CALL OF THE HALL

PALMER — Jess Lee and Robert “Red” Henderson may have been duffers at golf course design, but their passion for the game helped put Palmer Golf Course on the map.

Relaxing in the clubhouse at the course on Sunday, Lee recalled the days more than two decades ago when he, then an Alaska State Trooper, and Henderson, the city’s police chief, went door-to-door collecting signatures on a petition for a bond to build the course.

“We were avid golfers, so we started trying to figure out how we’re going to get a course built,” he said. “We went through the town to get people to sign the petition to sell a bond.”

When they weren’t playing the game or gathering signatures, they’d put pencil to paper and test their amateur design skills.

“Red and I would come down here and look at the property,” he said. “Then, I’d go over to Koslosky’s and they’d give me these great big sheets of butcher paper. I’d go over to Red’s office and we’d try to draw out a golf course. We had a nine-hole course and a little tiny 18-hole course. But really, we didn’t know how to design a golf course.”

That dream was realized when Palmer voters passed the bond and the course opened in 1990. Twenty years later, local officials and golf course enthusiasts gathered to induct the first class into the Palmer Golf Course Hall of Fame.

Along with Lee and Henderson, the Friends of Palmer Golf Course inducted former city manager David Soulak, George Crowther and Lea and Rex Ehrhart.

While the inductees were on the first committee to create the course, it was Soulak who deserves credit for making it happen, Lee said.

“He did a tremendous amount of work on this,” he said. “He was there to do the mechanics of making it work. It was very crucial to the development of this golf course — and he took a lot of heat.”

In the mid-1980s, the idea of building a municipal golf course was a controversial subject, especially asking taxpayers to pony up $2 million, said current city manager Bill Allen. That Soulak and the other hall-of-famers had the grit to sway that public opinion is impressive.

“I can imagine what the founders of this golf course had to go through,” he said. “Heck, you know the problem I had just to get restrooms put downtown. I can’t imagine doing that with a golf course. Without (Soulak) it never would’ve happened. This first class is a good place for him.”

Soulak died Aug. 11; his wife and son were on hand Sunday for the induction.

“I was very honored that Dave would be recognized,” said his wife, Christine Woods Soulak. “From what I understand, he helped secure the land and was such a great grant writer.”

When she received a letter informing her of the hall of fame selection, “I cried at first, because he hasn’t been gone that long,” she said. “He’d have been pleased and honored, he really would.”

She also said, like many golfers, her husband enjoyed a tumultuous relationship with the game.

“I heard he was a good golfer, and I also heard him say a few time, ‘I hate this game,’” she said.

Hanging out in the clubhouse isn’t new to Crowther, either. At age 85, he still plays regularly with a select group. The only rule, he said, is you have to be over 80. Crowther was about 60 when he began working to bring the golf course to Palmer and said he was touched those efforts haven’t been forgotten.

“I had to read that letter about three times before I realized I was invited,” he said. “I did the best I could, you know. I liked the idea of a golf course because I live right next door.”

Crowther chaired the original advisory committee, and when the course finally opened, he’d bring his own equipment and spray the course for weeds. He remembers the day the course opened 20 years ago, and still has a commemorative hat and sweater sold that day.

“I remember I came close to getting a hole-in-one on No. 3,” he said. “I was six inches short.”

He also recalls a couple other unanticipated hazards that became apparent after the course opened.

“I remember on this fairway down here, No. 3, and the airplanes were taking off,” he said. “Sometimes they’d sputter and refuse to work and (the pilots) would have to put them down here. That happened twice.

“And there used to be foxes out there when we first started. There were foxes all over. I had a fox come out and grab my ball and take it into the woods.”

Crowther’s best round at the par-72 18-hole course is a two-over 74. “And I’ve got the scorecard right there above my desk.”

Lea and Rex Ehrhart were inducted for their longtime support for Palmer Golf Course, said George Collum, director of golf for the facility. In fact, the pro shop is named the Lea Ehrhart Annex.

“There was a big fight to not have it happen at first,” Collum said. “It took a lot of convincing. I know Red Henderson and Lea Ehrhart really pushed for it.”

It’s fitting that the Ehrharts are part of the first hall of fame class, Lee said.

“She was always so involved in it, spent so much time here,” he said.

Although health issues have curtailed his golf game as of late, Lee has one especially memorably moment playing in Palmer. It was his wedding anniversary, May 20, 1995, and he scored a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 5 hole.

When asked about what the hall of fame means to him 20 years after the course opened, Lee choked up with emotion.

“It means a great deal to me,” he said. “I’m so proud the city has a golf course here. I’m a nostalgic, sentimental old fool. It’s very touching and I feel very humble and flattered.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

HALL OF FAME TOURNAMENT

To mark the induction of the first class of the Palmer Golf Course Hall of Fame, the Friends of Palmer Golf Course hosted a tournament on Sunday. Overall, 21 teams competed in the two-person scramble event. The results:

Gross Division: Bryan Anderson/Dave Strickland (62), Joe Butler/Allegra Butler (64), Randy Merrill/Pat Cunningham (65), Heath Martin/Dave Matthews (65) and Bob Hesselbach/Chuck Cordon (69).

Net Division: Bill Iverson/Don Tummonds (58.25), Roy Anyan/Opal Harvey (59.5), Bob Stoll/Duaine Richards (59.75), Trent Berberich/Jim Nutgrass (62.25) and Rich Krause/Rod Mumma (62.75).