First class announced for Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Press Release

Ardmore native Charles Robert “Charlie” Coe stands alongside Bobby Jones as one of the great amateur golfers in U.S. history. He won the U.S. Amateur in 1949 and 1958 and was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in a historic battle in 1959.

Coe, a three-time Big Seven Conference champion at Oklahoma, also won the 1950 Western Amateur, was runner-up in the 1951 British Amateur to Dick Chapman, won the Trans-Mississippi Championship four times and played on six Walker Cup teams. He was a playing captain in 1959 and non-playing captain in 1957.

Coe made 19 appearances in The Masters at Augusta National and holds numerous amateur records including most cuts made (15), top-24 finishes (9), top-10 finishes (3), eagles (6), rounds played (67) and most times low amateur (6). In 1961, he rallied from six shots down in the final round to finish one shot behind Gary Player.

The 1964 winner of the Bob Jones Award for distinguished service given by the USGA, he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated on Sept. 14, 1959. He remained an amateur his entire life while running a successful oil business in Oklahoma City.

• Best finishes in major professional tournaments
  Tied for 2nd in The Masters in 1961
  Tied for 13th in The U.S. Open in 1958
  Never played in either the PGA Championship or British Open

• Top finishes in amateur tournaments
  Coe won the U.S. Amateur in 1949, beating Rufus King 11 and 10 in the finals.
  He won the U.S. Amateur in 1958 with a 5 and 4 victory over Tommy Aaron.
  He finished runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1959 U.S. Amateur.
  He won the Western Amateur in 1950
  He made the finals of the British Amateur in 1951, losing to Dick Chapman.
  He won four Trans-Miss Ams (1947, 1949, 1952 and 1956)

• Top accolades
  He was a playing captain on the 1959 Walker Cup team.
  He was the non-playing captain of the 1957 Walker Cup team.
  Received the 1964 Bob Jones Award from the USGA in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. That honor was confirmed by those who knew him well as when he passed away, a Castle Pines golf club member was quoted as saying, “Charlie Coe was an amateur at everything except life where he was a true pro.”
  The University of Oklahoma named its golf course in his honor as it is The Charlie Coe Golf Center.
  His 59 is a course record at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club.
  He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

McAlester native Robert B. Dickson won both the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur in 1967, the first man to do so since Lawson Little in 1934 and 1935. The U.S. Amateur triumph was particularly satisfying, as in 1965 he had suffered a four-shot penalty for having a 15th club in his bag during a one-shot loss to Bob Murphy at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.

Dickson learned the game from his father Ben Dickson, the professional, greenskeeper and manager of McAlester Country Club. By high school, Bob was good enough to win the Class 2A state championship three times for Muskogee High School. A two-time All-American at Oklahoma State in 1965 and 1966, he also won the Oklahoma State Amateur in 1965 and 1966 and the Oklahoma Open in 1966 and 1971.

Dickson began a 10-year career on the PGA Tour in 1968, winning twice before being hired by the PGA as Director of Marketing for the Tournament Players Club in 1979. He was also a rules official on the Senior PGA Tour before resuming his playing career on the senior circuit at age 50 in 1994. He won the 1998 Cadillac NFL Golf Classic in a playoff with Jim Colbert and Larry Nelson.

Dickson was a member of the 1967 Walker Cup team and won the Bob Jones Award for distinguished sportsmanship in 1968.

• Top pro accolades and accomplishments
  Won five professional golf tournaments – the Haig Open Invitational in 1968 when he scored 13-under, defeating Chi Chi Rodriguez by two strokes; the Andy Williams-San Diego Open in 1973 when he shot 10-under and finished three strokes ahead of the likes of Billy Casper, Bruce Crampton and Grier Jones; won the Oklahoma Open twice, in 1966 and 1971, and the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic on the Senior Tour, with a birdie on the first playoff hole against Jim Colbert and Larry Nelson.
  His best year as a pro was 1973 when he won in San Diego and finished in the top 30 on the money list with nearly $90,000 earned.

• Top amateur awards and victories
  1965 – Won the Oklahoma Amateur
  1966 – Won the Oklahoma Amateur
  1967 – Won the British (2 and 1) and U.S. Amateur (285, four rounds stroke play)
  1965 – Runner-up in U.S. Amateur to Bob Murphy at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.

The current Oklahoma State athletic director, Mike Holder set a standard that will likely never be challenged during his 32 seasons as head coach of the Cowboy golf team. Taking over for Labron Harris Sr. in 1973, Holder coached the Cowboys to eight national titles and 24 conference championships. He coached 101 All-America selections, 20 conference individual medalists and five individual national champions. Every Holder squad made it to the NCAA Championship and made the cut.

Though born in Odessa, Texas, Holder attended high school in Ardmore, where he lettered in golf for three years and was conference medalist in 1966. He won the Oklahoma Amateur Championship in 1968 and during his career at OSU he was the Big Eight Conference medalist in 1970, third-team All-America in 1969 and 1970 and honorable mention All-America in 1968.

In addition to his brilliant coaching, Holder proved to be a masterful fundraiser and single-handedly led the effort to raise funds for and build Karsten Creek Golf Course, a highly-ranked Tom Fazio design that serves as the home base for the men’s and women’s golf teams.

