Marilynn Smith

Marilynn Smith started playing golf at the age of 12 - long before it was popular for women to be playing sports, let alone think about playing sports as a life-long profession. She could not have known then what a profound impact she would have on the game and what an important legacy she would leave for young women in generations to come. Marilynn was a three-time Kansas State Amateur champion (1946-48) and in 1949 she won the Inter-Collegiate title while attending the University of Kansas....See more

Marilynn Smith started playing golf at the age of 12 - long before it was popular for women to be playing sports, let alone think about playing sports as a life-long profession. She could not have known then what a profound impact she would have on the game and what an important legacy she would leave for young women in generations to come. Marilynn was a three-time Kansas State Amateur champion (1946-48) and in 1949 she won the Inter-Collegiate title while attending the University of Kansas. She turned pro shortly after that and in 1950, at the age of 20, she was one of 13 co-founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She was known as "Miss Personality" and the "LPGA's Goodwill Ambassador" on the LPGA Tour. And it was Marilynn, wearing pearls and heels, who often was pushed out to ad-lib the LPGA's earliest public relations efforts in front of fans, sponsors and the media. Accompanied by her fellow pros, she would often hit balls from home plate to the outfield and invite fans at Major League Baseball parks to come watch the local LPGA tournament. Once, she and Shirley Spork attended a boxing match with the goal of reminding fans between rounds to attend that week's LPGA event. But while Smith was a true girl-next-door native of Topeka who called herself "just an ordinary gal from the Kansas prairie who has lived an extraordinary life," she was a solid competitor on the LPGA Tour, wining 21 tournaments, including two major championships at the 1963 and 1964. Smith was always interested in helping the LPGA build a strong foundation. She served as the LPGA's president from 1958-1960, and along with players Betty Hicks, Barbara Rotvig and co-founder Shirley Spork, she helped launch what would become the LPGA Teaching &Club Professionals (T&CP) in 1959. As was typical in the LPGA's early days, Smith conducted golf clinics sponsored by Spalding in many of the 37 countries she visited. She participated in more than 4,000 golf clinics around the world and was a regular face in the LPGA "Swing Parade" clinics that were conducted for two decades. Since 1949, she estimated that she taught some 250,000 golfers while visiting all 50 states and 37 different countries. In October 2006, Marilynn was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame through the Lifetime Achievement Category. Marilynn's book, Have Clubs Will Travel, shares insights into the early days of the LPGA and her adventures along the way. See less