Herbert Dixon, pioneering golfer from Bartow, dies at 106

LAKELAND – Chris Banks has been the golf professional at Bartow Golf Course for 29 years and a golfer since he was 7. Growing up, he said former professional golfer Herbert Dixon was a mentor to him, showing him how a “great mind” worked on and off the course.

“He had the sharpest mind to play the game; he knew how to compete, understood the game and played to his strengths,” said Banks, 55, a Bartow native. “We started playing competitive when he was 68 and I was like 15. He wanted to whip me, and I wanted to whip him.”

That friendly competitive spirit ended Aug. 21, when Dixon, a Bartow native, died at 106 years old. Dixon "died of natural causes, peacefully at home," said one of his daughters, Tyrinda Dixon, by text.

The loss was a big one for golfers in Polk County and beyond.

Born Sept. 16, 1919, Dixon was a tour-caliber golfer during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1951, he won the National Negro Open and was inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. That was a year before the late Richard Lewis, who competed on the segregated professional golf circuit, and Eddie Postell, a former Lakeland High School golf coach, were inducted.

And Dixon’s success on the fairways continued late into his life. At 88, he was still an 8-handicap golfer who could consistently shoot in the 70s, according to previous Ledger coverage. In 2008, he shot a 2-over-par 74 to lead his division during the second round of the Youth Villa Classic at Bartow Golf Course. That year, Dixon estimated he had already won between 40 and 50 pro tournaments.

And beyond tournaments, Dixon shared his love for the community. He hosted the annual Herbert Dixon Celebrity Golf Tournament for 13 years at Bartow Municipal Golf Course. That program was used to raise college scholarships for qualified students in Bartow and surrounding areas. Bartow Deacons and Stewards Alliance Inc. organized scholarship funding events in 1993 and first helped organize Dixon’s golf event in 2014.

Carver Young, 75, is a Bartow native and pioneer at the Mosaic Four Corners Mine. As president of the alliance, he said he knew Dixon for at least 60 years and became a close friend. He said beyond golf, Dixon will be remembered for his giving spirit for Bartow and Polk County.

In 2023, Young said his group raised roughly $15,000 of scholarship money to help children’s education, an important part of Dixon’s life.

“He was the father I never had; my father died when I was 11 months old. He took me as one of his sons,” Young said. “He was a man that loved people despite all the challenges he went through.”

Young said Dixon genuinely enjoyed personally giving out scholarships, the last time was at a June 21 scholarship presentation.

“He was there to put the money in their hands. He loved children, to encourage them and help them with their education; he always wanted to make a positive impact,” he said.

When Dixon took his first steps on a golf course in the mid-1930s, golf was mostly a White, exclusionary game for the rich. At Bartow Golf Course, he was given a golf club, and during segregation taught himself how to golf at night.

That led to a professional career, winning 63 tournaments in the United Golf Association tour in the 1950s.

Dixon would go on to accumulate more than 200 trophies in a career that included beating Charlie Sifford — the first Black golfer to enter the PGA Tour — in a professional tournament in Jacksonville in 1951.

Even in 2008, Dixon had been shooting his age – then 88 ― or lower for 20 years. His career-low round is a 9-under-par 63 at Bartow, where he had also recorded two of his six holes-in-one.

Del Milligan, former outdoor, sports and golf writer for The Ledger, covered much of Dixon’s later career.

Milligan, who wrote for The Ledger from 1980 until retiring in 2017, said outside his generous personality, Dixon will be remembered for his “illustrious career” and his accomplishments on national Black golfers’ tours. He said he was a “consistent” golfer.

“He was adept with all clubs; he could hit the ball straight and accurate,” Milligan said. “He was a good friend and a fine gentleman who was (golfing) in the upper 70s even in his 90s. He was always smiling and very gracious.”

Outside of golf, Dixon served in the Air Force during the Truman era and was also an NAACP leader in Bartow.

A viewing will be held from 6 to 7 pm., Sept. 4, at Praise Temple Deliverance Center, 1010 Britts Lane, Bartow, with Celebration of Life Reflections from 7 to 8 pm. A Celebration of Life Homecoming Service will be held at 11 am, Sept. 5, at Access Church Bartow, 915 S. Broadway Ave.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Herbert Dixon, pioneering golfer from Bartow, dies at 106