Book of Honour Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Our Heritage
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Book of Honour Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Our Heritage Introduction by Lorne Rubenstein Toronto Golf Club Book of Honour Toronto Golf Club Founded in 1876 Practice green and clubhouse,1926 Christened the “father of golf in Canada” A.W. (Andy) Smith by Saturday Night magazine. Member Andy Smith became the best golfer in Canada, After the 1896 Open, Smith returned to (1882 to 1901) and possibly North America, the moment he Scotland, where he stayed through at least arrived from Scotland. The son of St Andrews part of the 1897 season. Scottish writer John Born St Andrews, landed in 1881 having already played in an Kerr, looking to interview visiting American Scotland, Open Championship and established himself players, was mildly disappointed to find that date unknown as a highly competitive player in Scotland, a Smith had “a guid Scotch tongue in his heid’” Club champion, contemporary of top players such as Young and “could crack about his matches with 1895 Tom Morris, Willie Fernie, Davie Strath and young Tommy Morris and Davie Strath.” Ben Sayers. Participant: Smith was back in Toronto in 1898 for a He crossed the Atlantic to work at the Quebec seminal event in club history: the first 1879 Open Bank in Quebec City, but quickly relocated to international match between representative Championship London, Ontario, and then Toronto, where he golfers of Canada and the United States. He (St Andrews) joined the nascent Toronto Golf Club in 1882. played first for Canada but bowed to H.J. 1895 He won and set course records wherever he Whigham, a former U.S. Amateur champion. U.S. Open played: the first club championship, interclub Smith’s health began to decline rapidly, along (Newport matches and interprovincial competitions. with his game. He died of cancer in 1901, but Country Club) (However, he missed the first Canadian not before having been christened the “father Amateur Championship as one of a clutch of 1896 of golf in Canada” by Saturday Night TGC members charged with breaking the U.S. Open magazine. His protégé, George S. Lyon, Lord’s Day Observance Act, which forbade (Shinnecock Hills) emerged as Canada’s new top golfing talent. playing “noisy games” on Sunday. Their Died 1901, Toronto conviction was ultimately quashed.) He entered the first two U.S. Opens, tying for third in both 1895 and 1896. He also worked informally as TGC’s first instructor, disseminating new clubs and fashion trends while teaching fellow members at at TGC’s original Fernhill property in eastern Toronto “with kindness and readiness.” 5 Toronto Golf Club Book of Honour 6 There is little question that he had laid James Lamond Smith the foundations of Toronto’s first golf club. Founding Member We don’t know exactly how Toronto Golf Club City banker, who arrived bearing golf clubs (1876 to 1883) founder James Lamond Smith was introduced and balls. The group played frequently on to golf, but he was the college-educated son leased farmland on the northwest side of Born of a successful advocate in Aberdeen, Kingston Road, near the Woodbine Racetrack May 14, 1822, Scotland, where the game had been played for and Smith’s summer home. They used the Glenmillan, hundreds of years. So it hardly would have Woodbine Hotel to store their clubs, along Scotland been surprising if he arrived in Canada already with red jackets not unlike those Smith could First club captain under its spell. If so, though, it seems to have have seen worn at the Aberdeen Golf Club. been decades before he found himself in a Served as president To be sure, golf was not his only pursuit – position to do much about it. Smith was a Mason, a Tory, an Anglican, a Died January 13, Smith completed his classical education in member of the St. Andrew’s Society and 1883, Toronto Aberdeen in 1840 and immediately left to president of the Granite Club. And it was settle in Upper Canada, on former Black several years after his 1883 death that TGC Loyalist farmland in what is now the town of members finally built their first real course, at Fergus, Ontario. He and Isabella Barker the Fernhill property near Coxwell Avenue and married and had three children; his middle Gerrard Street. But there is little question that name is still affixed to the street that runs he had laid the foundations of Toronto’s first through their former land. He was listed as a golf club. notary in the census of 1861, the year he left for Toronto and a job disposing of land for the Bank of Upper Canada. Smith flourished in the expanding provincial capital – he had a talent for land and real estate development – and he cultivated a community of affluent