Long-awaited Greensboro Six mural comes to life

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Two weeks. That’s how long it took for Vincent Ballentine and his good friend and fellow artist Andre Trenier to bring the mural to life.

The two stood on scissor lifts and climbed ladders, armed with a rainbow array of spray paint cans to transform the huge wall on the side of the First Tee-Central Carolina building at Gillespie Park Golf Club into a piece of history.

“We did anything but hanging from the ceiling,” Ballentine said with a smile.

But the brightly colored mural, which honors the Greensboro Six, who integrated the golf course in the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement, will have a much longer impact on the community than the 14 days it took to create it.

Ballentine, the Brooklyn-based artist tapped in an international search to tell the story, experienced that first-hand as he and Trenier worked in the relentless July heat. People would walk by and ask him about the concept. They would tell him how much they liked it and wonder when it would be done.

One encounter stuck with Ballentine, though. He noticed a man who was walking with a young girl, maybe his daughter or his niece, and listened as he told her about the men who were eventually arrested and spent 15 days in jail for a cause they believed in.

“He started to explain the story of the Greensboro Six,” Ballentine said. “And that’s exactly what the point is -- to have that kind of conversation of the older generation to the next generation, and now that next generation can teach the next generation.”

The mural, which was commissioned by Wyndham Rewards a year ago, was unveiled on Monday to the squeals of the First Tee kids and applause from community leaders, parents and proud Wyndham Championship folks sitting on chairs and bleachers in 90-degree temperatures. Photos and social media posts soon followed.

Ballentine, a Black man with an infectious smile and a headful of long dreadlocks, was amazed by the reaction as the curtain dropped.

“It’s funny because most of the time we don't get this,” he said. “Most of the time we we're gone by now. And so, to be a part of it and to be a part of the experience and the celebration for that matter was pretty fantastic.”

Ballentine’s creation overlooks the practice area where the kids of First Tee convene. At 90 feet wide and 20 feet tall it’s not the largest mural he has ever done but, “this one is probably the biggest one with a narrative,” he said.

When he first heard about the project, Ballentine didn’t know the story of the six Black men who broke the color barrier at Gillespie Park in 1955. They paid their 75-cent green fees and teed it up only to be confronted by the head pro and ended up playing just nine holes. That night they were arrested, although their sentences were later commuted by the governor.

“I felt a sense of purpose,” said Ballentine, a Cleveland native who was educated at the Art Institute of Chicago and University Arts in Philadelphia. “They picked me for a reason, and because I am now the honoree of this opportunity, I'm really going to have to show the best that I can to represent this story in the biggest light that I possibly could.

“It's always scary. I go in confident and then halfway in I'm like, what am I doing? Right? But eventually it all comes together and makes sense.”

The centerpiece of the artwork is, of course, the Greensboro Six, led by a local dentist and community activist, Dr. George Simkins. One of the most poignant moments of the afternoon came after the curtain fell to the ground and Chris Simkins, who was on the selection committee, walked over and touched his father on the wall.

To the right of the six men is World Golf Hall of Famer Charlie Sifford, who endured death threats and vitriol when he became the first Black man to play in a PGA TOUR event in the South at the 1964 Greater Greensboro Open. The future is represented by four First Tee interns – Cameron Witherspoon, Jesse Williams, Tori Mouton and Tyler Thomas -- as well as Shyla Brown, one of the top-ranked African American amateurs in the country.

Ryan Wilson, executive director of First Tee-Central Carolina, said it’s hard to underestimate the positive impact of the mural on the youngsters who go through his program.

“Just practically speaking, I think it's going to make the golf course a cooler place to hang out for them,” Wilson said. “And that's so much of golf, how do we make it fun and appealing to them? I don't know of any other golf courses in the country that have a massive street art mural, which is pretty cool.

“And to have some of those kids, their faces on the wall next to these civil rights heroes, that's really special. It's going to give them something to feel proud of. And then I just think about this story. It's going to give our staff, our coaches, our mentors, a chance to just keep telling this story and also to tell their own story about how they got into the game.

“So much of golf we've passed down the game by our family members and these guys, they couldn't have passed the game down to their family for a lot of time. They weren't allowed to play the golf course. And so, we're trying to make this game a generational game and start now and make sure that they're exposed to it so that way as they have kids and grandkids, they can pass it down just like I learned the game from my grandfather and my dad.”