Gary Potter, like Hamer a member of the Hall of Fame, helped organize the day for his friend, who passed away in February at age 74. Hamer and Potter won three CGA senior team championships together.

Potter said a number of Hamer’s fellow competitors from the state in the 1960s and ’70s are planning to attend, including Gary Longfellow, Larry McAtee, John Olive and Carter Mathies. After an 11 a.m. lunch gathering of the larger group, about 16 people plan to play a round of golf at BCC.

Hamer (pictured) won 10 CGA championships through the years, including the CGA Amateur (then known as the Stroke Play) in both 1969 and ’70. He’s one of just four players since 1960 to have captured that title in back-to-back years, joining Hale Irwin, Bob Byman and Kane Webber. Hamer, who played golf at both Lakewood High School and the University of Colorado, also qualified for the 1993 U.S. Senior Open that Jack Nicklaus won at Cherry Hills Country Club and he finished third in the Colorado Open in 1969, when he was named state amateur of the year. At BCC, Hamer won 15 club championships.

He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.

Ray and Jimmy Makloski of Pueblo Country Club, both winners of other CGA championships, will defend their title this weekend, with Jimmy competing in his final tournament as an amateur before turning pro. Other recent winners of the event who are entered include Chris and Steve Dillon (2014), Nick and Rick Tarasiewicz (2013), and four-time champions Gary and Alex Kephart (2005, ’07, ’10 and ’11).

Also signed up this year are Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Gary Potter and son Matt, a former University of Colorado golfer and winner of the 1984 CGA Amateur. The Potters won the Parent/Child (then known as the Father/Son) in the first two years the championship was held, 1983 and ’84.

Likewise scheduled to play are Nick Nosewicz (2015 CGA Match Play champ) and Lenny Nosewicz, Bill Fowler (2015 CGA Senior Amateur winner) and Will Fowler, and Guy Mertz (2010 CGA Senior Match Play champ) and Nicklaus Mertz.

The Parent/Child is open to a father/son, father/daughter, mother/son or mother/daughter, and grandparents may compete with their grandchildren.

The format for the 36-hole event is a modified Chapman on Saturday and foursome stroke play (alternate shot) on Sunday.

In all, 64 teams are entered.

For first-round pairings, CLICK HERE.
 

Hamer, a Mississippi native and Lakewood High School alum who played golf for the University of Colorado from 1962 to ’64, was one of Colorado’s top amateur players in the 1960s and early ’70s — an era which also featured such luminaries as Hale Irwin, Les Fowler, Larry McAtee and Jim English.

Hamer, a longtime member at Boulder Country Club, won the CGA Amateur in both 1969 and ’70 and he remains one of just four players since 1960 to have captured that title in back-to-back years, joining Irwin, Bob Byman and Kane Webber.

“It’s a sad day for BCC and the Colorado golf community,” Boulder Country Club director of golf Kevin Bolles said in an email.

“I just remember how great a competitor he was,” added longtime friend and fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Gary Potter, with whom Hamer won three CGA senior team championships.

Indeed, Hamer at one time had aspirations of becoming a PGA Tour player. And he certainly had some game. At the 1963 CGA Amateur (then known as the CGA Stroke Play), Hamer posted a very respectable score of 6 under par for 72 holes. The only problem was, there was one player better than him in the field — a guy named Irwin, who was 15 strokes in the distance.”¨ “I remember thinking there was probably a few other guys out there like Hale, so that ended those thoughts (of turning pro),” Hamer later told the (Boulder) Daily Camera. “If I had known how good Hale was, though, I might have tried it.” Irwin, of course, went on to win three U.S. Opens.

But Hamer, who worked as an investment advisor in Boulder, more than held his own in the Colorado amateur ranks. Besides winning the ’69 and ’70 CGA Amateur, he prevailed in the 1992 and ’96 CGA Senior Amateur and qualified for the 1993 U.S. Senior Open that Cherry Hills Country Club hosted. In addition, Hamer finished third in the Colorado Open in 1969, the year he was named state amateur of the year.

And at Boulder Country Club, competing against players such as Fowler and 1962 CGA Match Play champion Ray Pierson, Hamer won 15 BCC club championships.