partners in business and leisure. Within a few years of his arrival in Toronto, they were playing golf, aided by a pivotal visit from Smith’s brother, a Quebec 7 Toronto Golf Club Book of Honour 8 Lyon was about more than accolades; George Seymour Lyon his life was touched by history. Member With eight national amateur championships the game immediately, winning the Canadian (1899 to 1933) and a century as reigning Olympic champion, Amateur just two years later. George S. Lyon should scarcely need Born July 27, 1858, He learned to play at Rosedale and is closely introduction. But Lyon was about more than Richmond, Ontario associated with Lambton, where he was accolades; his life was touched by history. founding captain and helped oversee course Honourary member, He was born in Richmond, Ontario, in the construction. But Lyon was a dedicated 1933 to 1938 middle of big things. His grandfather fought in member at Toronto Golf Club, where he won President of the Royal 1812, two uncles became Ottawa mayors four club championships and six Osler Canadian Golf and another was the last man killed in a duel Trophies, participated in Canada’s first Association, 1923 in Canada. international matches against the United States and vaulted to the highest levels of golf. Three-time club Lyon’s father was a prominent hotelier before He racked up Canadian Amateur titles, champion, eight-time losing everything in an 1854 fire, uninsured – finished second at the 1905 U.S. Amateur and Canadian Amateur it may not have been a coincidence that the 1908 Canadian Open, and competed in champion, 1904 George’s career was in life and fire insurance. British Amateurs and the 1905 Open Olympic champion It brought him to Toronto in the early 1880s, in Championship at St Andrews. time to join the Queen’s Own Rifles against the Memorialized by Northwest Rebellion. The regimental history His signature achievement was the 1904 the George S. Lyon found him playing with “others of cricket Olympics in St. Louis, where he defeated U.S. Trophy for fame” after the Battle of Cut Knife. collegiate champion Chandler Egan in a rainy competition among 36-hole final. At 46, Lyon walked on his hands teams from Cricket fame? Yes – Lyon was an outstanding to the stage to accept the gold medal. Lyon Toronto-area clubs athlete. Undeterred by bad eyes, diabetes and returned to the Olympics in London in 1908 as chronic hay fever, he was a baseball star, held Member of Canada’s defending champion, but British players a national pole-vaulting record and Sports Hall of Fame boycotted at the last minute in a dispute with represented Canada internationally in cricket, and the Canadian organizers, leaving Lyon as the sole among other athletic accomplishments. He Golf Hall of Fame contestant. He declined another gold medal as discovered golf in 1896 and had the “ungainly, unearned, and golf disappeared from the Died May 11, 1938, flat swing” of a 38-year-old late to the game. Games until 2016. Toronto But he drove long and straight and mastered 9 Toronto Golf Club Book of Honour 10 Ever the relentless competitor, Kerr W.A.H. (Archie) Kerr wasn’t about respectable showings. Member It was October 1, 1898, at Toronto Golf Club, TGC and improved quickly, becoming a (1894 to 1908) where 10 Canadian amateurs had just lost their scratch player by 1897. He won the Canadian country’s first international matches against Amateur that summer and again on home turf Born 1869, Montreal the United States. Crowding on the lawn for a at TGC in 1901. He was a stalwart of early Club champion: photograph, most of the home team looked to interclub competitions and active behind the 1896, 1897, 1901, 1907 have accepted the one-sided but respectable scenes, replacing A.W. Smith as secretary- outcome. But one struck a different pose: treasurer in 1896. Canadian Amateur William Archibald Hastings Kerr. He was one champion: 1897, 1901 In early 1908, Kerr was 38 and reigning club of just three Canadians to have won his champion. He posted second low gross in a Memorialized by 36-hole match, storming back from a four-hole club handicap outing on April 4. But days later, the Archie Kerr Cup, deficit. He sat ramrod straight, arms crossed, he was stricken by appendicitis; he died on awarded to the staring defiantly into the camera. He wasn’t April 21, leaving behind wife Marion and five winning team in about respectable showings. children in a large home on Crescent Road TGC’s yearly interclub At the time, Kerr had a claim as Canada’s best in Rosedale. matches with Royal all-round athlete. He was a nationally ranked Montreal Golf Club The club formalized its sorrow in a resolution tennis player and some considered him of sympathy to the family, and Kerr’s Died 1908, Toronto Canada’s best cricketer.