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Black golf association having fundraiser at Athens

Thomas Jones first got interested in golf in his younger years while working as a bartender at the Athens Country Club. Mack Benton got the golf bug while he was in the military and stationed in Hawaii after Vietnam.

A quarter century ago, long before Tiger Woods made golf cool to an entire generation, the two made up a decent chunk of the black golfers in Athens. That number has been growing ever since.

Jones and Benton were some of the first members of the Classic City Golf Association, a group of black golfers who wanted to organize and not only play, but get children interested in the game. They came from an era where few courses around Northeast Georgia accepted black golfers with open arms.

On March 29, they'll host a tournament at the Athens Country Club, the most private course in town.

It's the first time a black organization has had a fundraiser at the club, association members say.

But the country club invite is just a sampling of how far the organization has come in 26 years.

"We wanted to help get the community involved and put a good face on golf," Benton said. "All we're trying to do is give back to the community."

That's just what the association has done with its annual Classic City Golf Tournaments. Last year, they raised more than $3,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Athens. The money raised at this special tournament will go to Mercy Health Center and Girl Scouts of Northeast Georgia.

They've also helped individuals like Andre Lumpkin, a graduate of Clarke Central High School. Lumpkin earned a full academic scholarship to Emory University, but throughout his early education he lived in extreme poverty, said association member Larry Craig.

Lumpkin grew up hard, first with his mother and then with his grandmother until he moved in with his coach at Clarke Central, Jones said.

But Lumpkin excelled in his studies and even got to school every morning an hour early to tutor his football teammates, he said.

Lumpkin is exactly the kind of kid the association tries to help.

"Our hearts go out to kids like that, who need help,&quo

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