“If you play for this guy, he’s going to
grind you up, he’s going to see what you’re made of, said Sanders, “and then with a twinkle in his eye, he’s going to see what you can become.”
Wally Goodwin. He once coached against Larry Bird. He also coached Tiger Woods. Before Wally Goodwin guided the
Stanford men’s golf team to a national championship, he tried his hand coaching collegiate basketball. After a three-year stint as an assistant at Stetson University in Florida, Goodwin was asked to breathe life into the golf team at Northwestern. Goodwin resurrected Northwestern,
but it’s his stretch at Stanford that has made him a Northern California golf immortal. Goodwin landed at Stanford from 1987 to 2000, where he coached fellow honoree Conrad Ray, Casey Martin, Notah Begay, Joel Kribel—and Woods. “That guy really changed my life,” said
Ray of Goodwin. Begay recalled Goodwin’s unique recruit-
ing with his gut. Goodwin offered Begay a scholarship after watching him win a high school state championship—in basketball. Goodwin’s Stanford team won the
national title in 1994, securing the first Cardinal championship in 39 years. The next year Goodwin recruited the most decorated amateur ever to join his team— Tiger Woods. Stanford finished second in the nation in 1995 and fourth in 1996 during Woods’ two years. Begay ribbed Woods (who was elected into the California Golf Hall of Fame earlier in the night) by saying, “When everyone talks about Stanford they always think Tiger Woods, but he actually made our team worse.” Goodwin was a great player in his own right, winning the Wyoming State
Amateur twice and playing on the PGA Tour in 1959. Locally, he was also the athletic director at Stevenson School in Pebble Beach.
Goodwin is a member of the inau-
gural Wyoming State Golf Association Hall of Fame, as well as the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Wally’s wife Nancy is also a two-time Wyoming State Amateur champion.
Conrad Ray. In 1994, Conrad Ray helped Stanford win a national championship as a player.
In 2007, Ray coached his alma mater to the eighth men’s golf national champi- onship in Stanford history. In just nine seasons, Ray has led
Stanford to one of its most impressive runs in golf. Under Ray’s watch, Stanford has reached nationals six times and produced 16 All-Americans, including a school-record five on the championship team in 2007. Ray’s team nearly won back-to-back
national titles in 2008, but his Cardinal fell one stroke shy of repeating. And that run started with Ray inherit-
ing a Stanford team that had finished dead last at the Pac-10 Championships. “We were really bad,” said former
player Zack Miller, who helped Stanford win the title as a senior. “We thank you for bringing out the best in us.” Ray won the Dave Williams/Eaton
Golfpride National Coach of the Year after the 2007 season. He was also selected as one of three coaches for the U.S. team at the 2008 Palmer Cup. “It’s awful humbling to be put in this
group of Hall of Famers,” Ray said. “And the journey is just beginning for Stanford golf.” Ray joined Stanford as its coach in
2004 after a playing career on the Nation- wide Tour. Ray was the captain of the 1997 team before turning pro.
Ray is also the second vice president of the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Mark Gale. Do you know which women’s college golf team was the first to win three national championships? Mark Gale’s San Jose State Spartans. It almost didn’t happen. After San Jose
State won its first national championship in 1987, Gale retired. But that retirement lasted one day. Gale’s team bounced back to win the
national championship again in 1989, and captured a third in six years in 1992. And as former player Pat Hurst pointed out, there was not a repeat winner on any of those three championship teams. Hurst recalled the minute-by-minute
itinerary Gale—who flew 61 missions dur- ing the Vietnam War—would put together for his teams. She also recalled the 12- straight tournaments Gale’s teams won. And then there are Gale’s four runner-
up finishes, including three straight from 1995 through 1997. Gale’s Spartans also lost sudden death playoffs twice, in 1991 and 1996.
Gale coached at San Jose State for 19
dominant years, and produced two World Golf Hall of Famers—Patty Sheehan and Juli Inkster. “It wasn’t hard to recruit when you had
players like that,” Gale said. The nine-time Big West Coach of the
Year actually came to San Jose State as chairman of the school’s Aerospace Studies Department, before helping out with the men’s golf team. The retired colonel eventually became
the women’s coach, retiring as the win- ningest coach the sport had ever seen. Gale was inducted into the Women’s
Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1993.
Mark Gale
Conrad Ray
Bo Links and Richard Harris SPRING 2014 /
NCGA.ORG / 67
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88