Iowa Golf Hall of Fame to Induct Three

The Iowa Golf Association is pleased to announce the election of three people to the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame. They will bring membership in the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame to 38.

Tom Chapman, Jr., Larry Stewart and Rudy Knepper received the unanimous vote of the IGA selection committee. Knepper, a top player nationally in the 1920’s was the first to be selected under the historical category.

The Class of 2008 will be enshrined on Friday, April 4 at the DMACC Newton Conference Center in Newton, IA. The reception will begin at 6 p.m. with the inductions to follow at 7 p.m. Complete registration information for the induction ceremony can be found here.

Tom Chapman, Jr.

Tom Chapman, Jr., was a two-sport standout at the University of Iowa in golf and basketball after a distinguished career at Fort Dodge High School. Playing for the legendary Ralph Miller, Chapman averaged 16.8 points a game his senior year for the Hawkeyes and shot a team-best 87 percent from the free-throw line.

But it was golf that Chapman, Jr., is best known for. He was a three-time Iowa Golf Association Amateur of the Year (1967, 1972, 1973). Chapman, Jr., won 13 of the state¹s designated championships during his distinguished career. That resume is highlighted by the Iowa Amateur title in both 1967 and 1972.

Chapman, Jr., also won the Herman Sani Invitational twice (1967, 1973); the Northwest Amateur four times (1971, 1972, 1973, 1975), the Fort Dodge Amateur four times (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974) and the Tournament of Champions in 1972.

Chapman, Jr., passed away in 2007.

Larry Stewart

Larry Stewart has been the golf professional at Westwood Municipal golf course in Newton since 1957. He also held the job of superintendent from 1957 to 1982.

Stewart was the Iowa Golf Association¹s professional of the year in 1969 and the Iowa Section PGA¹s merchandiser of the year in 1996. He has run a successful junior program for 47 years running, and has contributed to successful boys¹ and girls¹ golf programs at Newton High School.

Stewart has overseen numerous renovations at Westwood, from adding a second nine holes in the late 1960s to a complete renovation of the original front nine in 1997.

Stewart actually started working at Westwood as a 12-year-old, in 1952.

Rudy Knepper

As a resident of Sioux City, Rudy Knepper blazed a national golfing trail. When he was inducted into the Des Moines Sunday Register Sports Hall of Fame in 1951, Bert McGrane wrote that Knepper “made deeper inroads into national competition than any other player the state has produced.”

It all started in Iowa, where Knepper won three consecutive Iowa Amateur titles starting in 1920. He also won the 1922 Trans-Mississippi championship and was a runner-up to Chick Evans in the finals of the 1921 Western Amateur.

Knepper, who played collegiate golf at Princeton University, qualified for the U.S. Amateur eight times in one 10-year stretch, reaching the semifinals in 1922, and the quarterfinals three times. One of Knepper¹s victims in his march to the semifinals in 1922 was Francis Ouimet. Knepper lost to 1916 U.S. Open champion Chick Evans in the semifinals.

Knepper also had several matches against the great Bobby Jones, losing to Jones in the 1919 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont and again in 1924 at Merion.