Remembering Bob Williams ...

The passing of legendary superintendent and former GCSAA president (1958) Robert M. Williams, 93, is noted in a Front Nine feature in the upcoming April GCM, but in the meantime I've gleaned some quotes from a handful of friends, contemporaries and colleagues of his -- an interesting mix of comments about the man who many say opened the boardroom door for the superintendent profession.

To wit:

Geoff Cornish, former president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and an ASGCA Fellow, who interestingly enough, was a student teaching assistant in the late 1930s in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at Massachusetts Agricultural College when Williams was attending the turf management program. One of his classmates was Sherwood Moore, who would go on to head GCSAA four years after Williams, would win the Old Tom Morris Award in 1990 and would precede Williams in death in 2006.

"I've always said no one in history learned more from his class than I did. It was incredible what those guys taught me," said Cornish, who would become history's most prolific designer of golf courses in New England and also would win the ASGCA's Donald Ross Award and GCSAA's Distinguished Service Award.

"...Over the years, my feelings toward Bob and his close friend Sherwood Moore have been summed up in Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson's quote in The Greek View of Life: ... '(the) determination to realize a world that shall be better is the prevailing characteristic of the modern spirit.' "

Cornish, now 95 and still involved in his craft, and Williams kept up with each other by sharing speaking engagements over the years at the annual turfgrass forums hosted by the the University of Massachusetts.

"Bob certainly distinguished himself in that way, as well as many other ways," Cornish said. "I was so impressed by what he said and also by the way he kept 900 to 1,000 people in the audience interested in what he had to say. He was a great drawing card for those events. He was very popular."

Frank Dobie, longtime superintendent at The Sharon Golf Club in Sharon Center, Ohio, who was one of Williams' oldest and closest friends, dating back to 1959-60 when Dobie -- soon to be celebrating his 50th anniversary as a GCSAA member -- was a student assistant under Williams at Bob O'Link Golf Club in Highland Park, Ill.

"As much of a contribution that Bob made to the industry should not go unnoticed ... the man had an impact on so many people's lives," said Dobie, who has been at Sharon GC almost 45 years. "What allways impressed me was his professionalism and how he treated everyone with respect. I learned a lot from Bob, but those two things stand out."

Dave Ward, Class A superintendent at Coyote Run Golf Course in Flossmoor, Ill., who credits Williams for paving his career path that would eventually lead to Olympia Fields south of Chicago where Ward prepped for the 2003 U.S. Open.

Ward, a 32-year GCSAA member, first met Williams as a young superintendent from Kenosha Country Club in Kenosha, Wis. He was looking into a job at Butler National in Oak Brook, Ill., when C15 Bentgrass Decline was ravaging greens in the Midwest in the mid- to late 1970s. Ward didn't get the job at Butler, where Williams was consulting, but he made a valuable connection. A couple of years later, Williams recommended Ward for the superintendent's position at Ravisloe Country Club in Homewood, Ill., and the opportunity at nearby Olympia Fields soon followed.

"I'd worked for some pretty good grass growers, but I'd never worked for a businessman," Ward said. "But when I talked to Bob it was amazing ... It wasn't just questions about growing grass, but it was a lot of questions about how you conduct yourself, about budgets and accounting ... Bob was so far ahead of the game on those sort of issues. He was in a different class, a different world, from the average superintendent."

Ward recalled talking to Williams just before his interview for the job at Ravisloe CC, where Roy Nelson, also a former GCSAA president (1963), had been the superintendent for many years.

"He really opened my eyes to the process -- how you should conduct yourself in the interview, questions to ask your prospective employer, how to negotiate a contract -- those kind of things," he said, adding that the professional approach was Williams' trademark.

"Bob was one of the founding members of the Chicagoland Association of GCS and he always made it a point to talk to new members of the chapter about things like professionalism, appearance and dress," Ward said. "If you followed his advice, it helped you throughout your career. Today, there are a lot of superintendents like Bob Williams, but in his day he was the exeption to the rule."

Brad Anderson, CGCS at Birmingham Country Club in Detroit, Mich., a golf course industry history and writing enthusiast who began working with Williams several years ago on such projects as a history of Chicago-area superintendents and histories of the Midwest Association of GCS and Chicagoland GCS. Anderson, who at the time was superintendent at Midlane Country Club in Wadsworth, Ill., also began compiling information for a book about Williams himself.

"I'm a superintendent and it's hard to find the time, but I do intend to do it someday," Anderson said of the Williams book. "I'd meet with Bob once a week or so and we'd just talk turf. It was delightful and an incredible experience. His stories were unbelieveable. He really experienced every dimension of greenskeeping."

Calling Williams the forerunner of the executive style of golf course management, the 22-year GCSAA member said, "I believe with Bob's passing is the end of an era. He was one of the last living persons who knew the founders of our association. He raised the bar in our profession. He was the kind of man who made everyone want to be at their best in his presence. And, at the same time, he was very sincere and very generous."

Paul Rieke, Ph.D., a longtime turf science educator and researcher and now professor emeritus at Michigan State University, who developed strong ties to both Bob Williams and his son, Bruce. Rieke recalled first meeting Bob Williams early in his career at MSU in the late 1960s when Williams would speak at seminars hosted by Ken Payne, Ph.D., who ran the university's fledgling two-year turfgrass management program.

"At that time, Bob was one of the key leaders in the industry and very highly respected," Rieke said. "In my interactions with him, he as always very professional and a gentleman, and I appreciated that and the leadership he displayed. And yet, from my perspective, Bob didn't have that ego so many in leadership positions have."

Rieke said that over the ensuing years he stayed connected with Bob Williams mostly through his son, Bruce, who graduated from the MSU's two-year program in 1976.

"I'm sure I'm biased because Bruce is one of our highly recognized graduates of whom we're very proud -- obviously Bob had a lot of influence on Bruce," Rieke said.

Randy Wahler, CGCS at the Knollwood Club in Lake Forest, Ill., who was an early beneficiary of Bob Williams' keen eye as a consultant after his retirement when he recruited Wahler in 1980 for the Knollwood job.

"Bob was very instrumental in me coming here and we developed a very close relationship," said Wahler, who has been at the north Chicago venue ever since and is a 28-year GCSAA member. "He taught me a lot back then. Maybe he wasn't the best grass grower in the business, though he was excellent, but he was the best communicator. He taught me how to communicate, how to deal with people ... that's where he was the best -- people relationships."

Wahler said he remained close to Williams through the years and learned a lot about the man and his impact on the superintendent profession.

"Bob really brought professionalism to the industry. As far back as the 1960s he started changing the image of the golf course superintendent," he said. "He brought us to the forefront as the leading employee of the operation by teaching us to present ourselves in a professional manner."