Famed golfer donates papers to Fondren Library

Famed golfer donates papers to Fondren Library

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

Golf legend Jack Burke has donated his personal papers, including many relating to the 1957 founding of the Champions Golf Club, its history as a venue for national championships, and its part in the economic development of the FM 1960 area north of Houston, to Rice University’s Fondren Library.

Jack Burke and Ben Hogan at the Masters Golf Tournament.

The Burke/Champions papers include correspondence, documents and a treasure trove of photographs. They were handed over to Lee Pecht, the head of special collections at Fondren Library on Tuesday. Mr. Burke was present for the formal handover ceremony, along with History Prof. Ira Gruber, a member of the Champions Club and an avid golfer himself.

In addition to founding the club, Burke was one of the leading professionals of the post-World War Two era. He won both the Masters and PGA Championship tournaments in 1956. His partner in developing Champions, Jimmy Demaret, won the Masters three times, as well as some 35 other tournaments. “And that was at a time when there were only about 12 events a year,” Burke pointed out.

According to David Fay, the executive director of the United States Golf Association, this is likely the first time papers like these have been donated to a university for safekeeping. This is the “raw material of history,” Gruber said.

“I’m in the leisure-time business,” Burke said. “What I would like to see done is to have leisure time studied from grade school to college.” He maintained that society needs outlets for creativity and competition beyond the workplace, and he hoped his contribution would provide material for scholars and archivists interested in the subject.

As he went through some of the many photographs that are part of the donation, Burke reminisced. He was the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team that defeated the British-Irish team at Muirfield Links in 1973. British Prime Minister Edward Heath was present, Burke recalled, and spoke to some of the golfers about his love of yachting. “Every yacht owner wants to talk about his boat,” Burke remembers telling Heath, “Let’s not talk about that – let’s talk about you losing the Ryder Cup!”

The Champions course that Burke and Demaret built is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It ushered in the growth of the extensive suburbs north of Houston. It is also a site for championship golf. Champions has hosted the Ryder Cup Matches, the United States Open Championship, the United States Amateur Championship, many Professional Golf Association tour events, including the Tour Championship, and a number of tournaments for amateur golfers. Fondren Library will now house maps, deeds, architectural plans and other material gathered over the last half century at Champions.

“Fondren Library’s special collections unit, the Woodson Research Center, is committed to documenting Rice history and local history through records collections of business, personal, recreational, architectural, arts, and audio and visual materials,” said Pecht.  “With the Jack Burke, Jr. Papers and Champions Golf Club Records we are especially fortunate to have both the Rice and Houston connections (Burke attended Rice in 1941, but left to join the Marine Corps during World War II). The collection chronicles Burke’s career and the growth of the golf club along with the FM 1960 area in northeast Houston, and brings a better understanding to a recreational pastime needed and expected by golf and sports enthusiasts.”