Renee Powell is a student of history, and one of her favorite books is a biography of Harriet Tubman, the former slave who made 13 trips on the Underground Railroad, guiding dozens of other enslaved people to freedom.

Tubman, who also worked as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War and later as a crusader for women’s rights, provides inspiration for Powell every day.

“You read stories about people like that who've done things to make the world a better place, so people don't have to go through the same things and the same indignities,” Powell explains. “And I say this, that we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.”

The late Charlie Sifford, a long-time friend of Powell and her family, had some of those very strong shoulders.

He learned to play golf as a caddie and went on to become the first African American member of the PGA TOUR in 1961. Along the way, Sifford endured death threats and discrimination, but he never capitulated, winning twice on TOUR, as well as the 1975 PGA Seniors Championship and the National Negro Open six times.

Powell has followed a similar path, turning pro in 1967 and becoming just the second Black woman to play the LPGA Tour. She, too, was resilient in the face of bigotry, despite finding hate mail in her locker and being refused service at restaurants. She retired in 1981 and has spent the rest of her life teaching others to play the game she loves so much.

So, when the World Golf Hall of Fame decided to create the Charlie Sifford Award presented by Southern Company to honor his legacy and groundbreaking achievements, the choice for the first recipient was obvious: Renee Powell. And Sifford’s historical – and personal – impact is not lost on her.

“I just love reading about people that have broken down barriers because it has always given me a sense of not giving up and overcoming challenges and obstacles,” she says. “So, I look at Charlie and in one respect of that person who has done that to get out there, to play that game of golf and not give up and then to continue to give back after he left the TOUR.

“And then I look at it in another light, and I say, it's somebody that I knew personally and just respected him in both of those different areas. … So, to receive (this award) means a lot because of knowing him from the public Charlie and knowing the private Charlie, and a personal family friend, it's very touching.”

Sifford’s son, Charles Jr., says his father – who would have turned 100 in June – would be happy to see Powell receive the inaugural award March 9 during the induction ceremony for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“He didn't consider himself a civil rights leader,” Charles Sifford says. “All he wanted to do was play the game and he wanted to have minorities to have an equal chance to play the game. And by the fact that Renee and the future winners of the award are working towards that equality in the game of golf, I'm definitely sure he would be proud of that.”

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Renee Powell first met Sifford and his son when she was 13 years old, and they’ve been close ever since. The elder Sifford was a good friend of her father – they were both veterans and keen golfers, although Bill Powell didn’t have the game to play professionally.

“They could relate to what they had to go through, being black men and wanting to play golf back in those days,” Charles Sifford says. “It was a bond between our families based on what both our families had to go through.”

What Bill Powell wanted to do was build a golf course where everyone would be welcomed like he had been when he played overseas while stationed in England. When he returned to the United States, though, most of the courses were segregated so he took matters into his own hands.

Denied GI Bill benefits due to his race, the elder Powell worked as a security guard to help fund his vision, which became Clearview Golf Club. With financial support from two local black doctors and his brother, Powell purchased a 78-acre dairy farm in East Canton, Ohio.

Bill Powell began work on the course in 1946 – a year before Jackie Robinson bro