Where Legacy Meets the Links

In 1955, an 18-year-old sailor named Edgar Bradley Mitchell bought his first camera for two dollars. What started as a way to record his travels during his Navy service became a lifelong calling — one that would make him the photographic chronicler of Orlando's Black community and, in 1963, the first African American photographer at The Orlando Sentinel.

E.B. opened a studio on South Division Street and spent decades shooting high school proms, weddings, football games at Black colleges, and Masonic gatherings. His stamp appeared on the back of nearly every photograph that documented Black life in mid-century Orlando.

But beyond the lens, E.B. had another love — golf. Under the Florida sun, he perfected his swing while wearing his signature pastel colors. He turned heads not just with his skill but with his style. He even studied diagrams in Golf Digest and handcrafted his own clubs.

When a Pine Hills golf pro once refused to let him play because of the color of his skin, E.B. talked his way onto the course — and by the end of the conversation, he'd made a friend. He never had to pay to play there again. That was E.B.: charm, perseverance, and an unwavering belief in showing up with grace.

At age seven, his grandson Gerard learned the game from E.B.'s patient hands. He taught him more than golf — he taught him about craft, about standing out for the right reasons, and about building something that lasts.