Jeff Sluman heads 2023 induction class for the RDGA Hall of Fame
Jeff Sluman, who stands behind only the great Walter Hagen as the most decorated professional golfer in Rochester history, will headline the induction of the second RDGA Hall of Fame Class.
Appropriately, Sluman will go into the Hall of Fame — which was created in 2022 — alongside his longtime swing coach and friend, Craig Harmon, the former head pro at Oak Hill Country Club.
The other four members to be inducted are Chip Lillich, one of the best finest male amateurs Rochester has ever produced; Wilson Fitch, who spent decades as a rules official and volunteer for the Rochester District Golf Association; Linda Hampton, who was the tournament coordinator of the Wegmans LPGA event for almost its entire run in Rochester; and former Times-Union sports writer Jean Giambrone.
The ceremony will take place Tuesday, July 11, at Ravenwood Golf Club in Victor. It is the kickoff event for the annual RDGA John H. Ryan Memorial Championship which tees off the next day.
The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, followed by the induction of the class. The public is welcome to attend. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased at RDGA.org starting next week, and an informational email will be sent to all RDGA golfing members.
The Hall debuted last summer with a well-attended ceremony at the Country Club of Rochester. The inaugural class was made up of Hagen, Don Allen, Sam Urzetta, Jerry Stahl, Jean Trainor, John Kircher, Jim Scorse, and Mike Sorce.
Among the attributes that are used to select the class, each candidate is judged on their contributions to the enhancement of the sport through playing, teaching, coaching, maintaining/managing, educating, writing or advocating for an extended period of time.
Eligibility also includes candidates who have, by virtue of name recognition, brought honor, distinction, and/or have produced favorable contributions to golf in the Greater Rochester area.
Sluman grew up in Greece and made a name for himself as an amateur winning the RDGA Championship, the New York State Men’s Amateur, and the Monroe Invitational before attending Florida State. He turned pro in 1983 and would eventually win six PGA Tour events, most prominently the 1988 PGA Championship.
He later moved on to the Champions Tour where he won six more times, the last in 2014. During his career, Sluman played in 68 major championships and had nine top 10 finishes including his win at the PGA and a runner-up at the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Harmon became the head pro at Oak Hill in 1972 and became one of the most respected teachers in the world, though he remained true to Oak Hill and did the bulk of his teaching with the membership. He retired from the club in 2013 and moved to Florida where he continues to teach golf. His father, Claude, won the 1948 Masters, and all four of his sons went on to become teaching pros.
Harmon was named Western New York PGA Teacher of the Year four times as well as the WNYPGA Golf Professional of the Year, and the Horton Smith Award for education. Harmon was later inducted into both the WNYPGA Hall of Fame as well as the PGA of America Hall of Fame. His highest accomplishment came in 2004, when he was named the PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year.
Lillich was a member at Oak Hill who played almost all of his competitive golf in the Rochester area. He won the RDGA Championship eight times, a record that may never be broken. Six of those wins came between 1969 and 1976, and the last two came in 1985 and 1986. Lillich also won the CCR Invitation twice, the Monroe Invitational once as well as many Oak Hill men's club championships.
Hampton was one of the guiding forces of the LPGA in Rochester. She became the tournament coordinator in 1980 and stayed in that position through 2014, the last year the LPGA came to town. In those later years, it became the LPGA Championship, one of the Tour’s five major tournaments, and Hampton was its backbone, beloved by the pros who came to town.
Giambrone began working for the Democrat and Chronicle in 1939 while she was still a student at the University of Rochester, hired by the paper because she had gone there to complain about a lack of coverage for women sports. She would eventually go across the fourth floor in the Gannett building to the Times-Union side and after a few years writing news, she returned to sports in the late 1940s.
She went on to become the first woman to be fully credentialed by Augusta National to cover the Masters in 1967, Jack Nicklaus helping to make sure that happened. Giambrone was also an accomplished player who won four Locust Hill Country Club women’s championships.
Fitch, a World War II Navy veteran, became a teacher and administrator in the East Irondequoit School District when he returned. He retired after 32 years and became a key member of the RDGA, serving many roles including a stint on the board of directors that saw him become president in 1999. He was also one of the most knowledgeable rules officials in Rochester and officiated hundreds of tournaments through the years. The RDGA Wilson Fitch Senior Championship was renamed in his honor in 2020.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: RDGA Hall of Fame inducts Jeff Sluman and Craig Harmon
