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Inaugural
Rhode Island Golf Hall of Fame
Inductees
Bobby Allen
Billy Andrade
John P. Burke
JoAnne Gunderson Carner
Daniel Fairchild
Brad Faxon
Julie Greene
Theodore Havemeyer
Les Kennedy
Bob Kosten
Edward Perry
Dana Quigley
Paul Quigley
Ronnie Quinn
Donald Ross
Glenna Collett Vare
Bobby Allen
His interest in golf came early. He grew up in the shadows of Wannamoisett Country Club and learned the game as a caddy at that course, a member of the group that called itself the Phillipsdale A.C. The first state event he competed in was the RIGA Junior, at age 16, in 1940. Using a borrowed set of clubs, he won the title. He played little golf in his 20s, spending much of that time in the Navy. After completing his tour of duty, he returned home and once again became involved in golf. He was the caddymaster at Wannamoisett before becoming a member in 1949. That same year, he won the first of his five State Amateur titles. He also won the Amateur in 1950, then three years in a row, beginning in 1958. One of the greatest ball strikers the state has ever seen, he also won the State Open in 1950 and three times captured the Four-Ball, with two different partners. In 1961, after moving to Connecticut, he tied for the first-day lead in the PGA Tour event then called the Insurance City Open, now the Greater Hartford Open. He was runner-up in the Connecticut Amateur in 1961 and champion in 1962. He now lives in Newington, Conn.
Billy Andrade
He is one of the rarest of athletes, someone identified as a potential star as a youngster who not only has lived up to the expectations, he has exceeded them. He began making waves nationally as a teenager. Among other titles, he won the Insurance Youth Classic, the largest junior tournament in the world, twice. The personable Bristol resident represented the United States internationally a number of times. He and Sam Randolph won the Junior World Cup in 1981. Andrade also played on the World Amateur team in 1986 and on the Walker Cup squad in 1987. An All-American at Wake Forest, which he attended on an Arnold Palmer Scholarship, he helped lead the Demon Deacons to the national title in 1986. He also won both the North-South and Sunnehanna Amateurs before turning pro. Back home, he captured the Rhode Island Amateur in 1983, the first RIGA Stroke Play Championship in 1984 and the Open in 1987. As a pro, he went straight from college to the PGA Tour, where he has won four events and more than $7 million. He and fellow Rhode Islander Brad Faxon were recipients of the Golf Writers Association of America Bartlett Award, given for unselfish contribution to society. The Andrade-Faxon Charities for Children have raised more than $3 million.
John P. Burke
Introduced to the game as a caddy at Newport Country Club, he was hailed as the most talented player ever produced in the state when he began competing in the 1930s. He earned that reputation early, twice winning the R.I. Junior Championship, the first at age 15. Known for his genial temperment and matching swing, he went on to win four State Amateur titles in five years, beginning in 1934. His only loss in that stretch came in 1937 when he missed a tee time. In that same stretch, he also won the State Open in 1936 and 1938, making him along with Mike Bobel, Bobby Allen and Brad Faxon as one of only four players in state history to win the Junior, Amateur and Open. When he won the 1938 Open, he lowered the tournament record from 291 to 284. In 1938, as a student at Georgetown University, he won the National Intercollegiate championship and the Metropolitan Amateur. His career was tragically cut short by World War II. He was killed in the North African campaign in 1943. He was so highly regarded, both on and off the course, that the Caddy Scholarship program in Rhode Island was named in his honor. That program has since helped more than 700 students with their college education.
JoAnne Gunderson Carner
"The Great Gundy," as she was called in her youth, has been a champion at every level. As an amateur, she was second only to Glenna Collett Vare in number of national titles won. She remains to this day the only woman ever to win the USGA national championships in Junior, Amateur and Open competition. Carner, who grew up in Washington, moved to Rhode Island while she was at the top of her game. She won five U.S. Women’s amateur titles, two while she was living in Rhode Island and playing out of Rhode Island Country Club. She captured the RIWGA championship three years in a row, beginning in 1966. After turning professional, she went on to earn LPGA Hall of Fame honors as she won 43 tournaments on tour. Those titles included the 1971 and 1976 U.S. Opens. Her first LPGA championship came while she was still an amateur, winning the 1969 Burdine’s Invitational. No amateur since has won an LPGA event. The long-hitting "Big Mama", as she is now affectionately called, won the LPGA Vare Trophy five times and was the LPGA Player of the Year three times.
