A Detroit native, Peete won 12 times on the PGA Tour and was the game’s most accurate driver of the golf ball for 10 consecutive seasons (1981-90).
Of his PGA wins, 11 were in a five-year span, including the 1985 Players Championship. In 1984, he won the Vardon Trophy for low scoring average, and twice was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team (1983 and ’85). He also finished among the top five on the PGA Tour money list in 1982, ’83 and ’85.
The successes came despite the fact he did not start playing until the age of 23, and had to overcome a broken elbow, the result of a childhood accident while picking cherries in Traverse City. He could not fully extend his left arm, and he said several times that it helped him be the most accurate driver of the ball in the game.
Peete retired from the PGA Tour in 1995 but continued to play on the Champions Tour through 2001. He played in eight Masters Tournaments, eight U.S. Opens and nine PGA Championships with a top finish of third in the 1982 PGA. He was inducted into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
He died in 2015 in Atlanta after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 71.
Year inducted: 1993
| Last Name | Peete |