Finest from the fairways

Niagara Golf honours 48 individuals in inaugural Wall of Recognition induction class

Four people who are already members of at least two halls of fame are among 34 golfers honoured in the Niagara Golf Wall of Recognition’s inaugural induction class.

Marlene Stewart Streit was inducted into the World Golf of Fame in 2004, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1971 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1962. She is the only person to date to win the Australian, British, Canadian and U.S. national amateur championships.

Like Streit, 87, Cathy Sherk was mentored by Gordon McInnis Sr., the longtime pro at Lookout Point Country Club in Fonthill and an inductee in the Wall of Recognition’s professional category. Sherk, 70, was enshrined in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995, the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Hall of Fame in 2014.

Rod Spittle was inducted into Canadian and Ohio golf halls of fame in 2019, six years after going into the Ontario Golf of Fame. The 65-year-old St. Catharines native missed only five cuts in195 starts and earned more than $4 million (U.S.) over 13 years competing on the Champions Tour.

Ken Tarling was inducted into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame in 2017 and into the PGA of Ontario Hall of Fame three years later. Tarling, 62, is an honorary lifetime member of Twenty Valley Golf and Country Club in Vineland.

Niagara Golf’s wall of recognition was introduced to “proudly share” the history of golf in the region.

“In Niagara, we are very passionate about recognizing those who have made an impact on the game of golf in more ways than winning,” the fivemember selection committee said Friday in a news release announcing the launch. “We cannot think of a better way to honour those pioneers than having them recognized and inducted into the Niagara Golf Wall of Recognition.”

Induction isn’t limited to honouring the achievements of some of the finest on the fairways. Contributions from golf course management, club pros and superintendents are being recognized, as are the media and volunteers.

John White, PGA of Canada director of golf operations at Beechwood Golf & Social House in Niagara Falls and a selection committee member, is “so excited” to see golf in the region recognized.

“It has been a dream of mine to create a platform to recognize all the people of Niagara who have done great things and contributed to the golf community,” he said. “Niagara has so many special and now we can tell their story for all golfers to learn about them for years to come.”

Among the stories that will be shared is White’s. The St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame member Class of 2018, and Niagara District Junior Golf Tour founder is entering the wall of recognition in the professional category along with Bruce Murray, Jeff Roy, Alex Wilson and McInnis

McInnis, the head pro at Lookout Point from 1945 until 1993, was inducted into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Canadian PGA Wall of Fame in 2016.

Five individuals in the wall of recognition’s golfers wing have been inducted into halls of fame in their respective communities: Sandy Billyard, Welland Sports Wall of Fame, Class of 2015; Helen Chyplik, St. Catharines, 1997; Elizabeth Earley, St. Catharines, 2013; Jack Lowery, St. Catharines, 1991; Bill Tape, Fort Erie, 2013.

Also going on the wall of recognition in the golfers category in the inaugural induction class are Kennedy Bodfield, Bernie Bodogh, Jim Briggs, Chris Critelli, Luke DelGobbo, Mark Derbyshire, Mark Derbyshire, Steve (Butch) Fellinger, Dave Fulton, Jack Gibson, Robert (Bob) Goss, Matt Graham, Jeremy Julie, Bill Kozak, Judith Kyrinis, Dave Mackenzie, Stefi Markovich, Joe Miszk, Merle Noyes, Nolan Piazza, Shirley Romanow, Michael Riva, Adam Short, Gary Stickl, Tess Trojan and Les Westlake.

Briggs and Bodogh, who died in April at age 59, won three and two Niagara Men’s Tour championships, respectively, Derbyshire won 30 Niagara-on-theLake Golf Club championships in a row.

Critelli won 11 consecutive St. Catharines Golf & Country Club championships, Markovich was ranked first in Ontario in 1992 and 1993 and among the top five in Canada in 1992. Romanow won three Niagara District Champion of Champions tournaments playing out of St.

Catharines and two representing Lookout Point.

Piazza, 17, who is committed to attending Morehead State University in Moorehead, Ken., after graduating from A.N. Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls, won Ontario junior boys championships in 2018 and 2020, while Bodfield, 24, a Sir Winston Churchill grad who went on to play Division 1 at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., on a golf scholarship, topped the leaderboard in the junior girls division at three Champion of Champions tournaments.

Aldo Bortolon, who has been at Lookout Point since 1974, John Piccolo, 40 years at St. Catharines Golf & Country Club, Ted Bishop, at Rolling Meadows Golf & Country Club in Niagara Falls since 1986, John Taylor, Hunters Pointe, Grand Niagara, 20 years; and Angelo Toto, The Links of Niagara at Willodell, Niagara Falls; are going on the wall as superintendents.

Former Welland Tribune sports editor Wayne Redshaw, who in 1996 began publishing “FORE! Golfers Only,” Canada’s only weekly golf publication at the time, is one of four individuals honoured for lifetime achievement for his contributions to the game in Niagara.

He was inducted into the Wall Sports of Fame along with his older brother Reg in 2013 and is also a member of the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame, as well as a life member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Walt McCollum was instrumental in launching the Niagara District Champion of Champions in 1951. The St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Class of 1990, served as Champion of Champions chair for 30 years.

Bob Davis, after whom Brock University named its main gymnasium in 1973, won the inaugural senior Ryder Cup championship in 1999.

Harry Daniel, St. Catharines Golf & Country Club’s solicitor for 25 years, was inducted into the club’s wall of fame in 2013.

Serving on the Niagara Golf Wall of Recognition selection committee along with White were Derek Divok, the senior Ryder Cup captain at Rockway Vineyards in St. Catharines, Bernie Puchalski, one-time sports editor at both the St. Catharines Standard and Niagara Falls Review and now coowner of BP Sports Niagara, Cameron Thin, head pro at St. Catharines Golf & Country Club, and Karen Vamplew, a Golf Ontario volunteer.

Visit golfniagara.org/wall for information about all 48 inductees in the inaugural class.

Criteria for nomination and submission forms are available at the same link.