Daniel Fairchild
He was hailed as "the Boy Wonder" when he won his first State Amateur in 1907 at age 16, making him the youngest person ever to do so, a record that stands to this day A tall, slender player, he went on to win the Amateur six times, which also still stands as the record. His other titles came in 1909, ‘16, ‘18, ‘19, and ‘21. He was noted for his three-quarter swing and unfailing accuracy. In one of his runs to the Amateur title, he was reported to have missed the fairway with one drive in the entire tournament. Later in his career, he established a record at the then young Wannamoisett Country Club course when he shot a 66 in qualifying for the State Amateur. He also won the Equinox Invitational Tournament in Vermont and the Great Barrington, Mass. Championship, both among the major tournaments of the era in New England. He was encouraged by many to enter national events, but never did so. A prominent businessman who operated the Fairchild & Company kitchen furnishing business in the Arcade in Providence, he died of pneumonia at age 47 in 1938. He also was a well known bridge player and one of the founders of the Bridge Club of Rhode Island.
Brad Faxon
The classy Barrington resident, who learned the game as a caddy at Rhode Island Country Club, began making a name for himself as a freckle-faced teenager, when he won three straight R.I. Junior titles, the first at age 14. He still has not stopped winning championships. As a teenager, he stayed in his home area rather than travel to what then was the beginning of the national junior circuit, and he dominated New England. He won back-to-back RIGA Amateur titles in 1981 and ‘82, the State Open in 1985 (making him one of the four in state history to sweep the big three in Rhode Island) and also won the New England Amateur. He entered Furman University as a relatively unheralded player on the national scene, but left as the college Player of the Year after a career marked by a tremendously consistent record of top -10 finishes. He was named to two Walker Cup teams. When he turned professional, he immediately earned a spot on the PGA Tour and has been there ever since. One of the world’s greatest putters " he has led the tour in putting three times " he has won eight tour events, as well as the Australian Open, and more than $9 million. He twice has earned berths on the Ryder Cup team and was on the 1997 Dunhill Cup team. With Andrade he has been recipient of the GWAA Bartlett Award for contributions to society, an honor recognizing the children’s charity program he and Andrade run and for the way he has carried him-self in his career, on and off the course.
Julie Greene
She has been the Amateur champion in Rhode Island more than anyone else, man or woman. She won the Rhode Island Women’s Golf Association title 11 times, including at least once in four decades, beginning with her first title in 1963. The gracious, ever-smiling former athletic director at the Lincoln School and director of physical education at Sarah Lawrence College also took the RIWGA title in 1970, ‘76, ‘79, ‘80, ‘82, ‘84, ‘85, ‘96, ‘97 and ‘98. Among her other titles, she also has won the New England Amateur twice (1972 and ‘78) and both the Eastern Women’s Amateur and twice the Eastern Women’s Senior Championship. She twice has been a quarterfinalist, in 1975 and ‘77, in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, losing both times to Beth Daniel. Beyond her playing ability, she also has given back to the game in numerous capacities. The Barrington resident is a former associate director of the Trans-National Golf Association, has served on the executive board of the Women’s Eastern Golf Association and is a former president of that board. Since 1985 she has served on the USGA Junior Girls Committee. She also is among the organizers and leaders of the RIWGA’s Junior Golf program.
Theodore Havemeyer
He was one of the game’s founding fathers, not just in Rhode Island but in the nation, as attested by the fact that he was the first president of the United States Golf Association, which he helped organize. A resident of Newport and New York, he was the president of the American Sugar Refining Company. He was introduced to golf at age 50 on a visit to France in the winter of 1888-89. When he returned to Newport he organized a group which was named "The Four Hundred," a gathering that included John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Oliver Belmont. They purchased land on Ocean Drive for what was then the staggering price of $150,000 and built a nine-hole golf course. When it was opened May 25, 1893, the second course incorporated in the country, after the St. Andrews Club of Yonkers, N.Y., it was called the Newport Golf Club. One year later, members voted to host a National Amateur Championship, which it did on its own. Later that year, representatives from five clubs, Newport, St. Andrews, Shinnecock Hills, The Country Club and The Chicago Golf Club met and formed the USGA. The 22 assembled delegates voted Havemeyer their first president. The next year, Havemeyer’s Newport course hosted the first official U.S. Amateur on Oct. 3, 1895, and the following day, the first U.S. Open. One of the state’s premier club-sponsored events, the Havemeyer Invitational, is still held each fall at Newport, and the Havemeyer Trophy is presented each year to the USGA Amateur champion.
