|
Jackie Burke Jr. To Receive USGA Bob Jones Award
December 17, 2003
Far Hills, N.J. - Jack (Jackie) Burke Jr., 80, of Houston, Texas, who won the 1956 Masters and PGA Championship before gaining fame as an instructor and co-founder of Champions Golf Club in Houston, has been selected to receive the 2004 USGA Bob Jones Award.
Presented annually since 1955, the USGA's top award is given in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. The award seeks to recognize a person who emulates Jones' spirit, his personal qualities and his attitude toward the game and its players. It will be presented on Feb. 7 at the Association's Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla.
"The rules and lessons of the game that were important to Bob Jones are the heart of golf," said Burke. "I knew Bob Jones and what he stood for. It is truly special for me to be recognized in his honor by an organization I wholly respect for something that has been my life's work and enjoyment.
"As a prerequisite to receiving the Award, I hope I don't have to par the 18th hole at Augusta from the new back tee," added Burke.
In addition to 17 professional victories, Burke earned the Vardon Trophy for low scoring average on Tour in 1952 and had a 7-1 record in his five Ryder Cup appearances in the 1950s. He was a head professional before the age of 20, following in his father's footsteps, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. He received a lifetime achievement award from the PGA Tour in November 2003.
He was the last to win four consecutive professional titles before Tiger Woods won four in a row in 1999.
Once asked what makes him a great golfer, he replied, "Knowing the rules."
Since his playing days, he has instructed thousands, including Phil Mickelson and Hal Sutton, and co-founded the Champions Golf Club, in 1959, with his good friend, Jimmy Demaret.
"Whenever anybody needed any help we would go to Jackie and say, 'Jackie, I'm struggling with my game' and he would help you kindly," Gary Player recounted in a story for the Houston Chronicle.
Burke has always promoted the rules of golf and the importance of golf's committees and associations. He was a leader for the formation of the Southern Texas Amateur Golf Association in the early 1990s, and he made Champions its first member club. Today, the STAGA has merged with the Texas Golf Association, to form a bigger and even stronger organization.
"Jackie has always believed the amateur is the backbone of the game, and his efforts have been tireless in the promotion and philosophy that it is the amateur who will continue to further golf's popularity," said Ben Crenshaw, a past Jones Award winner.
"What it all boils down to is a dedication to help people enjoy the game and extol golf's good virtues," Crenshaw added.
Through Burke's leadership, Champions opened its doors to host the 1967 Ryder Cup, 1969 U.S. Open, 1993 U.S. Amateur and five PGA Tour Championships. Champions has hosted more USGA championships than any other club in Texas, with the 1998 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur being the most recent. Burke also assures that Champions is available for countless USGA championship qualifying rounds.
Burke's passion for the game can be traced directly to his parents, from whom he learned the game as soon as he could handle a club. His father, Jackie Burke, a golf professional from Philadelphia, played in the 1920 U.S. Open, finishing in a four-way tie for second, just one stroke behind winner Ted Ray.
The family later moved to Houston, where Jackie's father took the job as head professional at River Oaks Country Club and where Jackie, the oldest of eight children, fell in love with the game. He would spend time at the club watching his mother play, and sometimes whacking a ball around with his 4-iron. It's also where he met Demaret, who at times baby-sat Burke Jr.
The always fun-loving Demaret would later say with a chuckle that he didn't realize the job of baby-sitting Jackie Jr. would last 50 years. Demaret died at age 73 in 1983.
At home, the Burkes' house guests might include Ben Hogan or Byron Nelson, and the stories and lessons would continue long into the night.
"(Dad) taught pretty much in parables, and he taught things that would last you throughout your career," said Burke. "I teach the same way."
Like his father, too, he was a good player. He was a teenager when he qualified for his first U.S. Open in 1941. He also was a student at Rice University in 1941, but that lasted only a few months until he left school to serve in the Marine Corps, where he was a martial arts and drill instructor during World War II.
After the war, in 1946, he left school behind and became a golf professional, landing a job as head professional at Galveston (Texas) Country Club.
In 2002, however, he returned to Rice University to help establish the Earl Elliott Humanities Scholarship Fund in honor of his lost friend, Earl Elliott, a Houston lawyer who has been such a big part of his Champions Club.
Burke still plays about four rounds a week, and still teaches. Champions boasts a skilled membership, with more than 450 single-digit handicap golfers. One of the best is his wife, Robin, a top women's amateur player who played on the 1998 USA Curtis Cup team.
Winners Of The USGA Bob Jones Award
| Year |
Recipient |
| 1955 |
Francis Ouimet |
| 1956 |
William C. Campbell |
| 1957 |
Mildred D. Zaharias |
| 1958 |
Margaret Curtis |
| 1959 |
Findlay S. Douglas |
| 1960 |
Charles Evans Jr. |
| 1961 |
Joseph B. Carr |
| 1962 |
Horton Smith |
| 1963 |
Patty Berg |
| 1964 |
Charles Coe |
| 1965 |
Glenna Collett Vare |
| 1966 |
Gary Player |
| 1967 |
Richard S. Tufts |
| 1968 |
Robert B. Dickson |
| 1969 |
Gerald H. Micklem |
| 1970 |
Roberto De Vicenzo |
| 1971 |
Arnold Palmer |
| 1972 |
Michael Bonallack |
| 1973 |
Gene Littler |
| 1974 |
Byron Nelson |
| 1975 |
Jack Nicklaus |
| 1976 |
Ben Hogan |
| 1977 |
Joseph C. Dey Jr. |
| 1978 |
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope |
| 1979 |
Tom Kite |
| 1980 |
Charles Yates |
| 1981 |
JoAnne Carner |
| 1982 |
William J. Patton |
| 1983 |
Maureen Ruttle Garrett |
| 1984 |
R. Jay Sigel |
| 1985 |
Fuzzy Zoeller |
| 1986 |
Jess Sweetser |
| 1987 |
Tom Watson |
| 1988 |
Isaac B. Grainger |
| 1989 |
Chi Chi Rodriguez |
| 1990 |
Peggy Kirk Bell |
| 1991 |
Ben Crenshaw |
| 1992 |
Gene Sarazen |
| 1993 |
P.J. Boatwright Jr. |
| 1994 |
Lewis Oehmig |
| 1995 |
Herbert Warren Wind |
| 1996 |
Betsy Rawls |
| 1997 |
Fred Brand Jr. |
| 1998 |
Nancy Lopez |
| 1999 |
Edgar Updegraff |
| 2000 |
Barbara McIntire |
| 2001 |
Thomas Cousins |
| 2002 |
Judy Rankin |
| 2003 |
Carol Semple Thompson |
| 2004 |
Jackie Burke Jr. |
|
E-mail address: mediarelations@usga.org
|
|
