Rafe Botts never won on the PGA TOUR and never even finished inside the top three in any of the 151 tournaments he played between 1959 and 1986. That, however, didn’t stop Botts from being one of the pioneering Black players to play on the TOUR once the Caucasians-only clause ended in 1961. After a long career in golf on both the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions and as a PGA section pro, Botts died on Jan. 11. He was 86.

Botts played on TOUR during the mid-1960s and '70s when the TOUR saw its highest Black player participation rate. Botts only played less than 10 tournaments once between 1965 and 1974 (eight starts in 1969), appearing in a career-high 22 tournaments in 1970. His best season came in 1965 when he finished 135th on the money list.

Botts, a native of Washington, D.C., was born March 31, 1937. He started playing golf at the same time he began work as a caddie at Langston Golf Course. Botts attended Spingarn High School in Washington, D.C., a school that produced Basketball Hall of Fame members Dave Bing and Elgin Baylor, the latter one of Botts’ classmates. Following graduation in 1955, Botts accepted a job working in the pro shop of Burning Tree Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

While working at Burning Tree, Botts began cultivating his playing career by competing in United Golfers Association tournaments — events for Black players. In his position at the exclusive Burning Tree Club, Botts befriended U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, who was just beginning to play the game. Often, after closing the club for the evening, Nixon would offer Botts a ride home in his chauffeur-driven limousine.

Botts moved to Los Angeles in 1959, intent on pursuing a professional golf career. While the TOUR still had its Caucasian-only clause, most of the golf courses in Southern California were not segregated. Botts reasoned that it would be easier to work on his game there. The U.S. Army inducted Botts in 1961, where he served until 1963.

Instrumental in Botts’ career was six-time PGA TOUR champion Jerry Barber, who befriended Botts when he was just starting as a professional.

“If any one person deserves more than just a thank you from me, it would be Jerry Barber,” Botts told the Orange County Register. “He has been an inspiration, a financial advisor and what I must class as a real friend."

Botts also received financial backing from Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jim Brown and Motown Records. His win at the 1972 Laguna Seca-Del Monte Hyatt Invitational in Monterey, California, was also instrumental in giving him financial stability to chase his dreams. In that event that featured a $25,000 purse and a field full of PGA TOUR players, Botts defeated Jim Wiechers by two strokes to earn the $3,000 first prize.

In his career, Botts finished inside the top 10 in only two PGA TOUR tournaments, the 1968 Pensacola Open in Florida (tied for eighth) and the 1974 Quad Cities Open, where four consecutive 69s led to a fifth-place finish. That was Botts’ final full season on TOUR. He never played more than four tournaments in a season after that, instead spending a considerable amount of time playing on the DP World Tour.

In 1973, he made history when he became the first Black player to win the Southern California PGA Match Play Championship, defeating PGA TOUR veteran Tommy Jacobs, 1-up, in the championship match, the triumph earning him an invitation to that season’s PGA Championship.

In 1987, after turning 50, Botts qualified for PGA TOUR Champions, playing full-time on that circuit for four years. His best season came in 1988 when he finished 49th on the money list and contended at the Sunwest-Charley Pride Classic in New Mexico, tying for third.

A memorial service, yet to be determined, is planned at Langston Golf Course later this year.