HOUSTON — Sheila Johnson’s first love was music. She studied to be a concert violinist, began her career teaching the subject and eventually went on to co-create Black Entertainment Television.
Over time, the successful businesswoman and black pioneer added golf to her portfolio—and to her list of passions. Since taking up the game in the 2009, she has given back to the golf community in numerous ways, with special attention to getting young people into the game.
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For all her efforts, Johnson became the second winner of the Dinah Award on Tuesday, presented as part of the week’s festivities at the Chevron Championship, the LPGA Tour’s first major.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth presented the award, which comes with a $100,000 donation for the charity of Johnson’s choice, along with Jerry Tarde, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Golf Digest.
“I tell my girls, you’ve got to be the CEO of your own life,” Johnson said during a Q&A with Wirth. “But be careful who you surround yourself with. The world is full of entertaining vampires. Trust your instincts. It’s OK to make mistakes, but be careful. Only bring people into your orbit who understand your vision and share your value system.”
Johnson founded the Salamander Collection, a hospitality company that owns seven resorts across the U.S. and the Caribbean, including the high-profile golf properties Innisbrook outside of Tampa, Fla., and PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Those courses have hosted the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship and the Cognizant Classic, and Johnson has invited the LPGA Tour to hold a tournament at PGA National. She also is a principal owner of the Washington Mystics, Wizards and Capitals.
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Her golf résumé includes being the first African-American woman to be a member of the USGA Executive Committee, serving from 2013-2017.
The Dinah Award is named for Dinah Shore, who founded her eponymous LPGA event in 1972. The tournament would go on to be recognized as an LPGA major in 1983, with the name change to the Chevron Championship coming in 2022.
Johnson, 77, embodies so much of what Shore did in using her success—and the sport of golf—to help others. Among Johnson’s endeavors is working with David Gergen to pay for more than 50 students to go through the Kennedy School at Harvard, giving each a unique graduation gift—a set of golf clubs.
“I want them to make room for golf. There’s no telling how it will help their careers,” Johnson said. “I didn’t want to just give them a check. Become part of their lives. That’s what golf does for you.”
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“Sheila Johnson is a true pioneer—an entrepreneur, investor, and leader who has consistently redefined what’s possible,” Tarde said.
Music and entertainment did wonders for Johnson, who was raised in a suburb of Chicago. Her father, George Crump, was a neurosurgeon and her mother, Marie Iris Crump, was an accountant. She graduated from the University of Illinois in 1970 and then traveled with a children’s orchestra based out of Washington, D.C.
BET was the first black-owned business listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and she became the first female Black billionaire when she sold it in 2001.
“My advice to young people is to start owning things,” Johnson said. “It gives you more power than you realize.”
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Condoleezza Rice won the inaugural Dinah Award in 2025. It was Rice who got Johnson into golf, exposing her to the ways the sport can impact lives. It was another life-changing conversation that has fueled Johnson’s mission to help others through the sport.
“During her time on the United States Golf Association’s executive committee,” Tarde said, “she became known for not just occupying a seat at the table, but for reshaping what the table looks like, preserving tradition while expanding participation, especially with girls and women and people of color. All three metrics are rising faster today than ever before, thanks to Sheila.
“These moments became a pattern. She doesn’t wait for the doors to open, she redesigns the building so more people can walk in.”
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