Les Kennedy
He was perhaps the greatest of the many long-time club professionals in Rhode Island. The son of a police officer from Lynn, Mass., he made waves as one of the first New Englanders to play on the then-fledgling PGA Tour. He was the rookie of the year in 1942 while also serving as a club professional for much of the year. He worked at Sagamore Spring, Rockingham Country Club and Fresh Pond Golf Club before taking the job as both head pro and course superintendent at Pawtucket Country Club in 1944. He spent the next 40 years at Pawtucket, much of it as superintendent as well as pro. He also continued excelling as a player. He led the 1949 U.S. Open after one round at Medinah and finished 19th in the championship. He captured the New England PGA a record five times, a mark since tied by Dana Quigley. Kennedy also won the Vermont Open twice and the Maine and New Hampshire Opens once each. He also competed in the 1950 Masters. Among his other accomplishments, he set the Pawtucket course record with a 61, had the Sagamore record with a 64 and equalled the record at Pinehurst No. 2 when he shot a 66 to take the first day lead in the 1942 North and South Open. He was named to the NEPGA Hall of Fame in 2000 and was the inaugural inductee in the Pawtucket CC Hall of Fame. He died last year at age 83.
Bob Kosten
A native of Michigan who moved to Rhode Island to work for the Fram Corporation, he joined his friend and Wannamoisett clubmate Bobby Allen as the dominant player in the state in the 1950s. Kosten not only won the State Amateur three times, in 1952, ‘53 and ‘57, but in each of those years followed up his state triumph by capturing the New England Amateur, as well. A player known for his ability to get up-and-down from virtually anywhere, he also qualified for the U.S. Amateur six years in a row, beginning in 1951. Beyond his playing career, though, he impacted the state golf scene in other ways. A longtime RIGA official, he was president of the organization in 1977. He served for a number of years as director of the Northeast Amateur and is credited as the person who turned the Northeast from a fine regional event into one of the nation’s premier amateur tournaments. It was his recruitment of some of the top college players in the country, beginning with Ben Crenshaw, that helped catapult the Northeast to prominence.
Edward Perry
He is the only administrator in the charter class. While he was a fine player himself, winning the State Public Links Championship three times and the RIGA Four-Ball title in 1966, with Bruce Morin as his partner, his biggest contributions came in molding the RIGA into a professional organization. Perry was introduced to golf as a caddy at Metacomet, where he spent much time as a youngster, including caddying in the memorable match between Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen at that course in 1927. He went on to become a mem-ber at Metacomet and eventually the club president. His most long lasting contributions to the game came as secretary of the RIGA, then the top official of the organization. He served in the post for 33 years. An executive of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company for many years, and an Army veteran who achieved the rank of Major, he ran RIGA business out of his office. He died in 1994 at age 78.
Dana Quigley
He was the first Rhode Island native to reach the PGA Tour, doing so in 1978. He played four years on tour, but that proved to be only a footnote in his Horatio Alger-type career. He spent his prime years as a club pro, most prominently at Crestwood Country Club. Using his unique, short swing and what seemed like a different putter every day, he dominated the New England circuit, winning virtually every title in the region multiple times, including the Mass Open three times and the R.I. Open six times. He matched the record held by Les Kennedy with five titles in the New England PGA. His best years came after he overcame a battle with alcoholism. At age 50, he embarked on his long-planned attempt to play on the Senior PGA Tour. He competed at first as a Monday qualifier, but saw his world change on one memorable week in New York when he won the Long Island Classic on the same weekend his father, Wally, passed away. Wally Quigley had spent much of his time late in life working in Dana’s pro shop. He has since taken his career to new levels on the Senior Tour, winning four more tournaments and more than $4 million over the past four years. He has done it while not only professing a love for the game, but acting it out by playing more than 150 consecutive Senior Tour events, a streak that is still active.
