The Kansas City Golf Hall of Fame
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The Kansas City Golf Hall of Fame The Hall of Fame committte is ballot which is voted on by the Board made up of representatives from three of Directors of the KCGA, and repre- area associations: the KCGA, the Mid- sentatives of the other two associations. west Section of the PGA and the Heart The number of inductees is determined of America Golf Course Superinten- by the committee. Elections occur in dents Association. Candidates are vet- even numbered years after 2014. ted by the committee to be placed on a The Kansas City Golf Hall of Fame Inductees Page 2 Miriam Burns ....................Class of 2013 3 Jim Colbert ........................Class of 2018 4 James Dalgleish .................Class of 2016 5 The Foursome ...................Class of 2014 6 Marian Gault .....................Class of 2016 7 Leland “Duke” Gibson .....Class of 2013 8 Opal Hill ............................Class of 2013 9 Maxine Johnson ................Class of 2018 10 Frank Kirk .........................Class of 2018 11 Bill Ludwig ........................Class of 2016 12 Karen Schull MacGee ......Class of 2014 13 Chet Mendenhall ..............Class of 2013 14 Jean Pepper ........................Class of 2018 15 Bob Reid ............................Class of 2013 16 Bob Stone ...........................Class of 2014 17 Stan Thirsk .........................Class of 2013 18 Tom Watson ......................Class of 2013 Miriam Burns Horn Tyson Feb 4, 1904 - March 19, 1951 Milburn G & CC At the age of 16 Miriam Burns won her Eastern sportswriters like O.B. Keeler Jones’ example of the same year, by retiring first of many golf championships. She trav- portrayed her as a beautiful “IT” girl who from competitive golf. eled the country, winning from California was surrounded by admirers of the opposite After traveling the world with her sec- to New York. As a darling of the ‘Roaring sex. ond husband George Tyson, Miriam died Twenties’ along with Opal Hill, she drew Miriam, Tom Watson and Ellen Port are of pneumonia in Kansas City at the age of national attention to Kansas City. Especial- Kansas City’s three USGA champions. In 47 in 1951. ly during the 1927 Women’s US Amateur. 1930 at the age of 26, she followed Bobby Kansas City Women’s USGA Women’s Amateur Missouri Women’s Match Play Champion Amateur Champion 1927 Cherry Valley CC, Garden City, NY 1920 Bellerive lost in semifinals 1920 Mission Hills def Mrs E.R. McClelland Quarterfinals Champion 1921 Mission Hills def Esther Levy 1924 Rhode Island CC 1921 Blue Hills def Carolyn Lee 1922 Meadow Lake def Mrs E.R. McClelland Women’s Western Amateur 1922 Mission Hills def Carolyn Lee 1923 Milburn def Mrs O.C. Sullivan Champion Match Play record: 13-1 1924 Blue Hills def Carolyn Lee 1923 Exmoor CC, Chicago 1927 Mission Hills def Opal Hill 1930 Hillcrest CC, Kansas City 1929 Blue Hills def Ann Webster Women’s Trans-Miss Amateur Medalist Champion 1920 Mission Hills ....88 1927 Blue Hills, Kansas City def Opal Hill 6&4 1922 Meadow Lake ...83 Runner-up 1923 Milburn .............86 1928 Minikahda, Minneapolis lost to Opal Hill 1924 Blue Hills..........78 Women’s Pebble Beach Amateur 1927 Mission Hills ....78 Runner-up 1929 Milburn .............84 1928 Pebble Beach lost to Marion Sollins 1 up (20) 1927 U.S. Women’s Amateur Final At the eleventh green in the morning round of the final match, showing Miss Orcutt at the finish of a chip shot from the edge of the green, which landed the ball in the cup. Mrs. Horn retaliated by holing a ten-footer for a half. Jim Colbert b. March 9, 1941 Recognizable from anywhere on on the Senior Tour (including one major, is president of Colbert Golf Design & the golf course by his signature bucket the 1993 Senior Players Championship) Development, creators of Colbert Hills hat and turned up collar, Jim Colbert dis- span some 32 years. Golf Course in Manhattan, KS home of tinguished himself as a tenacious player He also scored victories in six the K-State Wildcat golf teams. on both the PGA and Senior Tours. team competitions (Diners Club matches He is a member of the Kansas Colbert turned professional in and Legends of Golf) with partners Bob Golf- and Kansas State Athletic- Halls of 1965 and entered the winners circle Murphy, Andy North and Jim Thorpe. Fame. for the first time four years later at the In addition to his success as a Monsanto Open. His total of eight wins touring professional, Colbert was a golf on the PGA Tour and twenty victories analyst for ESPN for three years. He Local Events Kansas City Match Play 1959 quarterfinals Hillcrest Heart of America 4 Ball 1962 medalist w/ Malcolm Johnson Oakwood 1963 quarterfinals