Minnesota Loses Two Giants In Golf
George Reynolds
Warren Rebholz
It was a sad week recently when two men who added so much to Minnesota golf passed away. Warren Rebholz and George Reynolds made golf better in Minnesota and indeed everywhere. Warren Rebholz was the executive director of the Minnesota Golf Association for 20 years, while George Reynolds spent his life working to bring kids into the game.
As the first full time executive director, Warren Rebholz took the Minnesota Golf Association from being operated out of the trunk of a car to the most respected regional golf association in the country. “He was the most respected executive director in the country,” said Dick Horton of the Tennessee Golf Association. “We all wanted to be like Rebbie.”
“The decisions he made were always based on the question ‘What is best for golf?’,” said Ross Galarneault who followed Rebholz as executive director in Minnesota and is now director of championships for the USGA, “Even if it’s not the best for the MGA.”
“Rebbie is arguably the most important person in Minnesota’s golf history,” said Tom Ryan, current executive director. “Minnesota remains one of the most active and respected golf associations…through his total devotion to Minnesota golf.”
The USGA looked often to Rebbie’s knowledge. He was a consulting member of the Rules of Golf Committee, the Chairman of the Handicap Procedures Committee following many years on that committee and was a key player in the course rating system.
He helped bring the US Open back to Hazeltine in 1991 after the negative reaction to the course from the 1970 event. “The 1983 Senior Open at Hazeltine left a favorable impression on the USGA,” said Irv Fish, a Hazeltine member and former USGA Executive Committee member. “Rebbie’s integrity was unblemished and the USGA knew he would not be supporting the 1991 Open coming back to Hazeltine if the course was not ready,”
“In his profession and as a person he was a giant but you never felt it or knew it. He made a difference,” Fish said. “He always cared about others and treated everybody the same. He was kind, considerate, humble, a treasure of a human being.”
“He had a public course background,” said Reed Mackenzie, former President of the USGA and fellow Hazeltine member, “He knocked down the barriers of public players not being allowed to play in the US Amateur. He got it eliminated. He also had the vision Minnesota Golf Association events would run the same way as USGA events, the best in the country. He worked 16 US Opens.”
In the early ‘80s Warren organized trips to cities around the country to play great courses. We traveled to Long Island, Philadelphia, Columbus and several other cites to play courses such as Pine Valley, National Golf Links, Maidstone and Muirfield. There would generally be three foursomes, all directors of the Minnesota Golf Association. Rebbie would arrange the entire trip. We played some of the greatest courses in the country, unaccompanied, at little or no cost. Working with executive directors of associations located in the areas where we traveled, he was able to do this because of the respect others had for him. I played more great courses traveling on those trips than at any other time in my life.
He had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved to be photographed holding a trophy from a prestigious golf event, giving the impression he won it. He would photo shop himself into a setting giving the appearance of some great triumph.
His Christmas cards were a highlight such as the card from 1996 which included a certificate stating ‘one free drop’ for anyone playing against him the next year.
Warren was a very good player qualifying twice for the USGA Public Links Championship in 1954 and 1958, winning the Hazeltine Club Championship three times and qualifying for the 1981 USGA Mid Amateur at Bellerive in St. Louis.
Tom Magne, his assistant executive director at the time, accompanied Rebholz to the event and caddied for him. “He never slept a wink the night before the tournament,” said Magne. “He stayed up reading tips in Golf Digest.” Needless to say the match play qualifying did not go that well and they were back in the car heading home.
Warren retired in 1992. “I don’t want to be a paperweight around here,” he said. But he wasn’t done. In 1996 he started the Minnesota Senior Tour for the Minnesota Golf Association. With net and gross divisions, the senior tour has grown from a group of senior players playing on Monday around the state into four geographical divisions with over 1000 players playing for 12 weeks. Competitors pay greens and cart fees. It’s a win-win. The courses get revenue and golfers get to play wonderful courses.
I was in a discussion of golf courses with Warren many years ago. I made the comment that a course was a “bad course”. Warren corrected me by saying, “Cal, there are no bad courses, some are just better than others.”