Hamer was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.

“His record of championships won speaks for itself and his conduct on the course speaks to his character as a gentleman,” fellow Hall of Famer Gary Longfellow once noted.

No services are planned for Hamer, who lived with wife Gayle in Surprise, Ariz., in recent years. The Hamers’ son Ty is the general manager and head golf professional at Quail Dunes Golf Course at Fort Morgan. Also surviving John is daughter Shannon.
 

The seed was planted a few years ago when Gary Potter received a request from former CGA executive director Warren Simmons, asking for a pledge for a fundraising event in which Simmons was participating.

“I was kind of curious, and that’s where it started,” Potter recalls.

Now that seed that was inadvertently planted by Simmons is set to bear fruit in Colorado in the form of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Classic 100.

On April 7 (or March 31 in the case of some determined participants, pictured below) at the South par-3 layout at the Greg Mastriona Golf Courses at Hyland Hills in Westminster, Potter and about 15 of his cohorts on the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board of directors plan to play 100 holes for a couple of good causes. Through a ProFund campaign in which participants garner pledges for the 100-hole event, the Classic 100 will raise money for the History of Golf in Colorado Foundation — a 501c3 which benefits the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and its museum — and for youth programs that will be determined in coordination with the Colorado Golf Foundation.

(Updated March 31) More than $95,000 has been pledged to the causes. Some individual sponsors have committed to pitch in $1,000 each.

“It’s a hell of a success,” said Potter, himself a Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee, and the campaign captain for the Classic 100. “Our goal Jan. 31 was to get to $40,000 overall, so doubling that is a great success.”

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame was established in 1973 and this year — May 14 at Cherry Hills Country Club to be exact — it will induct its 44th class, Craig Stadler and Ann Finke (READ MORE). The Hall of Fame will hold its CGHOF Team Championship June 13 at Riverdale Dunes in Brighton, where the CGHOF museum is located. The public is welcome to participate in the tournament. The $125 entry fee includes golf, carts, tee gifts and lunch. Contact Potter for more information at garytpotter59@gmail.com.(Among the Hall of Fame’s inductees — and board members — are Dan Hogan and John Gardner, pictured together at top during last month’s Denver Golf Expo.)

As for the Classic 100, Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board member Dave Richardson, a longtime regular at Hyland Hills, persuaded course officials to donate the South par-3 facility for the event, which figures to last about five hours. Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board members are invited to participate in a celebration after the golf has wrapped up on April 7.

Greg Mastriona, after whom the Hyland Hills golf facility is named, was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Classic 100 participants have garnered pledges from more than 480 donors, with that total likely to increase. Steve Bell has 80 sponsors, with Potter (75), former USGA staffer and CWGA executive director Maggie Giesenhagen (51) and Castle Pines Golf Club general manager Keith Schneider (49) also garnering more than 45.

All of which tells Colorado Golf Hall of Fame president Scott Radcliffe — another Classic 100 particpant — one thing. “We have some really nice friends, and they believe in us,” he said.

Just Schneider and Potter, who like Giesenhagen have been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, have received combined pledges totaling more than $35,000. And Bell checks in at more than $13,000.

“The best part is we have over (480) sponsors,” Potter said. “That’s a broad base. Some don’t even play golf, but they support the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. It’s amazing.”

Anyone interesting in being a Classic 100 sponsor — or for more information — can contact Potter at garytpotter59@gmail.com.
 

Over the last four decades, he’s done it with the CGA, CJGA, Colorado PGA, Trans-Mississippi Golf Association, Pacific Coast Golf Association, USGA, Arizona Golf Association, the Colorado Open Committee and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

“It’s all part of giving back to society,” said Potter, who’s also done plenty of volunteer work outside of golf. “You meet people, then you see needs, and that’s what you do.”

All that giving back over the years resulted in Potter (pictured) being selected Wednesday for induction into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. The lifelong Coloradan will be enshrined on June 10 at Cherry Hills Country Club, along with the late Tom Babb.

Babb, the director of golf at Inverness Golf Club from 1973 to 2000, was a highly regarded instructor, a decorated member of the Colorado PGA and an enthusiastic host as major Colorado tournaments were played at Inverness.