w/ Matt Taber Blue Hills (old) 1964 Champions w/ Matt Taber KCCC U.S. Amateur Qualifying 1961 2nd 73-70 Blue Hills (old) 1962 2nd 73-69 Mission Hills U.S. Open Local Qualifying 1967 2nd 67-69 Indian Hills 1970 1st 70-69 Indian Hills Missouri Amateur Runner-up, 1962 Normandie CC, St. Louis Champion, 1963 Hickory Hills CC, Springfield Medalist, 1965 Meadowbrook CC, St. Louis Won-lost record: 18-4 (1958-1965) Kansas Amateur Champion, 1965 Milburn CC Medalist, 1965 Milburn CC Professional Career 8 wins on the PGA Tour (1966-1990) 20 wins on the PGA Champions Tour (1991-2011) James Dalgleish 1865 - 1935 Considered by many as “The Father of Kansas City Golf,” James Dalgleish emigrated to the United States from Scotland in 1896. In 1903 he moved to Kansas City to work as head profes- sional at Evanston Golf Club. He was also the course designer. A professional of that era was expected to be a club maker, greenkeeper, rules expert, teacher and tournament player. Dalgleish was all of those. In 1912 Evanston acquired land south of town and hired Donald Ross to design a new course which would later be named Hillcrest. Dalgleish completed the Ross plan over the next four years. He would remain as professional at Hillcrest until 1924. Dalgleish is credited with numerous course designs throughout the region from small-town Kansas to Swope Park. He was the owner, designer and head professional at the original St. Andrews course at 89th and Summit and designed Victory Hills in 1927. He designed the original 1911 course at Swope Park, Log Cabin, James Dodson (privately owned), and Eastwood Hills. The Foursome 1950s “The Foursome” was a group of After that, slashed tires and broken four African-American men who broke windows caused the men to have a fifth the color barrier at public golf courses in man stand guard over their car as they the Kansas City area. In March of 1950, played the front nine. The man with the George and Sylvester “Pat” Johnson, highest score then stood guard during the Reuben Benton and Leroy Doty laid their back nine. greens fee money on the counter of what Eventually other blacks began to play is now Swope Memorial GC and said and the public courses of Kansas City they were playing. Though the man at slowly began to be fully integrated. This, the counter told them they could not play three years after Jackie Robinson broke because they were black, they teed off the color barrier in baseball and four years anyway. before the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. “The Foursome.” (relatives and supporters at the 2014 induction at Indian Hills CC) Doug Schroeder, KC Parks & Rec., Marion Watkins, Samuel Benton, Don Kuehn, Jenna Miller, Shomari Benton and Matt Roberts, Head Pro at Swope Memorial. Two of “The Foursome.” Reuben Benton and Leroy Doty Marian Gault 1924 - 1996 From before WWII until the 1960’s Award from the Missouri Womens Golf ful in recruiting young players no one Marian Gault was a leading contender Association in 1952 for outstanding would accept her resignation until she in both the Kansas City Women’s Match conduct, demeanor and sportsmanship. finally called it quits in 1963. Play and the Missouri Women’s Amateur. Beginning in the 1950s Marian was The 1962 Missouri Amateur final Marian received the KCGA Gof-fer instrumental in starting the girls KCGA was Marian’s last hurrah, pitting the Award in 1948, 1952, 1954, and 1955 junior golf program. teacher, 38, and one of her students. The as the areas top woman player. She was For 13 years Gault led the Kansas student, Karen Schull, 21, prevailed, inducted into the Kansas City Amateur City Golf Association’s Junior Girls 2&1. Hall of Champions in 1980. She was program. Thinking it would be a one or the first recipient of the Bernice Edlund two year assignment, she was so success- Southwest HS ‘41 Kansas City Women’s Match Play Gulf Park College ‘43 Champion University of Arizona ‘45 1942 Indian Hills def Jean Pepper 2&1 Parsons School of Design, NYC 1946 Milburn def Jean Hutto 5&4 Member at Indian Hills CC, 1934-1996 Missouri Women’s Amateur 1948 Indian Hills def Mrs. W. F. McCann 6&5 1950 Blue Hills def Maxine Johnson 3&1 Champion 1951 Indian Hills def Maxine Johnson 1952 Blue Hills def Shirley Chestnut 6&5 1952 Blue Hills def Maxine Johnson 1 up 1955 Indian Hills def Jeannie Dobbin 6&4 Runner-up Runner-up 1941 Milburn lost to Jean Pepper 7&5 1947 St. Joe CC lost to Jean Hutto 1 down 1956 Oakwood lost to Pat Rubelee 1 up 1948 Hillcrest lost to BJ Haemerle 7&5 1957 Quivira Lake lost to Maxine Johnson 2&1 1949 Hickory Hills lost to Betty Jane Broz 3&2 Match Play record: 39-10 1962 Mission Hills lost to Karen Shull 2&1 Medalist Total Match Play Record: 36 wins, 9 losses.