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William Wright, the first Black player to win any of the championships contested by the U.S. Golf Association, died on Feb. 19. He was 84.

In 1959, at a time when integration was in its infancy and pre-civil-rights movement, Wright, who went by Bill, beat Frank Campbell, 3 and 2, in the  at Wellshire Golf Course in Denver.

Then a 23-year-old senior at Western Washington University, Wright barely qualified for match play at Wellshire Golf Course in Denver, shooting 149 to make it by a stroke. Wright never trailed in any match that week. Don Essig III, the 1957 champion, put up the toughest fight. He lipped out an eagle putt on the 36th hole of their semifinal match and lost, 1 up.

“I never played a match against anyone who putted as well as Bill did,” Essig said in 2009 of Wright, who had 23 one-putt greens.