As Henry Ford's attorney, Horace Rackham made his fortune as an original investor in his client's pipedream of making four-wheeled motorized transportation affordable for the masses. Sharing his good fortune with others was important to Rackham, and as a turn-of-the-century entrepreneur and philanthropist, Rackham's name and record of his goodwill are peppered throughout Michigan.
His name adorns buildings at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Wayne State University in downtown Detroit and Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. He donated land on Detroit's northside in suburban Huntington Woods for construction of the Detroit Zoo, and his contributions to science were so vast that a lizard (Xenosaurus grandis rackhami) found only in parts of Guatemala is named for him. Nearly a century ago, he hired Donald Ross to build what is reported to be the first golf course in Michigan open to the public on land adjacent to the zoo.When Detroit mayor Mike Duggan recently threatened to close the course that bears Rackham's name, along with two other city-owned courses at Chandler Park and Rouge Park, one thing some in city hall seemed to forget was how much each means to its local community.
None of these courses will be confused with Detroit Golf Club or Oakland Hills, but each has a long history of offering affordable recreation to some of Detroit's most underserved communities.
Boxing great Joe Louis played many a round there, and Ben Davis, the first black golf pro at a municipal golf course, conducted lessons at Rackham for more than 50 years.
It's a legacy of which Rackham himself would be proud, said Pat Little, who plays in the women's leagues at all three courses.
"It would have been a shame if this course closed," Little said of Rackham. "All of these courses bring something to their local community."
Like many cities, Detroit is always seeking ways to cut operating expenses, and more than once the subject of closing the golf courses it owns has been thrown out as a potential solution.
Shuttering the city's public golf courses, including Rackham, which hosts about 40,000 rounds per year, seemed, for some, an unlikely place for for the city to cut expenses.
"If you're from around here, you've heard this before," said Jim Uehlman, Rackham Park's manager. "This has happened many times before. Any educated person in Detroit knows they're not going to close this golf course.
"We want golf in the city of Detroit to go up. We don't want it to go down. It's already been going down."
When the Detroit's management contract with Vargo Golf to operate the three courses expired in March and city council was unable to reach decision on a new labor agreement, Duggan threatened to close the properties, giving city council a week to come up with an alternative. Days before the courses could have closed, council approved a bid by North Carolina-based Signet Golf to operate the courses for the next two years. The city said it also received contract bids from Billy Casper Golf, Kemper Sports Management and Vargo.
A local company from nearby Oakland Hills, Vargo hired all employees and even owned the golf cars and equipment used at each course.
Signet's first move was to hire Uehlman to maintain some sort of continuity in the city golf structure. A week later, Uehlman was still busy collecting applications from former Vargo employees hoping to keep their jobs and new applicants seeking employment. Even Little, who plays Rackham several times each month, stopped in to volunteer her services to the course she loves.
"This is exciting," Uehlman said. "We're getting new carts, new equipment, new mowers.
"We've had probably 50 people fill out applications over the past few days."
The struggle over what to do with the three city-owned courses has been a consistent saga in Detroit. Estimates are that it could take as much as $8 million to make necessary upgrades to all three, thus prompting the talk of selling them.
Through the last several months, one option has included renovating Chandler Park and Rouge Park and selling Rackham. The Donald Ross design, however, is protected by deed restrictions that require it to remain a golf course, and there is not much of a market for golf courses in urban areas in need of repair.
And that's just fine with those who consider Rackham a community asset rather than a pawn in city politics.
"Everyone knows this course is here. People come from all over the city to play here," Uehlman said. "There's a lot of history here, from Ben Davis to Joe Louis. It's important to have this as a place for recreation for the community."