Three popular club professionals, a five-time State Amateur champion and a highly successful collegiate coach will be inducted into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame next month.
The five being honored are club professionals Dick Kramer, Jimmy Thompson and Mick Riley; five-time State Am champ Hal Lamb; and BYU golf coach Karl Tucker. Lamb and Riley are deceased.Induction ceremonies will be May 14 at the Olympus Hotel, with a special Hall of Fame pro-am that morning at the Eaglewood Golf Course.
This will mark the third induction ceremony for the Utah Golf Hall of Fame since its inception in 1991.
Kramer and Thompson, both 79, are longtime club professionals still active on the local golf scene.
Thompson was the club professional at Timpanogos Golf Course in Provo from 1949-51 and was the head pro at Tri City in American Fork for 13 years. In between he held several positions out of state.
Kramer has been the head professional at Bonneville Golf Course for more than 50 years and was a competitive playing professional in 1950s and 1960s.
Tucker coached at BYU for more than 30 years and turned the Cougars into a national power with golfers such as Johnny Miller and Mike Reid and many others who went onto play on the PGA Tour. In 1981, his team won the NCAA Championship.
Riley was one of the early club professionals in Utah and helped design courses in the Salt Lake area. He was the first club professional at Nibley Park and was head pro at Meadow Brook for 14 years. He was once elected as vice president of the national PGA.
Lamb, who died at the age of 38, won the Utah State Amateur Championship five times between 1915 and 1924. He also won the Southern California Amateur title in 1916.
Among those who have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame are Johnny Miller, Billy Casper, Tee Branca, Billy Johnston, Jack Ridd, Bev Nelson and Billy Korns.
Those interested in attending the induction ceremony or participating in the pro-am can contact the Utah Golf Association at 299-UGA1.