By Paul Bussmann, Gross Men’s Club President
In March 2021, Gross Member and former Club Champion, Tom Lee passed on after a long and difficult fight with Lewy Body Dementia. Years before, I remember playing with Tom in the Club Championship. I saw tremendous golfing instincts and sound fundamentals as Tom got around the course as best be could. His name rang a bell and I asked him if he was the same Tom Lee that I had seen on the Club Championship plaques. He mentioned that he was the same man.
On behalf of the Men’s Club, Ken Troia and I passed our condolences on to Tom’s wife Jo and asked if there was anything we could do to help during these tough times. Jo mentioned that if she could borrow the Club Championship plaques to show at Tom’s reviewal, it would be much appreciated.
On Friday May 28, 2021, Paul Bussmann went to the Gross National Clubhouse with the intent to take down the Club Champion Plaques with Tom Lee’s name on them and set them aside for Jo Lee to use at the Tom Lee memorial service. Paul started looking at the old plaques and was curious about some of the old history and the roll of club champions.
I went into the Men’s Locker room and took pictures of the plaques on the wall. I had to take the oldest plaques off the wall and retreat to the grill area to try and decipher the club champions from nearly 100 years ago. With my trusty yellow note pad and ball pointy pen, I wrote down all the club champions dating back to 1927.
I broke the data into two spreadsheets, “Thru 1946” and “After 1946” or the Old era and the Modern era respectively. Tom Lee was the Club Champion 5 times and that is awesome. To my amazement, there are 4 men with more Club Championship wins than Tom. They include Bill Waryan with 7 wins and Steve Walters, Rob Hendrickson, and Carter Staaf with 6 each.
Our club has two of the greatest champions on our roster right now with Carter and Rob. This could be a historic year for each man. If Carter or Rob win the Club Championship, they will tie Bill Waryan atop the list with 7 victories each.
Reading thru the lists made me realize what a rich history we have in this club and what great players we have had and have in this club. The legendary Gene Hanson was a 3-time winner of this championship and that speaks to how difficult it is to win this event.
I sent pictures of the Championship plaques with Tom’s name on them and provided the spreadsheet to Jo Lee with the Gross Club Champions after 1946. Jo conferred with her daughters and determined that the plaques pictures in conjunction with the spreadsheet were more than enough to make Tom’s service a memorable one.
Paul Bussmann
Gross National Men’s Club President
July 5, 2021
GMC Champions from 2005 - 2020
1983 - 2004
