Last rites will be held at St. Anne's Anglican Church, Southampton today for local golfing legend Eardley Jones. He passed away a week ago at the age of 73, leaving his wife Jeanette and six children. Many tributes have poured through the media hailing him for his strenuous leadership in eliminating racial discrimination in high golfing quarters “back in the day”. We went straight to our archives to reproduce the following tribute we paid Eardley in 2007 when he was reigning supreme:We cannot imagine there was any warm-blooded soul in Bermuda who was not evenly mildly euphoric over the past week about the world’s greatest athlete, Tiger Woods, coming to Bermuda for golf’s Grand Slam in October.But my imaginations went well beyond the boundaries of this wonderful island homeland of ours thinking about the greater elation, or should we say exultation, that must have rocked the very foundations of the golfing heavens where some of Bermuda’s greatest golfing heroes have gone, reaping their rewards.Coming into sharp focus were men like Herman Bascome, George Lowe, Louis (Louie) Moniz, Kid Corbin, Rogers Outerbridge, Bill Pitt, Sr, all of whom I personally knew and wrote reams about over the years.They told of tales of how in their heyday, the only way they were tolerated for playing on Bermuda's major golf courses was if they literally “sneaked on at sunrise and were chased off by 8am”I will return to them momentarily, digressing to mention two women who have relevance to the sentiments governing my thoughts for this feature. They are Shirley James, who is very much alive, and Ismay Philip.It will be exactly two years already next week that my wife Ismay suddenly went to her heavenly reward. A fond memory was how, nightly almost, she sang and accompanied herself at her piano.One of the most touching pieces, that fitted her mezzosoprano voice so well, was The Lost Chord. She would obligingly play it for me, and the words and music still resonate through my head.The words, as I remember, are as follows: Seated one day at the organ, I was weary and ill at ease. My fingers wandered idly over the silent keys. I struck one chord of music like the sound of a great Amen . . . it entered the soul of the organ and filtered into mine. I know that one day in heaven; I'll hear that chord again.Back to Mrs James. The picture of the week (above left), aside from that of Tiger Woods and Premier Ewart Brown, was that of Mrs James on the front page of Tuesday’s Royal Gazette showing her on a green as president of one of the finest and most exclusive clubs in the world, the Mid Ocean Club. There could have been no greater testament as to how far Bermuda has changed and progressed. Because there was a time when people like herself and her distinguished husband, Dr. Clarence James, and anyone else like them could not darken the doors of the Mid Ocean Club. Tiger's two-stroke win on Sunday in the year's final major, the US PGA Championship, that sealed his place in the Grand Slam at the Mid Ocean Club, struck many chords, especially about the deceased Herman Bascomes, George Lowes, Bill Pitts and others.One icon who is still with us is Eardley Jones, 68, of Port Royal Mews, Church Road, Southampton.Mr. Jones is the one credited with integrating golf in Bermuda. Up until the late 1960s black golfers were not permitted to play in local tournaments."It was in 1967 we had the first Bermuda Open when all golfers got to play together at the Belmont Hotel. It was the first mixed tournament. Herman Bascome and those other guys participated. I was the man who instigated this first tournament," said Mr. Jones.He recalled that lawyer James Pearman, MCP, who was then chairman of the Bermuda Golf Association, and himself met several times getting things going."It was such a success in '67, that we went a step further. I asked him why we couldn't play in more of the BGA events. He said we weren't members. In 1968 we were allowed to play in the Bermuda Four Ball Championships. That was a tournament that Louie Moniz and George Sousa used to win practically every year. This time they sent us four invitations. Peter Tucker and I won the event at Belmont (now Belmont Hills)."It went from there to mixed invitations to me and Lora Rabain, the wife of Frankie Rabain. We won that also. Finally, we were invited to the Bermuda Amateur Championships, which was something I always wanted to get into. That was in '69, and I was the first black golfer to ever win it, in 1970."We went from one place to another. With Rogers Outerbridge, we organised the Professional Golfers Association, because at that time we didn't have any local pros in any of the clubs except for Ocean View."Today, I can say we have all local pros. Prior to that they had pros from England, Canada and different places. That was a great step forward and we have continued going forward."Mr Jones has worked with young people in Bermuda for many years."Most kids involved in junior golf came through my programmes. I decided after eight years to retire this year, and the Bermuda Junior Golfers Association will be taking over. The most important thing is that I had more kids come out, especially after Tiger came to the fore, because the youngsters wanted to be like Tiger Woods."He has set a tremendous example to our kids. They look at him and say, 'If Tiger can do it I can too'."FoR the blacks in golf it has been really tough, Mr Tucker noted. Even on the tours, there are not many blacks, but more and more are knocking on the doors because of what Tiger has done.He was pleased to note that Kim Swan, now Senator Swan, leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, played in the European professional tour."Kim caddied for me when I won the Bermuda Open; and has done well, he went overseas, playing the European tour."Reflecting on the days when black golfers were not tolerated on local courses, Mr. Jones said: "Herman Bascome took me as a youngster to Belmont waiting for daylight to come in."We had to be off the course by eight o'clock. They allowed caddies to play at that time. I wasn't a caddie, but as far as they were concerned they thought all the blacks playing were, in fact, caddies. We were chased off, but were back the next morning and never gave up. That's how we learnt to play, and if we didn't venture we would not be as far as we are today."It was a lot we had to go through. Peter Tucker, who is deceased, and I were the first ever blacks to win the Four Ball Championships. Keith Pearman and I were the first blacks to go overseas to represent Bermuda, in a team to the Dominican Republic."Mr. Jones is particularly happy with youngsters who emerged from what he calls his 'novice' group. He mentioned as examples Cornell Bean and Nick Jones (who recently represented Bermuda in the Callaway Junior World Championships in San Diego, California) and others who are doing quite wellThough retired, Mr. Jones is deeply involved currently with planning for a summer tour. In June when the season ended and for the next 12 weeks they have getting in shape. He was grateful to the Ross (Blackie) Talbot Foundation for funding this tour.Without Clem Talbot, it would not have been possible, and he hoped more youth would have taken part.