Babb was a two-time president of the Colorado Section PGA, and he won each of the following Section awards twice: Professional of the Year, Teacher of the Year and Resort Merchandiser of the Year. He also earned the Colorado PGA’s Warren Smith Award for lifetime achievement.

During Babb’s tenure at Inverness, the club hosted the Colorado Open six times, the John Elway Celebrity Classic, Colorado Section Championships and the Colorado Open Golf Marathon, which raised significant funds for Craig Hospital. Babb also was an ardent supporter of junior golf.

As former Colorado PGA executive director Myran Craig once noted of Babb, “Of the long list of those representing the Section as the president, none did more, and few did as much as Tom, in constantly striving for the improvement of the Section, its members and programs.”

As was the case with Babb, Potter has held many leadership roles in golf. He’s a past president of both the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and the Pacific Coast Golf Association, and he served as tournament director for the 1980 Trans-Miss Championship at Denver Country Club, chairman of the 2010 Trans-Miss at DCC, and the tournament chairman for two Pac Coast Championships.

“All the things you do in golf, you do because you love the game and you love to give back,” said the Colorado native, who will turn 70 on Saturday (Nov. 12). “You don’t expect pats on the back, but it’s tremendous to get (an honor such as a place in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame).”

Potter, a longtime lawyer, first volunteered his time to golf organizations in 1973 after Dr. Homer McClintock asked him if he’d be interested in joining the CGA Board.

“They were trying to bring new blood into the Colorado Golf Association,” Potter recounted. “At that time, the CGA had a lot of things that were frozen in the past.”

Among other things, Potter spearheaded the CGA’s return to the Pacific Coast Golf Association — which allowed local players to compete in the Pacific Coast Amateur — and Colorado’s participation in the Junior America’s Cup matches. In addition, he was instrumental in expanding the number of state amateur championships. He helped lay the groundwork for the CGA Mid-Amateur, Four-Ball and Father-Son, as well as the Mixed Championship.

“I tried to create a bunch of tournaments for all sorts of people because I thought the CGA had the time and ought to be doing that for more people than just the championship (level players),” Potter said. “We just invented things because there was a vacuum.”

Potter also was a key figure in the creation of the CGA club liaison program, which enlisted a member of each men’s club to represent the CGA at the club’s meetings.

“The thing I take most pride in is the way the CGA has developed,” Potter said.

Potter likewise was instrumental in the creation of a totally separate Colorado Junior Golf Association which could oversee a single tournament schedule for juniors, rather than having many separate organizations run their own, often-conflicting schedules.

“At the time, it gave kids one tournament a day to play instead of having to choose between the PGA, CGA, interclub matches and Insurance Youth qualifiers — which was what was happening,” he said.

The CJGA now operates in conjunction with the CGA and the CWGA.

Besides the administrative work he’s done, Potter has been a solid tournament player, having won numerous statewide team championships, including the 1983 and ’84 CGA Father-Son titles (with son Matt), the 1982 CGA Four-Ball (with Gary Longfellow), the ’87 Four-Ball (with John Hamer), the ’93 Senior Four-Ball (with Hamer), and the 1993 and ’94 CGA Senior Two-Man Team (with Hamer).

In addition to the induction of Potter and Babb, several people/groups will receive honors on June 10 at Cherry Hills.

David Brown, the longtime superintendent at Flatirons Golf Course in Boulder, will be Golf Person of the Year after winning the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America National Championship in February.

Two groups will receive Distinguished Service Awards. One is the Colorado PGA, which in August was named the winner of the national PGA of America’s Herb Graffis Award, given to a PGA Section for “extraordinary and exemplary contributions in player development”. In the Colorado PGA’s case, that includes the Golf in Schools program that the Section conducts along with the other Allied Golf Associations. The other DSA winner is the Broadmoor Golf Club, for hosting yet another major championship, the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open. That tournament nearly broke the all-time record for attendance for a U.S. Women’s Open.

And a Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Mick Sweetman, a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Golf Saleman’s Association and a longtime stalwart in the Colorado golf community.