Audio file
Copyright & Fair-use Agreement
UNLV Special Collections provides copies of materials to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. Material not in the public domain may be used according to fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law. Please cite us.
Please note that UNLV may not own the copyright to these materials and cannot provide permission to publish or distribute materials when UNLV is not the copyright holder. The user is solely responsible for determining the copyright status of materials and obtaining permission to use material from the copyright holder and for determining whether any permissions relating to any other rights are necessary for the intended use, and for obtaining all required permissions beyond that allowed by fair use.
Read more about our reproduction and use policy.
I agree.Information
Date
Description
Part of an interview with Paul Pradia conducted by Claytee D. White on July 13, 2010. Pradia describes how golfing helped him advance his career and his support of women golfers.
Digital ID
Permalink
Details
Contributor
Interviewer
Place
Resource Type
Material Type
Archival Collection
Digital Project
More Info
Citation
Paul Pradia oral history interview, 2010 July 13. OH-01505. [Audio recording] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rights
Standardized Rights Statement
Digital Provenance
Language
English
Publisher
Format
Transcription
I like the way golf is used as a tool to train young people and to give them scholarships. So what other ways is it used either socially or politically? Socially and politically it puts ordinary people in positions where they meet people they would never even have a dream of coming in contact with. I played golf with the mayor of Sparks. My boss in Washington said go out and do the things that people do in business. So I arranged a business meeting with him on the golf course. And I got suspended for it because they wouldn't let me pay for the round and the round was more than I could accept as a federal servant. I got suspended for two weeks. It was the most expensive golf game I ever had. Just the other week I was playing golf in Henderson up here at one of the fancy golf courses. The manager of the Centennial Toyota — we bought a car out there. I was wearing the knickers. And we were talking about golf and that kind of stuff. I was out on the putting green. I'm just there putting away. And he comes out there and he says, "I remember you." He says, "Do you still live out there by Centennial?" and that kind of stuff. He was excited that he knew me. Now, as a black man, if I had not played golf, he would have never come to me and been excited about knowing me and that kind of stuff. I played with the minister of housing from Canada representing HUD when I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. I used to represent the office in Spokane. My boss would always be invited to play in golf tournaments. He didn't play golf. I'd go out there and play. So I knew all the mortgage bankers, the heads of the mortgage banking industry, all the heads of the appraisal firms, the heads of real estate. I knew all of those because I played golf with them. We'd play golf and then we'd grill our steaks and drink, play poker and raise cane. So it was for business, as well as socially. Oh, yes. It is said that more business deals are transacted on the golf course than any other place. And I believe that to be true. I believe it also. So what does that mean for women in the field of business? Women? They should play golf. There's absolutely no question about it. That's the reason I wanted to teach a hundred black women how to play because I wanted to see more women on the golf course. Well, almost every major conference that's held around the world begins with a golf tournament or ends with a golf tournament. So if you're going to be in the in crowd, you should be playing golf.