Eardley Jones has been hailed as the “Arthur Ashe of Bermuda golf” for helping break down the colour barriers for the Island’s black players.Jones, one of Bermuda’s most successful and highly respected professional golfers, last week died at the age of 73.Kim Swan, a former pro golfer and leader of the United Bermuda Party, said Jones was a “vociferous advocate” for integrated golf in Bermuda.“I knew Eardley all my life, he married into my family and he was a true icon of Bermuda golf,” said Swan, who once caddied for Jones as a youngster.“In many ways he was the Arthur Ashe (the first black tennis player to win Wimbledon) of Bermuda golf because he certainly helped break down the barriers for black golfers.“He helped Bermuda progress socially in golf; he was a person that said ‘no, that’s not right’ that’s the type of person he was.”Up until the late 1960s black golfers were not permitted to play in local tournaments but Jones, with others, pushed for a positive change in a sport which has become one of the most popular in Bermuda for all races.“Golf was segregated, the black community couldn’t play on golf courses until around 1967. Players like Eardley’s father, Leonard Jones, who was equally good as he, were totally shut out for their golfing life prior to that,” said Swan.“Eardley was one of the most outspoken of all the golfers to advocate how wrong (golf segregation) was at meetings and publicly. He was a vociferous advocate for the right to play.“Sometimes you get quiet champions but he was felt it necessary to be vociferous and speak up for which we are eternally grateful.“He was a dignified champion as well but for a young man with his ability well, he was not prepared to suffer the same fate as his father who could only play of the crack of dawn and had to be off the course at 9am.”In 1967 Jones’ instigated the first mixed race Bermuda Open at Belmont Golf Club. A year later black players were able to play in the Bermuda Four Ball Championships a competition Jones won several times with Peter Tucker.Soon after Jones and other top black players who developed their skills at Ocean View Golf Club the first black working men’s club began representing Bermuda on the international stage.“As Ocean View become more structured and organised that club produced a lot of top players,” said Swan. “When the barriers were finally broken the top players from Ocean View then came to the forefront.“Prior to that, the national tournaments were only reserved to those who were white. Eardley and those guys won the tournaments and then started representing Bermuda in the World Amateur Team Championships.”Jones, who worked as a postman and a maître d’ at the Forty Thieves before becoming a golf pro at Ocean View and the Fairmont Southampton, was a fierce competitor with an incredible will-to-win, said Swan.“Eardley believed in himself and turned pro before he had a club to be pro at because he believed he could compete on the world stage.“He was a fierce competitor and when he was down was when he most dangerous that was when he won tournaments.”Keith Pearman, senior pro at the Mid Ocean Golf Club, visited Jones in hospital shortly before he died. He said his longtime friend “ate, slept and breathed golf” and was devoted to helping Bermuda’s talented young players.“We came up in the trenches way back in the early 1960s. He became a good player and was a very good competitor,” said Pearman.“He was always a jolly guy, a fun guy who ate, slept and breathed golf.“He put a lot of time into the junior kids and had a little junior programme to encourage the kids. He took a lot of them away to give them exposure to competitive tournaments.“Eardley was a real competitor and if you beat him one week he would want to beat you the next week that was always his intention.“He will go down as a legend and he helped golf a lot on the Island.”Jones’ son, Nick is also a pro golfer, having emerged from his father’s youth programme.He leaves wife, Jeanette and six children Zina, Jeana, Marina, Eardley, Nicholas and Catherine.