The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class 40 years ago, is taking its show on the road.
The first stop was last weekend’s Denver Golf Expo, and after flying under the radar for much of its four decades of existence, the CGHOF is hoping that’s a springboard toward taking on a higher profile in the future.
The Hall of Fame recently purchased a large touch-screen monitor, and the organization has streamlined biographies of all its 128 inductees and has added narration provided by CGA communications director Aaron Kellough — all so a Hall of Fame kiosk can easily be set up wherever it’s appropriate for golf functions around the state.
“Our whole goal here is to help us get exposure to the golf community regarding what the Golf Hall of Fame is all about,” said Keith Schneider, who serves as the volunteer president of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in addition to being the general manager at Castle Pines Golf Club, where he’s been a fixture since the early 1980s.
Schneider, himself a Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee, and several of his cohorts manned the Hall of Fame’s exhibit last weekend at its coming-out party at the Denver Golf Expo at the Denver Merchandise Mart. (Schneider is pictured above at the Expo.)
Besides the new touch-screen monitor that provided information on all the Hall’s inductees, there were placards detailing some history of the Hall, its mission, prominent members, and who’s going in this year. Also on display were Dale Douglass’ golf bag from the 1969 Ryder Cup, and one of the oldest golf trophies in the country, the 1897 Overland Cup (pictured at left).
The 2013 class of inductees will be enshrined on June 9 at Cielo at Castle Pines in Castle Rock. The following day, the Hall will hold its annual pro-am tournament, this year at the Country Club at Castle Pines.
This year’s three inductees are Colorado PGA professionals Tom Woodard (pictured below last weekend at the Expo) and Alan Abrams, and Jimmy Vickers, one of the state and region’s finest amateurs from the late 1940s into the 1960s. For more information on the impending inductees, CLICK HERE.
“We want people to be aware of who is in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame,” Schneider said. “The response (at the Expo) has just been fabulous. It’s been a lot of fun just talking to people who come up and say, ‘Gosh, I know so and so. What year did he get in?’ And we’ll go in (on the touch-screen monitor) and pull up the name. It’s been great exposure for us.”
The CGA and CWGA’s web site, COgolf.org, has long served as the on-line site for the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s inductee biographies (CLICK HERE). And the Hall of Fame’s museum has been prominently displayed at the Riverdale golf courses in Brighton for the last decade. But the idea of the traveling kiosk is to expose the CGHOF to people who otherwise might not be aware of it.
The first class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame was inducted in 1973, with Babe Zaharias, Dave Hill and Babe Lind going in. Besides Zaharias — a co-founder of the LPGA and a three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion — the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame includes three other people also inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame: three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin, former USGA president Judy Bell and twice PGA Championship winner Paul Runyan.
In addition, more than a dozen members of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame are also Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductees: Bell, Joan Birkland, Dale Douglass, Dow Finsterwald, Irwin, Lind, Barbara McIntire, Tubb Morris, Will Nicholson Jr., Thayer Tutt, Jack Vickers, Starr Yelland and Zaharias. And 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones will join that heady company in two months when he’s enshrined into the CSHOF.
Schneider said the Hall of Fame’s new computer kiosk often will be housed at the Hall’s home at Riverdale, but “the idea is to get a second kiosk that can travel around to member-guests, to dinners, etc.; we’ll have it at our (June 9) dinner. This is kind of a road show that will give us exposure.”