Paul Quigley
No one has won more titles in the first century of RIGA competition than Paul Quigley. The older brother of Dana Quigley, he has won the Amateur three times and the Stroke Play nine times at nine different courses. He also has won the Mid-Amateur once, the Four-Ball three times and, just this year, the Senior Championship. Remarkably, he did not begin winning championships until he was well into his 30s. Using a fast-walking, fast-talking style marked more for its grit than natural ability, he captured the Amateur in 1986, ‘87 and ‘92 and earned his nine Stroke Play titles in just a 13-year span. His titles in that event came in 1988 at Warwick, ‘89 at RICC, ‘90 at Pawtucket, ‘92 at Wanumetonomy, ‘93 at Metacomet, ‘95 at Kirkbrae, ‘96 at Potowomut, ‘99 at Alpine and last year at Wannamoisett. Two of his Four-Ball titles came with his son, Brett, now a member of the PGA Tour, as his partner. Just this year, when he became old enough, he added the RIGA Senior title to his list.
Ronnie Quinn
He was a tremendous all-around athlete who was the Rhode Island schoolboy athlete of the year in 1949 after earning a total of 12 letters in football, basketball, baseball and golf at West Warwick High. The son of former Rhode Island Governor Robert E. Quinn and a lifelong resident of West Warwick, he won his first golf title at 12, the State Caddy Championship. His first title out of state was the New England Junior Championship in 1948. By the time he was finished, he had used his power game to win five State Amateurs, in 1956, ‘62, ‘66, ‘67 and ‘71. He also captured the Northeast Amateur twice, in 1964 and 1965, winning the 1964 title with a 78-foot putt on the final hole. Among his other titles, he took the New England Amateur in 1962, the R.I. Open in 1963 and the Porter Cup in 1971. An attorney, he also gave back to the game serving as an official of the RIGA, both as treasurer and, later, as association president. He died in 1998 at age 66.
Donald Ross
Called the patron saint of American golf course architecture, Ross was a native Scotsman. After emigrating to the United States in 1900, he set up residence in Pinehurst, N.C., where he lived nine months a year. He spent his summers in Little Compton, RI at a home owned by his wife’s family and maintained an office there. He designed 399 courses all over North America and is responsible for many of Rhode Island’s top courses. His Rhode Island works are Agawam Hunt (remodeled in 1911), Rhode Island Country Club (1912), Wannamoisett (1914, remodeled in 1926), Newport (remodeled in 1915), Sakonnet, where he also was a member as well as the designer (1921), Metacomet (1921), Winnapaug (nine holes 1922, added nine 1928), Misquamicut (remodeled in 1923), Warwick (nine holes, 1924), Point Judith, (remodeled and added new nine, 1927) and Triggs (1932). He was a charter member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Jack Nicklaus perhaps described the esteem in which Ross is held to this day when he said of Ross: "He seems to be the standard by which we are all measured today."
Glenna Collett Vare
One of the first great women players in the United States, she was dubbed the "Queen of American Golf" as she dominated women’s competition in the 1920s and 1930s. She was only nine when she was introduced to golf at Metacomet, where her father, George, was among the founding members. She went on to play competitively for more than 70 years and did it so well that she was among the six charter members of the women’s Golf Hall of Fame. She won six U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships " still a record for men or women " between 1922 and 1935. Known for her long drives and her fast play, she was among the first Americans to compete in the British tournaments. She was runner-up in the British Women’s Amateur in both 1929 and 1930. She last won the Rhode Island Women’s Championship in 1959, at age 56. Also in Rhode Island, she competed for 61 consecutive years in the Point Judith Women’s Invitational, the last time in 1984 at age 81. Among her 94 titles, she also captured the U.S. Girls’ Junior and was a two-time Canadian Amateur champ. She won the Eastern Amateur and the North & South six times each. Her fellow players thought so much of her that the trophy given for the lowest scoring average each year on the LPGA Tour is named the Vare Trophy, in her honor. Vare herself donated a trophy, in 1949, to be awarded to the winner of the USGA Girls’ Championship. That trophy is still being awarded today. |
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