Jim Tom Blair

As trophy suggests, Blair belongs with the GOATs

By Dan O’Neill

For entertainment purposes, if for no other reason, it’s always interesting to ponder a “Mt. Rushmore” for a particular sport. For Cardinals fans, the challenge is formidable - selecting just four faces from so many favorites, so many Hall of Famers. For hockey Blue-bloods, the process might be equally daunting, and try choosing a group of St. Louis NFL names from the Cardinals and Rams combined. Likewise, should you ponder a Mt. Rushmore of amateur golf from the St. Louis area, arguments abound. Would the foursome be limited to men, or co-ed? Would it include golf administrators, architects or … cough! cough! … golf writers? That’s probably a different mountain, maybe a molehill. But you get the point, it’s treacherous ground to tred. And yet, one thing is certain. Any Mt. Rushmore of amateur golf in St. Louis, any short list of the Greatest Of All Time - aka “GOAT” - would include Jim Tom Blair III. Ten years have passed since Blair died of complications from multiple sclerosis. He was 79. And many more years have come and gone since Blair was a prominent competitive figure in amateur golf. The time lapse makes the name incognizant to those who compete for the Metropolitan Amateur Championship, whose winner is awarded with the Jim Tom Blair Trophy. Blair was from a different era, to be sure. Times were different, the game was different, the manner in which it was chronicled and celebrated was different. Blair was born and raised in Jefferson City, son of the late Missouri Gov. James Blair, who held office from 1957-61, Jim Tom accomplished a number impressive bullet points in his life. He served in the Army after college. He established a highly successful insurance brokerage firm in St. Louis. He was an avid duck hunter and a member of the Missouri Conservation Commission from 1965-77. Moreover, he was a husband, a father of three and a grandfather many times over. He also was among the founders of the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association and a friend to so many on the local golf scene. Interspersed between and around all of it, he was the essence of what it meant to be an amateur, or at least, what it used to mean. He was a player. Man, he was a player. “What amazed me about Jim Tom was his ability to hit all of the golf shots,” said Jim Holtgrieve, another Mt. Rushmore candidate. “During U.S. Open qualifying at Westwood Country Club once, I was paired with Jim Tom. The 15th hole is a slight dogleg right,

As trophy suggests, Blair belongs with the GOATs

and of course I hit a hook into the left rough. “Jim Tom told me that if I was ever going to be a good golfer, I would have to learn how to hit a fade. He worked the ball both ways and I was simply amazed. He was a wonderful person. He could be tough. But as I said, he was very kind to me and tried to help me.” As a junior at Jefferson City High, Blair won the Missouri High School golf championship in 1948. He went on to play golf at Oklahoma A&M, which later morphed into the college golf powerhouse Oklahoma State. After graduating college, and returning from Army duty, Blair became a prominent amateur in both local and national events. He won the state amateur twice (1952, ’55) and finished runner-up four times, including a 39-hole loss to Bill Stewart in the 1957 finale. In that same state championship, he also was the 36-hole stroke play medalist four times. He captured the highly regarded Phil Cotton Championship three times, including backto-back in 1967-68, and won three St. Louis District titles.

What Blair did on a national basis was even

more extraordinary.

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Cary Middlecoff (left) smiles as he presents the low amateur award to Jim Tom Blair and his mother, Emilie, at the 1956 Phoenix Open. Blair led the championship for 36 holes before finishing in a tie for tied for third.

Blair...........................................

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In 1951, he lost in the final match to the “Toledo Strongman” Frank Stranahan at the Western Amateur. At that time, the Western Amateur was among the premier championships in the country. Blair was a powerhouse in his own right. In 1955, he stunned everyone at the Tam O’Shanter in Chicago when he slammed a 375-yard drive down the middle of the 18th fairway on a 410- yard par 4. Problem was, there was a river in front of the green, which is where Blair’s shot splashed down. He took a triple-bogey 7 on the hole and lamented, “I should have used a spoon instead of a driver.” Blair qualified for 11 U.S Amateurs, played in six U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens. During the ‘50s and early ‘60s, he often played in PGA Tour events as an amateur. And while times were different, his log of making 42 cuts in 51 PGA Tour starts is no less remarkable. He won the California State Fair Championship, New Orleans Invitational and Upper New York Championship, among other tournaments. In 1956, at the age of 26, he led the PGA Tour Phoenix Open for 36 holes before finishing tied for third four shots behind winning pro Cary Middlecoff. Make no mistake, Blair could play with the best. But, despite the skills and the encouragement he realized competing in such events, Blair never turned pro. He was torn at times, to be sure, and he often pondered the possibility. But in 1962, Blair was leading his

second match of the Trans-Miss at Old Warson Country Club when he was called off the golf course. He was informed his mother and father had died in a tragic accident, poisoned in their home by a carbon monoxide leak. Jim Tom was 30 at the time, but he became much older. The idea of playing tournament golf and becoming an absent parent became unacceptable.

“I like to have dinner with my wife and kids,” he told St. Louis Post-Dispatch correspondent Bill Beck. “If you’re going to play tournament golf, you don’t have time for that.” So he remained a true amateur. And he remained, to the very end, a remarkable player.