Warren Rebholz grew up and lived the greater part of his life in St Paul. He passed away at age 92. “He was such a wonderful person and lived a marvelous life,” said Mike Davis, Executive Director of the USGA. Golf is better because Warren Rebholz was in the game.
I first saw George Reynolds in the winter of 1964. I was on the JV basketball team at Wayzata HS and had traveled to neighboring Hopkins HS to play a game before the varsity game. As I walked through the gym I noticed a man getting things ready for the evening’s games. He didn’t look like the administrators I had seen in schools. Dressed in Foot Joy teaching shoes usually worn by golf professionals, beautiful light wool slacks, a golf shirt and an alpaca sweater, he looked more like he should be at a PGA tour event than in a high school gym.
George was born and raised in Anoka, Minnesota where he was a star basketball player and golfer, earning him a position later in life in the Minnesota High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He went on to the University of Minnesota to play both basketball in ’53 and ’54, and golf in ’52, ’53 and ’54. He turned professional after college and briefly played the PGA Tour, but with the small purses had little financial success.
He then started a career as a teacher and administrator in the Hopkins School district. “He loved kids and had a passion for teaching,” said Paul Kelly, golf professional at Woodhill Country Club. “He would invite the golf coaches and physical education teachers from all over Minnesota into Hopkins High School for a one day seminar on teaching kids golf. In addition, he collected used clubs and handed them out at the seminar in hopes that the physical education teachers would add golf into their curriculum. Anything to promote the game.”
Paul continued. “He had drop off points all around the Twin Cites for the clubs. He would drive around, pick up the clubs and then distribute them either at his seminars or to schools. He would clean them up, regrip them and distribute them. He got money somewhere and sent clubs to those in the military in the Iraq war. He sent boxes and boxes of clubs along with golf balls overseas.”
“I first met him when I was about ten at a junior golf camp in Northfield,” said Paul. “George put the whole thing together. We stayed in the dorms at St. Olaf College. Later I worked with him on the Growth of the Game Committee of the PGA. He had the best ideas to get kids involved with the game.”
Three time state champion, Jody Rosenthal Anschutz told me, “He came to me in 1979 when I was at Hopkins High School and wanted to know if I would like to start a girls golf team. There were several girls that played golf and we put a team together. He coached both the men’s and women’s teams.”
Jody went on to play at the University of Tulsa where Nancy Lopez had elevated the school to the top of women’s collegiate golf.
“He was an early adaptor to video,” said Jody. “He helped me with my swing, but what he really did was give me the confidence to play at the next level. He encouraged me to play in college. He was always encouraging. He was never negative. His attitude was ‘how can we make this work’.”
Following his retirement from Hopkins, George moved to coaching golf at Eden Prairie High School. “He was always helping young people to be better people and golfers,” said Scott Gustafson, state high school champion at Eden Prairie under George. “He was never overly technical, simply the thought process. He was very good at course management and emotional control. I was a little bit of a hot head. He taught us how to behave in a gracious way. He was a gentle person. Later in life he would come to the State Open to watch me play. It was comforting to have him around.”
George always had a smile on his face.
“I met him at one of his coach’s clinics,” said Claudia Pilot, then a teacher in Austin, MN and one of the best women players in Minnesota history. “He took me under his wing and mentored me. He was such a good buddy, someone I could rely on for advice. He called me and suggested we have a Ryder Cup format match between the Austin boys and girls teams and Eden Prairie. The kids loved it.”
His work earned him a spot in the MGA/PGA Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame and being awarded the Warren J Rebholz Award for distinguished service to the game.
George was a great player in his own right, playing for the University of Minnesota, the PGA Tour and qualifying for the USGA Senior Open three times in ’84, ’87, ’92.
There are many wonderful men and women, professionals and amateurs, dedicated to helping girls and boys get introduced into the game. Few will spend a lifetime, as George Reynolds did. He passed away at 89.
Warren Rebholz and George Reynolds represent the best in our game. Their impact on Minnesota golf will live on for decades. There are no men in golf that I respect more for what they have done In A Life In Golf.
