Remembering Judy Bell, One of the Game’s Trailblazers

Bell, the recipient of the USGA’s highest honor, the Bob Jones Award, in 2016, will be remembered as the first woman to lead the USGA, but she was more than that. A vibrant figure with a larger-than-life personality, she successfully rallied people to issues that advanced the game forward. An accomplished amateur golfer, diplomat and successful entrepreneur who ran businesses in Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania, Bell was in every hall of fame worth mentioning – including the World Golf Hall of Fame – but it was her devotion as a golf volunteer that set her apart.

Her career was marked by her long association with the USGA. For 31 years in a variety of committee roles, her knowledge and infectious spirit inspired volunteers and staff. Her introduction was a stint on the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship Committee in 1961. In 1968 she began 17 years on the USGA Women’s Committee, serving as chairman from 1981-84. She was named captain of the 1986 and 1988 USA Curtis Cup Teams, both of which lost to Great Britain & Ireland. While she had many close and longtime friends in the UK, those Curtis Cup losses galled her.

In 1987, Bell became the first woman named to the USGA’s Executive Committee. It was not an idle choice; she was tenacious and worked long into the night reviewing issues before the committee. After advancing through various chairs, in 1996 she was elected USGA president to great acclaim. For an association that had been dominated by males throughout its then-102-year history, it was a stunning but logical choice.

Bell was tireless. She was constantly on the go – from the USGA’s headquarters in New Jersey to championship sites in the U.S. and team matches abroad, as well as hundreds of speaking engagements.

Of the qualities that helped her attain such heights, her love of people and appreciation for what they did was foremost. As USGA president she spent time with presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, but she would also spend hours listening to the concerns of her restaurant’s cooking staff. When speaking at trophy presentations at USGA championships, she never failed to give lengthy praise to the course maintenance crew.

Since 1999 she had been consulting director of the USGA Foundation Fellowship and Grants Programs, working with recent college graduates who won USGA Fellowships, a role which delighted and inspired her. “In the bright lexicon of youth,” she was fond of saying, “there is no such word as fail.”

One of Bell’s closest friends was Dr. Trey Holland, a former USGA president who served with Bell on the USGA Executive Committee. Holland once wrote, “It is her ‘passion’ that sets Judy Bell apart from most other people. It is the basis for everything that she does. No one has worked harder for and loved the challenges that they have undertaken more than Judy.”

In May of this year, Bell lost one of her closest friends, Barbara McIntire, a former USA Curtis Cup player and captain, and champion of the 1959 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Judy Bell was born in Wichita, Kan., on Sept. 23, 1936, the fourth child and only daughter of Carl and Mariam Bell. Her mother was a dedicated community volunteer who in 1950 served as president of the Kansas Women’s Golf Association, while her father was a gregarious and successful businessman.

Bell enjoyed an idyllic childhood in a boisterous, hard-working family. Her leadership skills emerged in junior high school when she was elected student council president. The entry of Black students created tensions, and Bell worked hard to successfully lobby friends and athletes of all races for their cooperation, which greatly improved relations at the school. While still in junior high, with two friends she founded Wichita’s girls’ basketball league of three teams, which eventually grew to 16 teams. 

A fine swimmer and basketball player, Bell’s passion was golf. At 13 she played in the U.S. Women’s Open and at 15 advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior. She won six times on the Florida women’s amateur circuit, as well as winning the 1963 Women’s Trans National and three Broadmoor Ladies Invitation titles. She was a three-time quarterfinalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, advancing to the fifth round in 1959. Her play landed her on the 1960 and 1962 USA Curtis Cup Teams, which she considered among her greatest honors.

“My selection to two Curtis Cup teams remains one of the most satisfying and meaningful accomplishments in my life,” she once said.

She played in 38 USGA national championships, and her third round in the 1964 U.S. Women’s Open at San Diego Country Club put her name in the record book. She fired 31-36—67 to establish what were then 9- and 18-hole championship scoring records.

Bell’s business acumen was similar to her competitiveness on the golf course. She often claimed that retailing was in her blood.

At age 10, she took telephone orders at her father’s grocery store and ran a cash register by the time she was 11. When she traveled to amateur events in the 1960s with longtime companion Barbara McIntire, Bell sold Bermuda shorts to other amateurs out of the trunk of her car. McIntire and Bell became partners in a mail-order business and then rented space for their clothing store, A Short Story, in Colorado Springs. Expanding to own other shops and a restaurant, they were successful for nearly 40 years. When they finally shut their doors in 1999, three local television crews covered the event, and one led the nightly news program with the story.

Part of Bell’s legacy was also her self-effacing wit.

The morning after her election as USGA president, reporters asked her how it felt to be a woman and president of one of the most powerful sports associations in the world.

“I don’t know yet how it feels to be president because I’ve only been one for a few hours,” she said, “but I know how it feels to be a woman because I’ve been one for 59 years.”

She often told of her first meeting as USGA president. Lawyers on the committee were intent on helping Bell through the meeting, which concerned how the USGA would spend television revenues. Bell encouraged an open meeting, and ideas flew around the room, creating near-pandemonium. When the lawyers pushed notes her way, indicating, “You’ve lost control of the meeting,” she simply whispered, “Thank you,” and smiled.

“It was like a Bell family dinner,” she said. “I was very much at home.”

From that meeting ensued the USGA’s grants program, which contributed more than $65 million to golf programs for juniors, players with disabilities and other underrepresented groups.

Her sole reason for dedicating so much time to the USGA, she said, was her love for golf. “I’m passionate about the game of golf, which has given me so much sheer joy and pleasure that I have always wanted to give something back to it,” she said. “Without question that’s really what my volunteer efforts have been about.”

When Bell’s term as USGA president ended in the winter of 1998, she addressed her closest associates for a final time. Members of the USGA Women’s Committee sat around a conference table while the staff, USGA Fellows and members of the Executive Committee were stationed on folding chairs along the wall.

Bell said she was surprised that so many had bothered to come. “I’d like to thank the staff...,” she began in a quavering voice, and looking around the room at the faces of people with whom she had worked so closely, she then broke down in tears.

One by one, each person in the room stood until everyone was standing and applauding. It was a fitting salute to a woman who was held in very high regard by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.