CityView Magazine

54 | July/August 2015 feature "He was good. He knew what people wanted," said former general manager, Oz Hamzah, who knew him in the early 2000s when he worked in the men's only card room. "He actually 'retired' in the late 1990s, but missed working so he came back on a part-time basis." Sometimes, he was notori- ous for sleeping on the job, but that bothered no one. Aer lunch was over at the men's card room, it was usually time for Cliff to hit the snooze button. "Oentimes, he would take a nap till 4:00 p.m. and I would step in and wake him up. He was that well respected and up in age. We all cared for him, so we would just watch out for him and make sure that he was doing okay and was happy being here," recalled Hamzah. "In his prime, he was the trusted employee that ran the show behind the scenes." The Newman Family e Newman family has been an institution in the Mur- chison Road neighborhood for many years. ey are busi- ness owners and leaders, much like Cliff, father to five children, Cliff Jr., Reggie, Sandra, Regina and Anita and husband to late wife, Mildred, a schoolteacher. Currently, his son, Reggie, is operating his own restaurant, Newman's, adjacent to the family barbershop. Reggie honed his restau- rant skills as a busboy in the 1970s at Highland with his fa- ther and later learned his chef skills working in the industry in Virginia. Cliff certainly taught his younger son hospital- ity and hard work. "I started working at the Club at 15. My older brother was already working there and my cousin. My father expected more from me than anyone else, but I enjoyed it," said Reg- gie. "Everyone, staff and patrons, had so much respect for him. ey thought a lot of my father. I learned that it was because it was the type of person he was. He was such a good person." Cliff 's daughter, Anita, also spent a summer working on the golf course. She recalled, "My father he worked six days a week. He believed that if he you worked hard, you would get ahead and that's what he taught us." Since Cliff 's days at the club could be 12 hours or more, Monday, his sole day off, was completely dedicated to family. "Monday was our day. He would pick us all up from school and take us to get ice cream. en, we would spend quality time in Pope Park, which is now Cape Fear Botanical Garden," said Anita. "He was a great dad." Cliff's Notes Not surprisingly, Cliff was ever the professional and did not pen a New York Times Bestseller about the trials and tribulations he heard of behind the Club's walls. But, those who knew Cliff then happily shared their stories. In the fol- lowing, one can deduce that Cliff enjoyed teaching clubgo- ers lessons that they didn't learn on the green or the court. Church was important to Cliff and family. Cliff with Betsy MacRae Halsey Cliff with Dot Anderson & Elsie Tarlton

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