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.”
 

Indian Tree Golf Course head professional and operations manager Alan Abrams, Foothills Park & Recreation District director of golf Tom Woodard and Jimmy Vickers will be inducted on June 9 as the 41st class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame also will present annual honors to several individuals on that night. Cherry Hills Country Club head professional John Ogden, the host pro for this year’s U.S. Amateur, is Golf Person of the Year. Gail Godbey, a former executive director of the Colorado Open — and founder of the Colorado Women’s Open — as well as being a dedicated volunteer in the game, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. And Rich Langston, who donates many, many hours as a rules official, and Denver Post sports writer Tom Kensler, a respected golf reporter in the state for a couple of decades, will be honored with Distinguished Service Awards.

The three impending inductees will join the 128 people currently in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been in Colorado since I was 10 years old, and if I went down the list of those inducted I bet I’d know 90 percent of them,” Woodard said Wednesday. “And I (previously) served on the Hall of Fame selection committee for four or five years, so I know what it takes to get in. It’s one of the biggest accomplishments of my golfing career. To me it says, ‘Job well done’ and that’s huge. It’s outstanding news, and I can’t tell you how excited I am.

“And it’s high cotton (to be voted in with Abrams and Vickers).”

It’s been a big year from an honors standpoint for both Woodard and Abrams. In March, Woodard joined the likes of Charlie Sifford, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jim Brown and Lee Elder in the National Black Golf Hall of Fame. And on Friday, Abrams will join Danny Harvanek (1990-92) as a three-time Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year, the Section’s highest honor.

Woodard, 56, was elected based both on his playing record and for working in the game. As a tournament player, he competed for 2 1/2 years on the PGA Tour, qualified for two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship, and twice was the Colorado PGA’s Player of the Year. He also won a national professional tournament on the United Golfers Association tour in 1979.

Since becoming a club professional in 1986, Woodard has made an impact all around the Denver metro area. He’s served as head professional at City Park (1987-89), Littleton Golf Club (1990), South Suburban (1991-95) and at Buffalo Run (where he was the first head pro in 1996). He was director of golf for the City of Denver from 1997-2006, and has been in the same position at the Foothills District since then.

During his time working for the city of Denver, Woodard co-founded The First Tee of Denver and he served on the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board.

As a young man, Woodard was one of the first African-Americans to receive the Evans Caddie Scholarship and one of the first to earn Division I All-American status (he was an honorable mention choice at the University of Colorado).

Abrams is well known for his service to the Colorado PGA. He’s a former president of the Section and he currently serves as the chairman of the Colorado PGA Foundation.

The Colorado native, 58, has been a mainstay at Indian Tree since 1980 — initially working for current Hall of Famer Vic Kline — and he’s been head professional at the facility since 1991. During all his years at Indian Tree, Abrams has been one of the state’s leaders in the area of junior golf.

In fact, Abrams is so highly respected in the realm of junior golf development that he was voted national Junior Golf Leader by the PGA of America in 1997.

He was one of the first Colorado professionals to utilize a golf in schools programs to introduce kids to the game during physical education classes. It’s estimated that he’s taught the game to more than 10,000 elementary school students through the program.

And in 1988 his junior golf program at the course was named by Golf Digest to be the best among municipal golf facilities in the nation. Indian Tree’s junior program has been a model for many other facilities in Colorado.

In addition, Abrams was also a lead instructor at national PGA Junior Academies.

As for Vickers — the brother of Jack Vickers, founder of The International PGA Tour event held in Colorado — during the late 1940s and well into the 1960s, he was one of the finest players in the state and region.

Jimmy Vickers won the 1949 and ’50 CGA Match Play Championships while at Regis University, and he claimed the NCAA individual title and the Western Amateur Championship in 1952 while playing for the University of Oklahoma. He also won the Kansas state amateur in 1964 and competed in 15 USGA championships, including several U.S. Opens. He placed fifth in the 1965 U.S. Amateur. Vickers won the World Seniors Championship three times and claimed the pro-am team title — with Leonard Thompson — at the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am in 1977.

On the administrative side, Vickers served as a director for the Western Golf Association, the Evans Scholars Foundation and the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association.

And Vickers, now 82, also played a major role in devising the scoring system used for 21 years at The International PGA Tour event in Castle Rock.