Crawford says he's been blessed by career

MOULTRIE — Near the end of the summer following his senior year in high school, Richard Crawford was asked by his uncle if he wanted to travel with him from their homes in Arkansas to Houston and, while there, check out the two universities, Rice and Houston.

Houston accepted Crawford, who went to the golf coach and asked about going out for the team.

Coach Dave Williams said he would pay for Crawford’s books if he made the freshman team.

Later Crawford got books and meal money and by the time he graduated as a two-time All-American and two-time NCAA individual champion, had more than earned his way at Houston.

When Crawford won NCAA championships in 1959 and 1960, he became the first player to earn multiple NCAA titles. Since then, just three more have performed the feat.

Crawford went on to play 12 years on the PGA Tour and since 1980 has played in all by one Pot o’ Gold Pro-Am at Moultrie’s Sunset Country Club.

Nearly 70, Crawford said he does not anticipate returning to Moultrie next spring, although both Pot o’ Gold tournament chairman Max Hancock and Sunset pro Bob Windom hope he changes his mind.

On Thursday, Windom spent a couple hours with Crawford on driving range, letting the older player watch his swing and offer advice.

Windom said he would like to have Crawford return next year just to spend some time with Sunset’s young golfers.

Hancock, who is directing his 20th Pot o’ Gold, has grown fond of the easy-going and affable Crawford and says he will miss him if he does not return.

“He’s a good player,” Hancock said of Crawford, who won the team championship in 1995 and was the low pro in 1986 and the low senior in 1990 and 1993. “But he’s a better person.”

Crawford played high school golf in Arkansas, but there were few junior tournaments.

But he had talent and playing for Williams brought it to the forefront.

Williams, often called the father of college golf, coached the Houston team for 36 years, leading his teams to 16 national championships.

Crawford was part of two of those national championship teams.

Williams idea for choosing which players went on trips to tournaments was to hold a 144-hole qualifier.

Crawford said when he played for Williams, the low six players after the qualifier went on trips.

Players who finished in the top 10 of tournament were exempt for qualifying for the next trip.

And 144 holes of qualifying enabled a player to rebound from one poor round.

“He kept the guys at home working and the guys traveling working,” Crawford said.

Williams also made his players turn in score cards for every round of golf they played. And he was adamant about his players staying away from double-bogeys. A player can make a birdie to offset a bogey, but it becomes more difficult to make those two birdies to offset a double-bogey.

Crawford said he was fortunate that in addition to learning from Williams, there were other outstanding golfers at Houston while he was there.

He also had a mentor in Hogan Roundtree, who, like Crawford, is a member of the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame.

After playing the PGA Tour for 12 years, Crawford decided to become a club professional and took his first job in Camden, Ark., not far from his hometown.

After two years there, he became the pro at Green Island in Columbus for 12 years. He was at Jennings Mill in Athens for a couple years before retiring to the Birmingham, Ala., area.

Crawford currently works part-time at Ballantrae Golf Club in Pelham, Ala.

After playing the Pot o’ Gold for 29 years, Crawford has seen a lot of improvements on the Sunset Country Club course, a course his says he has “fussed, cussed and hoo-ray’d.”

“And I told Max, it’s been the hospitality of the people here that has made me feel welcome,” Crawford said.

But after playing golf for 58 years, Crawford says he competitive juices “don’t run quite as fast as they used to” and he can tell he doesn’t save some shots as he once did.

“But I’ve played all across this great country of ours,” he said. “And I’ve been able to play out of the country too. All in all, there’s been an awful lot of good times. I’ve been blessed.”

Text Only