• Top accolades and accomplishments
  Recognized in 2013 as a finalist for National Athletic Director of the Year by Sports Business Journal.

• Under his watchful eye, Oklahoma State’s athletic facilities have blossomed like a wildfire on the prairie – the football stadium being expanded to 60,000 seats with 111 plush suites and workout facilities that resemble something from a futuristic utopia for college athletes.

• During Holder’s athletic directorship, the football team, the bell cow of the athletic department has gone to a record number of consecutive bowl games.

• New tennis and track and field facilities have been built.

• Holder has given back as well, donating millions out of his own pocket to reach for dreams at OSU.

The genius of Perry “Duke” Maxwell was his ability to divine the natural ebb and flow of any particular site and, using primitive earth-moving equipment, let his course routings take every advantage of what Mother Nature provided.

Without Maxwell’s handiwork, Oklahoma would be bereft of many of its greatest golf course treasures, including Southern Hills, consistently ranked among the top-25 courses in the United States, and site of three U.S. Opens and four PGA Championships.

The pleasure of playing Maxwell’s designs is not limited to the pros and Southern Hills members. From his earliest work at Dornick Hills in Ardmore to such great courses as Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club, Twin Hills CC in Oklahoma City, Hillcrest CC in Bartlesville, Oakwood CC in Enid, Muskogee CC, Oak Hills CC in Ada, Ponca City CC and many public courses as well, the former Ardmore banker left an indelible legacy on our state.

He is immensely respected elsewhere as well. Two of his greatest works, Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kansas, with nine holes added later by his son Press Maxwell, and Crystal Downs, along the shores of Lake Michigan, a collaboration with famed Scottish architect Alister McKenzie, are consistently ranked even higher than Southern Hills.

Gil Morgan could be in the Hall of Fame of humble. It’s hard to imagine a nicer, more unassuming superstar than the Doctor of Optometry from Wewoka via East Central State College.

The long-time member and resident of Oak Tree National, Morgan has enjoyed one of the most incredible “second chance” careers of all time. A seven-time winner and consistent performer on the PGA Tour from 1977-90, Morgan’s consistent ball striking and unflappable demeanor proved a magical elixir when he moved to the Champions Tour.

Morgan has won 25 Champions Tour events, more than any golfers except Hale Irwin and Lee Trevino. He won three senior majors and pocketed more than $20 million. In his first two full seasons on the Champions Tour (1997 and 1998), Morgan won 12 events and had 23 top-three and 37 top-10 finishes in 50 starts. He continued to win at least one event annually through 2007.

Among his 40 professional wins, Morgan twice won the Oklahoma Open.

Tishomingo native Bill Spiller fought valiantly for equal access on the PGA Tour for African-American golfers and, though he never really got to enjoy the fruits of his victory, his efforts were crucial in paving the way for Charlie Sifford and others to finally integrate the tour.

“Bill Spiller is a hero, but unappreciated,” said national golf writer Al Barkow, who wrote the definitive story on Spiller’s integration efforts for Golf Digest in 2008.

“Charlie Sifford gets a lot of the credit for breaking the racial barrier, but Bill Spiller paved the way.”

Spiller moved to Tulsa at age 9 and experienced the sting of racism first-hand at his father’s store. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and took up golf around age 30. He started competing and winning blacks-only amateur golf tournaments during the 1940s. After being denied entry in the 1948 Richmond (California) Open by the PGA of America, Spiller spent many years challenging the segregation policy of the PGA of America and its Caucasian-only policies.

Spiller sued.  In 1952, the sponsors of the new San Diego Open invited Spiller, unaware of the “Caucasians only” clause. This time he was assisted by fellow invitee and former heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Both men were excluded by Horton Smith, president of the PGA of America.

Louis took his story to popular newspaper columnist Walter Winchell. The story quickly gained national attention and again, Spiller threatened to sue. Once again, Smith promised to change the rules. This time the PGA of America announced blacks could play, if invited. Some sponsors began inviting blacks, however the segregation clause remained.

In 1960, Spiller’s cause came to the attention of California attorney general (and future California Supreme Court justice) Stanley Mosk, who told the PGA of America it would not be allowed to use public courses. At the time, most tournaments were held on public courses.

When the PGA of America replied that it would restrict itself to private courses, Mosk promised to stop that as well. Furthermore, he began contacting state attorneys general around the country. Spiller finally won his cause in 1961, but he was well past his prime by then. Every African American who has played on the Tour since owes Spiller a debt of gratitude.

• Top accolades and accomplishments
  Although his fight to play on the pro golf tour was a successful one, it came too late for the prime of Spiller’s career. But he will always be known for winning the same battle that Jackie Robinson fought in baseball. On a chance meeting with then PGA of America president Horton Smith, Spiller had his say:
  “I know, and you know that we’re going to play in the tournaments,” Spiller told Smith. “We all know it’s coming. So if you like golf the way you say you do, and I do, I think we should make an agreement so we can play without all this adverse publicity. And take that Caucasians-only clause out of your constitution so we can have opportunities to get jobs as pros at clubs.”

• Despite the temperature surrounding segregation at the time, such legendary golfers as Jimmy Demaret were on Spiller’s side.

• Once stood in the middle of the No. 1 tee box in San Diego because he was not allowed to play in the pro tournament despite having qualified. The tournament did not start until Spiller’s friend, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, convinced Spiller to step aside.