Peete took three stabs at the PGA TOUR qualifying school before earning his playing privileges in 1975. By then, he had found a financial backer that made life easier for Peete, who had been making ends meet with revenue from rental property and his first wife’s teacher’s salary.
At that time, only 60 players were fully exempt on the PGA TOUR each year. The others, who were called “rabbits,” had to go through Monday qualifiers where only a small percentage earned spots in that week’s tournament.
Travel was expensive and there were no guarantees. The purses were a fraction of what the prize money is now. But Peete made steady progress, posting a pair of top-10s in each of his first three seasons and picking up his first win, among seven top-10s, in a breakout 1975 campaign.
A year after getting his TOUR card, Peete qualified for the U.S. Open where he played with Jack Nicklaus in the final round. A few weeks later, his final-round playing partner was Arnold Palmer.
“And it's funny because they asked him, did you ever feel that you shouldn't be here, and he said no,” Parker said. “I've always known that this is where I'm supposed to be.
“He not only had the drive and commitment, but he certainly I don't know if you want to call it destiny or whatever, but he felt that's where he was supposed to be. “
McDaniel feels similarly. “He was an unlikely success story, as unlikely a success story as the PGA TOUR ever saw,” Peete’s long-time friend said.
Among Peete’s 12 victories was the 1985 PLAYERS Championship, then known as the Tournament Players Championship, where he beat D.A. Weibring by three strokes. From 1982-86, Peete was the winningest player on TOUR and played on two Ryder Cup teams, even getting his high school equivalency degree so he could represent the U.S. He also won the 1984 Vardon Trophy, edging Jack Nicklaus, and the Byron Nelson Award.
“I liked what one fellow said, especially in 1985 when Calvin won THE PLAYERS, that he not only won THE PLAYERS Championship but he won the crowd,” Parker said.
“I think that's wonderful right there because he had already … gained the respect of the other players, but I think at THE PLAYERS when he said ‘in my mind I won a major, I won the TPC,’ and so he had played with the best, against the best, and came out victorious, which is outstanding.”
The Official World Golf Ranking was introduced in 1986. Only one archived ranking for that year can be found on the website, and Peete was 10th prior to the Masters that year. Many feel he could have been considered a top-five player in previous years.
Peete’s peers knew, though. Nicklaus, who captained him at the 1983 Ryder Cup, called Peete a “remarkable” player.
“He overcame a lot of adversity, including a physical limitation, to become a very, very good golfer,” Nicklaus told the Palm Beach Post after Peete died. “… Over the years, we played a lot of golf together, and I was amazed at what he could get out of his game. He was an extremely straight driver of the golf ball; a very smart golfer; and, you might say, he was very much an over-achiever.
“Off the golf course, Calvin was a tremendously warm and caring man. I always liked Calvin, and enjoyed a great relationship with him. We always had fun together. Calvin gave so much of himself to the game and to others, and there are countless young men and women whose lives he touched through The First Tee and other organizations, who owe Calvin a debt of gratitude.”
Interestingly, though, for all his success, Peete has been somewhat overshadowed in the hierarchy of African-American golfers.
“Other than Tiger, (he’s) the most successful African American or person of color on the PGA TOUR, and far and away the most successful,” McDaniel said. “The man was tough. 12 victories and all the driving accuracy records, and the way he comported himself. …
“He held himself to a very high standard. He was a gentleman.”
But Charlie Sifford, in particular, is seen as the trailblazer although there were others like Bill Spiller, Teddy Rhodes and Pete Brown who also endured the worst of the discrimination. And once Tiger Woods began his phenomenal career, he set standards no one, no matter what race, can approach.
“Calvin wins 12 TOUR events including the TPC, two Ryder Cup teams, '83 and '85, the winningest for a three, four year stretch there, wins the Vardon Trophy, wins the Byron Nelson trophy, and yet he's kind of an unseen guy because he's overshadowed by Charlie and then Tiger,” Parker said. “And then when Tiger comes on the scene, of course everybody forgets about him, and I think that's wrong. …
“I don't know if you'd call him the bridge, just call him the transition. He's the transition between the two. Charlie is the pioneer, Calvin is the we could almost say the foundation. He sets the standard, and then here comes Tiger.”