There were days he was simply referred to as “Big Boy,” reducing the identity of a young Black lad to just that. Born on May 9, 1939, it wasn’t uncommon at all to be dished out such treatment in the white-owned pool halls in Augusta back then. Fix that divot, boy. And fix, he would. Jim Dent earned money in ways he knew he could and then raced home with the bills stuffed in his front pocket to face his aunt.

Dent, the fourth of six children, had lost both his parents by the time he was 12. He was raised by his aunt, Mary Benton. Mary, a housekeeper at one of Augusta’s big houses, would vehemently oppose him caddying at The Patch (a city-owned course in Augusta). The reason being, blacks were not allowed to play until the early 1960s. He would even receive a ‘whuppin’ the first time he caddied. “If you learn how to caddie, you’re going to learn how to gamble,” she would often tell him, and turned out, she wasn’t wrong. And that was until Dent started golfing. He found refuge in the sport.

Dent caddied for Bob Goalby and Bob Rosburg during their Masters in the 50s, but Dent had the same limited experience at playing as much as the next caddie. You see, caddies were allowed to play only if they were willing to cut crabgrass out of the greens. It wasn’t until 1966 when estate developer Mose Stevens took a chance and financially backed him as he went pro. He eventually made the cut in eight of the 11 majors he played—six at the PGA Championship, five at the U.S. Open. Dent’s legacy would later see Augusta naming the road winding up to The Patch as ‘Jim Dent Way’ in 2020, before getting him inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame just two years later. His legacy will now continue with his son, Jim Dent Jr., as a head pro at The Patch. Dent Sr., who was just a week away from his 86th birthday, passed away on Monday.

Dent’s grandson, Andre Lacey, announced the news on social media. The PGA Tour’s website reported that Dent had experienced a stroke a day after Augusta National announced its ideas for Tiger Woods to design a par-3 course at The Patch. With tributes and condolences soon starting to pour in, PGA Tour legend Gary Player took to X to express his sadness and wrote: “Jim Dent was one of the finest gentlemen I’ve ever met. I was very surprised to hear that he passed away because I spoke to him just last week. Having met his son, who is a wonderful young man, he got Jim on the phone, and we were able to catch up. Jim’s family can be proud of such a great gentleman and a wonderful golfer. An incredible talent whom I admired. He will be missed very much. Sending my condolences to his family. GP.”

He was just one of the few Black men who went from caddying to competing professionally. This achievement was the product of his childhood defiance. He and his buddies would sneak into the Augusta Country Club late afternoons and practice late into the evenings. He’d study elite players and apply their techniques. By the time he was 15, he started to excel. So decades later, when he became famous for his long-hitting, it was his own training that gave him the foundation for success. He may not have won a tournament on the PGA Tour, but his experiences culminated in him becoming a tough competitor in the over-50 circuit. He won 12 titles on what is referred to as the PGA Tour Champions today, and the first of those wins was at the 1989 MONY Syracuse Senior Classic. Runner-up Al Geiberger, who lost by one shot, had joked, “Jim Dent ought to be outlawed (for) the way he can hit the ball.”

While his athleticism showed in his long-hitting, he had played other sports too, growing up. He went to Laney High School and played football alongside Emerson Boozer, who went on to become a Super Bowl champion. While Dent was nowhere on the same level as Boozer, he was good enough for Paine College, a historically Black college in his hometown, to come forth with a football scholarship. Dent took it up but dropped out a year later to pursue golf. And when he finally decided to pursue golf professionally, he moved to New Jersey, waiting tables during the night and playing golf in the day. Then he made his way to Los Angeles and developed rapidly with Stevens’ help, and the rest is history.

He was a large man with a tender heart and a legend in Augusta, who could answer questions about the place like no one else. Be it about his lifelong friend Charlie Choice or Augusta’s history, Dent knew everything.

‘A lot of people will remember Jim Dent’- President of the PGA Tour Champions

Miller Brady, president of the PGA Tour Champions, also paid tribute to Dent’s remarkable career, saying, “A lot of people will remember Jim Dent for how far he hit the ball, and he really did. Yet his long-term success, especially on our tour, proved Jim was more than just long off the tee.”

“Jim was as easy going as he was competitive, and he added so much during his time as a PGA Tour Champions player. We offer our sincere condolences to his entire family.”

Jim Dent was invested in golf until the very end. While he was still recovering from a stroke three weeks before his death, he attended the Masters because he wanted to be present for the observance of the 50th anniversary of Lee Elder—the first Black player to play in the Masters.

All in all, he had 450 career starts and 25 top 10 finishes. His best result came in the 1972 Walt Disney World Open Invitational. Jim Dent trailed Jack Nicklaus by two shots before the final round, but the latter then shot 64 and won by nine. Further, in the 1970s, Dent was one of the only 12 Black players on the tour and certainly left his mark. He left a long legacy behind with his name in the African American Golfers Hall of Fame, the Caddie and Georgia Golf, Georgia Sports, National Black Golf, and Paine College Sports halls of fame.

He is survived by his wife, Willye Malveaux, and five adopted children, twins Joseph and Joshua; Victoria and Jamie, and two kids from his previous marriage, Radiah and Jim Jr.