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Women’s History Month:

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 (194739)

Maggie Hathaway’s touched many lives in the Black community of Los Angeles through her involvement in sports and entertainment, and her name has had a lasting memory in this city.

Hathaway is from Louisiana, and moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s. During a time when Black people were not allowed to play golf on many courses in the city, she fought for integration, starting with the course that is now known as Chester A. Washington Golf Course on Western Avenue.

Hathaway became an avid golfer, after she took up a bet with boxing legend Joe Louis. But she found it difficult to play the sport, because Blacks were not allowed at many courses. So, she led several rallies in protest.

In 1963, Hathaway founded Minority Associated Golfers, which encouraged minorities to take up the sport, and supported minority golfers who were working towards a professional career. She was the long-time director and coach at the Jack Thompson Golf Course, which was renamed for Hathaway in 1997.

Hathaway did not limit her crusading to sports. She was also a talented singer and actress, and often served as a double for Lena Horne. She appeared in a number of movies, including “Quiet, Please!” the Marx Brothers’ “At the Circus” and “Cabin in the Sky.” She often portrayed sassy, witty, sexy ladies on the screen.

Like in the world of sports, Hathaway experienced inequalities for Blacks in the film industry as well.  She was the president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood chapter of the NAACP, and along with Sammy Davis Jr., Hathaway founded the NAACP Image Award show in 1967 to honor Black performers who were overlooked by mainstream award shows, such as the Oscars and Emmys.

Hathaway’s memory lives on with the Image Awards, and also at the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course, which is on Western Avenue just north of Century Boulevard. The golf course has become a training center for many novice golfers, and their First Tee youth and women’s programs have made life-long golfers out of many African Americans.

The First Tee is a program that teaches children how to play golf, and the program has sent quite a few of their players to college on scholarships. There are not as many high school students competing for golf scholarships as there are football and basketball players competing for scholarships, so a good player can get his or her education paid for, if their grades are good and they excel at the sport.

Hathaway has touched many lives in the Black community, because she felt that African Americans should get equal opportunities and equal exposure. She was a woman who did not stand for anything less than the best for her people.

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