Oscar Bunn Nominated to New York Golfers Association Hall of Fame
By Mark Wagner, PhD
Oscar Bunn (ca 1875 – 1917) was a Shinnecock Tribal Trustee, Professional Golfer, and woodcarving artist. He is most well known for playing in the second U.S. Open in 1896 at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club where he worked as a landscaper and caddy and pro before and after the tournaments. In keeping with his many accomplishments as a caddy and a professional golf instructor, in 2019, a new Oscar Bunn golf facility, funded by the USGA, was created on the Shinnecock Reservation, and his legacy continues to be a source of pride for many in both the golf and tribal cultures.
As has been noted, with his friend and fellow caddy, John Shippen -- not only the first African American golf professional, but the first American golf professional -- Bunn played in the second US Open, at Shinnecock, an event that caused some consternation among the international players but stands as a shining moment in US golf history.
According to Bayliss Green, in The Southampton Review, “Their (Bunn and Shippen) presence caused a protest among the white golfers at the Open—mostly Scots and Englishmen—a revolt that was famously put down by Theodore Augustus Havemeyer, the first head of the United States Golfers Association, who decreed if they didn’t take up their irons, he’d simply run Bunn and Shippen out there to play by themselves.”
This has been called one of the seminal moments of the history of the USGA and the history of the U.S. Open championship. “This was a watershed moment,” said Victoria Student, the senior historian at the USGA Golf Museum. “It said that nothing is going to get in the way of the U.S. Open. The participants will be the best in the world, no matter who they are, where they come from or what their stature is.”
“Perhaps the easier thing would have been to give in to the majority of players and say, ‘Sure, we can do whatever you want,’” the USGA historian said. “But no, it was, ‘These two players are representing Shinnecock Hills. They’ve been supported by their membership. They’ve been supported by their club. They’re going to go out and play.’”
A Shining Moment in Golf History
Theodore Augustus Havemeyer was an industrialist who had developed the sugar market with his brother, H. O. Havemeyer. He was the founder of the Newport Golf Club (1894), a club that is one of the original five members of the United States Golf Association, which Havemeyer also played a principal role in founding.
Speaking with his Great Grandson, Frederick Christin Havemeyer, we find Havemeyer’s legacy is manifold. “It’s amazing that golf has become such a principled sport. And that began in part with our family. If he was on earth today, and he saw what the game had become he would be flabbergasted. He would be very proud. We’re very proud of him, and extremely happy that our family played a part in bringing this to the United States.”
About that moment in 1896, when the second U.S. Open was called into question by English and Scottish golfers: “My great grandfather travelled extensively and had a broad mind,” Fred Havemeyer recalls, noting that these events are part of their family history and passed on at the dinner table.
“He was extremely intellectual and was up on things. When the other players threatened not to play, he wasn’t going to put up with that nonsense. My great grandfather was making an example to the sports community and the rest of the world by amplifying, what’s right is right. If you have any brains, and you like a sport, you won’t restrict it to a race or religion to qualify to play the game. The game was the game. If you’re good at you play it and let the best man win.”
The legacy of Oscar Bunn and John Shippen at the 1896 US Open is only part of the story of Bunn’s influence in golf. On October 20th, 1901, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran a feature entitled “Shinnecock Indian Expert Tells How Golf Should Be Played.” The article includes an interview and a four-panel illustration of Oscar Bunn demonstrating the proper swing of a club. The article is a stunning turn away from the normal headlines involving the Shinnecock and other Native American Tribes on Long Island and stands as a testament to Oscar Bunn’s high place in golf history.
A mix of Montauk and Shinnecock heritage, Oscar Bunn was a golfer and craftsman who would have been on the work crews, using horse drawn road scrapers, that built the first 18 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Course. The crews worked under the tutelage of Willie Davis (the first 12 holes in 1891), and then Willie Dunn, (the second 6 holes in 1895) that are the foundation of William S. Flynn’s masterpiece today. (Flynn kept the 7th as it was imagined by Davis, Dunn and MacDonald, a redan that sits atop the original Shinnecock settlement.)
As the New York Times reported on March 8, 1896, "After Willie Davis went to Newport, Willie Dunn, one of the most celebrated Scotch professionals that has ever come to America, was secured to take charge of the grounds, and a great deal of the excellence which they possess today, as well as some of their most characteristic features, are due to Willie Dunn's ideas."
