89 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com Roberts changed the name of the tournament to the “Masters of Golf” in 1939. Prizes included money – today worth several million dollars – a gold medal and a lifetime membership to the club. In 1949, the tradition of the green jacket was established and in 1961, the custom of engraving the winner’s name on the silver Masters trophy was initiated. For decades, the club’s culture reflected an all-white male membership and until 1983, its caddies were all Black. The tournament didn’t see its first Black player until Lee Elder qualified in 1975. It wasn’t until 1990 that the first Black member, Ron Townsend, was invited to join. On Aug. 20, 2012, the club’s first female members, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore, were inducted. THE FIRST OF HIS KIND Off the course, the club’s culinary scene from the early 1970s through the late 1990s was greatly influenced by Clark, who worked his way up to become the first Black chef to run the kitchen at Augusta National. After graduating from high school in 1958, Clark left his hometown of Holly Hill, South Carolina, where job opportunities were scarce. He took a position as a dishwasher in the kitchen of the Kanu Dining Room at the historic Whiteface Inn in Lake Placid, New York. Under the tutelage of Italian chef Gino Pirell, Clark worked his way up to sous chef. In 1970, he was promoted to executive chef. During his tenure there, Clark fell in love with Minnie Gilliard, a colleague who, by chance, was also from South Carolina. They married on March 28, 1962. Clark’s path then led him to serve as sous chef at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. With two sons Stanley and Greg in tow, the Clarks moved into the luxurious resort. From there, the family traveled seasonally and lived in the properties where the chef worked. For Clark, golfing was a big part of that experience and he encouraged his sons to excel at the sport. Greg explained, “Even if Stanley and I didn’t want to play, we had to get in at least 18 holes a day. We would start with the front nine before lunch and the back nine after. It was just a way of life.” CLEARING THE PLATE In the early 1970s, Augusta National’s chairman Roberts recruited Clark to take on a position as a second chef. According to Golf Digest, Clark’s first task in his new role was to prepare Roberts’ preferred dinner “roast leg of lamb, little oven-browned potatoes and carrots halfcooked to stay crunchy.” Clark nailed it – Roberts cleared his plate and that night, the chef embarked on a career that spanned three decades at the club. Impressed with Clark’s talent, Roberts invited friends from New York to experience the chef’s delicious fare. For dessert, the chairman ordered pound cake, an option that was not on the menu. Clark, who was not a baker, didn’t know how to make it, especially in a pinch. Thinking on his feet, the resourceful chef dashed across the street to Kroger where he bought the Sara Lee version and brought it back to warm up in the oven before presenting Roberts and his friends with what became his signature “secret recipe pound cake.” “IF YOU LOVE IT, YOU KNOW IT” In 1976, Clark was promoted to executive chef. Club members and their guests savored the soul food he prepared such as: tomato soup, collard green soup, corn muffins, chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce, chicken salad, T-bone steak, ribeye, filet mignon, prime rib, pork chops, baked or fried chicken and an assortment of seasonal vegetables harvested from the grounds’ gardens. Yet Clark never wrote down any of the recipes, according to Greg, as that would have been a sign of weakness. As the chef’s philosophy was “if you love it, you know it,” his staff also had to memorize the ingredients and quantities. Nathaniel Wearing, who worked with Clark for more than two decades, traveled with him from Lake Placid to the Breakers to Augusta. Wearing, whose career at the club spanned 29 years, from 1984-2013, and 34 Masters’ tournaments, recounted, “Not only did members love the traditional Southern comfort menu, but celebrities, sitting presidents and dignitaries from all over the world – as far away as Australia, Italy, France and England – had heard about Chef’s (Clark’s) cuisine and traveled to Augusta to try it.” Such VIPs included President George H.W. Bush, Peyton Manning and his family and Michael Jordan. When he learned that Jordan was at the club to play golf, Clark went to his cottage to meet him one morning and they chatted for a bit. When he asked Jordan what he would like for breakfast, he responded that he was a “country boy” and wanted grits, eggs, bacon and ham. Chef added that when he shook Jordan’s hand, it was so big it almost covered half of his arm. Over the decades, Wearing and Clark prepared the our sports
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