gift Registry,” she says of the experience. But most importantly, she found herself.
At the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, after a chance encounter with a homeless pregnant woman sleeping on a bench on the streets of downtown Miami, Nickelberry was determined to help the woman in any way she could. She quickly noticed the lack of resources available to expectant mothers as she worked to find the woman shelter, food and basic necessities. That’s how The Global Gift Registry was born. Co-founded with Yetta Banks, the Global Gift Registry is a grassroots approach to giving moms-to-be and young families essentials that works much like an online baby registry. As of 2020, Global Gift Registry has distributed more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of supplies in seven major cities, including New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Atlanta. The global gift registry has garnered Nickelberry national attention and won an Essence “Essential Heroes Award” and a “Power of One” philanthropy award from World of Money.
The year 2020 brought Nickelberry a new opportunity that combined her passions; The LPGA took note of her distinguished career as a philanthropist and offered her a seat on the LPGA board. As she attended her first board meeting that fall, ready to listen and observe, she quickly engaged in a conversation about diversity, equity and golf. By the end of the first meeting, she was asked to chair the fundraising and development committee, and her work with the LPGA took her all over the country, attending golf tournaments, meeting with players, talking to executives and learning how to view the sport from an executive lens. while she identifies the changes that need to be made.
Since joining the board, Nickelberry says she has seen qualitative changes such as the internal elevation of women of color, greater diversity seen at the LPGA pro-ams, and major sponsors making a commitment to diversity—such as the recent decision by the Clearview Legacy Foundation to represent Renee Powell and her father’s legacy of “Golf for Everyone” by providing affordable access to community golf courses. Nickelberry credits strong and supportive leadership for the progress made. “I think Mollie [Marcoux], the commissioner of the LPGA, said it best,” Nickelberry says. “She says it’s a crime to hide an education from someone. And you learn so much on the golf course. We look at it as we should make it as accessible as possible. So that’s what we’re working on.”
Nickelberry has dedicated her adult life to equity, access, inclusion and diversity. Although no longer directly involved, she is a founding member of Higher Heights, a political organization dedicated to raising the voice of black women. However, she is still very active in the political sphere. As a current resident of Miami, Nickelberry saw a huge need to help citizens navigate Florida’s complicated election laws and voting process during the 2020 election cycle, so she became a pollster. “It was such a great experience,” she says. “I really saw that voting is such a community experience in our country.” Her election experience was no different than her time on the golf course, a learning experience to reflect on and channel into her personal life and boardroom.
Today, Nickelberry continues to be herself and is constantly learning and growing from every experience she has, whether on the golf course or in the boardroom.
“Be yourself, even when it’s hard, even when no one understands the fat, chubby girl with the curly hair, lean into it,” she says. “Be the best-dressed person in the room, be the loudest person in the room, take up as much space as possible, but also learn.” Be well-read, curious, ready to take risks and bet on yourself. Black women bet on everyone else. Bet on yourself and bet on yourself again and again. And that it is never about failure; it’s always about experiences and growth. Every experience I’ve ever had has developed and prepared me for the next.”
Danielle Bryant is a contributor to Empower Onyx, a diverse multi-channel platform celebrating the stories and transformative power of sports for Black women and girls.
Who was the first Black golfer to play at Augusta?
Lee Elder, first black golfer to play at Augusta National Golf Club, dies at 87. Elder made history in 1975 when he became the first black golfer to compete in the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. To see also : Sunday Sports: Watertown Rapids are looking for a fourth straight victory. No details about his death were immediately available.
Has any black golfer won the Masters? He had been on the professional tour for less than a year when he won golf’s crown jewel – the Masters, held in Augusta, Georgia. He was the youngest ever to win the prestigious event and the first black man to win a major professional golf tournament – and he did it at 18 under par.
How many Black golfers have played in the Masters?
(WRDW/WAGT) – With one more round to go before someone dons the green jacket, this year’s Masters tournament is already one for the history books. For the first time ever, three black golfers are playing in the Masters: Tiger Woods, Harold Varner III and Cameron Champ. And all three succeeded.
When did the first Black golfer play at the Masters?
On April 10, 1975, 41-year-old Lee Elder became the first black golfer to play in the Masters, considered the sport’s most prestigious event. To see also : America doesn’t deserve to celebrate the 4th of July this year.
Who are the current black PGA golfers?
While of the approximately 400 card-carrying members on the PGA Tour, there were 94 international players from 29 countries and territories outside the United States in 2020, the Tour confirmed to Golfweek that there are only four players of black descent: Joseph Bramlett, Cameron Champ, Harold Varner III and … Read also : The Department of Health shuts down Delta Clinic, 2 others.
Who are the African American golfers on the PGA Tour? 2018: Cameron Champ becomes the seventh African-American to win on the PGA TOUR, behind Pete Brown, Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Calvin Peete, Jim Thorpe and Tiger Woods, with his win at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
What percentage of PGA golfers are black?
Golf Professional Statistics by Race The most common ethnicity among golf professionals is white, accounting for 67.0% of all golf professionals. Comparatively, there are 14.0% of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity and 9.5% of Black or African American ethnicity.
How many black players are on the PGA Tour?
There are currently only four black golfers with PGA Tour status: Woods, Harold Varner III, Cameron Champ and Joseph Bramlett. That’s four out of about 260 regular tours, or 0.015 percent.
Are there any black female pro golfers?
Since only three black women, Althea Gibson, Renee Powell, and LaRee Pearl Sugg, have had notable success on the professional golf tour, it is assumed that black women did not play golf (just as the absence of blacks from other so-called ‘white’ sports was taken for granted for done).
Who was the first African-American woman to play professional golf? He won two PGA Tour tournaments and was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. 1996: Renee Powell of East Canton, Ohio, was elected the first African-American member of the PGA.
Who is the best Black female golfer?
| Renee Powell | |
|---|---|
| US Women’s Open | T33: 1966 |
| du Maurier Classic | 78.: 1980 |
| Achievements and awards | |
| National African American Golfers Hall of Fame 1986 National Black Golf Hall of Fame 2006 African American Golfers Hall of Fame 2007 PGA of America Hall of Fame 2017 |
How many Black PGA professionals are there?
The PGA of America has 28,343 professionals, of which 194 identify as African-American. Out of a field of 312 players in the PGA Professional Championship, Worthington was one of three professional club blacks, “the most I’ve ever seen.†He tied for fourth to qualify for the PGA.
How many Black players are on the LPGA Tour?
Since 1950, only eight black players have played full-time in LPGA Tour history, according to the organization. The LPGA says most of its tournaments have roughly 100 to 120 players, and fields are based on a “priority list.”