Oscar Bunn would go on to study golf, course design and club making under Dunn, becoming one of the most active professional golfers of his time. He rose to such prominence in the field that he played many exhibitions matches, including with Walter Travis (top American Amateur) whom Bunn lost to 1 Up, and to Harry Vardon. As to his match with Vardon, Bunn, who at the time was a golf instructor and professional at Lake Placid Golf Club, said, “I was nervous, of course, meeting the player ranked best in the world, and I am sure only for that I would have won.”
WGA Caddy Hall of Fame
In nominating Oscar Bunn for the NYSGA Hall of Fame as an Historical figure, it’s time to call attention to one of the ironies of this history. As noted in a recent interview by David Bunn Martine, the Great Grandnephew of Oscar Bunn, “Oscar is in the Caddie Hall of Fame, but there really is no record of him caddying. While he most definitely did caddie, as a lot of the Shinnecock Tribe did, the record is he is the only one of them to become a golf professional.”
Presently, Oscar Bunn’s posthumous life is in the WGA Caddying Hall of Fame: Oscar Bunn was inducted in 2009 (Posthumously). In their description, the WGA writes,
“A former caddie at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, NY, Oscar Bunn was a pioneering Native American golfer who competed in the U.S. Open in 1896.Oscar Bunnwas introduced to the game of golf as a young caddie at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Bunnwas taught the game by the club’s Scottish professional, Willie Dunn, and, at the age of 19, competed in the 1896 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. For his work making golf more inclusive, Bunn earned a place in the Caddie Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals who support caddying.”
There are further reasons that Mr. Bunn should be recognized as both a caddy and a golfer. In those early days of golf, as the game gained traction in the United States, Oscar Bunn was a marquee name. Take, for example, the Saturday, July 15, 1905, in the New York Times, The headline reads: “Indian Contestant Holds His Own Well Against Scotch Rivals.” Bunn is listed as representing Shinnecock Hills Golf Club at an event at Van Cortlandt Park, NY. More than half the article goes about describing Mr. Bunn’s physical characteristics, in a rather unseemly manner, but his golfing aptitude was why he was there.
Family Life
Bunn was the youngest of six, and only 9 months old when his father, a Montauk, David Waukus Bunn, became one of the ten men who died in rescue operations on a shipwreck called the ‘Circassian’, an English freighter that became grounded and broke apart during a Nor’easter in 1876. According to the Southampton Review, The Montauks and Shinnecock were whalers and lived by the sea. “Tribesmen were both deck hands on the freighter and the part of the rescue operation. The tragedy gutted the Shinnecock community, which numbered only 150 at that time.”
As someone who grew up in a family with a husband and father and mother and wife, it may be somewhat difficult to imagine Oscar’s early life, though David Bunn Martine suggests that tribal life would have been different than suburban life. Oscar would have had some support for the loss of his father, David, who had made a living as a first-mate on whaling ships, and as a craftsman, his children would continue his work in ivory – scrimshaw carving as well as ebony. Charles S. Bunn, Oscar’s older brother, would go on to become a sought-after guide in Eastern Long Island and his duck decoys are considered works of fine art. Oscar himself has a carved wooden bow in a Southampton museum.
The family also made scrubs, sections of white oak slashed until it splinters to make the bristles which can scrub pots and pans and dishes clean In the early 1900s, these were made in the winter months and sold door-to-door in the village. And they would have been among the offerings of Shinnecock Hills souvenir shop, which the Bunn family ran in a long tenure.
In his own life, Oscar Bunn was married to Mary Della Bunn, and reportedly had the finest house – a modern house – on the reservation. They left no children.
Later Life:
In December, 1916, Oscar Bunn filed for an American passport, one that has “Golf Instruction” listed as his profession. We know this from David Bunn Martine’s work, Time and Memories: Oral Histories of a Family of Shinnecock, Apache and Hungarian Origins. The words were typed by James Richardson, clerk of the New York State Supreme Court in Riverhead, NY, dated December 20, 1916.
On January 6, 1917, from the port of New York, aboard the S.S. Vauban, Belfast-built, 500 feet bow to stern, crew of 250, Bunn departed to teach golf in Argentina, among other places. David Bunn Martine has suggested that – while this trail may look cold – someone might eventually track down Oscar’s travels, in the golf archives in Columbia, Chili, and Argentina, the places he was headed. For now, all we know is that in returning, according to his obituary in the January 31, 1918 edition of The Southampton Press, Oscar Bunn“was apparently unprepared for the cold weather and caught pneumonia . . . from which he never recovered.” He was 42 years old.
About the Author: An avid golfer in the warmer months, Dr. Mark Wagner – who holds a PhD in Education -- has published dozens of articles on golf history and golf course design in numerous elite publications.