GOLF LOSES TWO LOCAL ICONS

Legendary volunteer Doc Graves passes at 88

Doc Graves

One of the legends of Arizona golf, Robert “Doc” Graves, died Dec. 13. A longtime resident of Ahwatukee, Graves was 88 years old.

Graves was well-known throughout the Arizona Golf Association community for being the ultimate volunteer as well as an outstanding rules official. He was the AGA’s Volunteer of the Year in 1992, and today has two AGA awards that bear his name — the Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year Award and the Doc Graves Mid-Amateur Trophy. Graves was presented with the prestigious Dr. Ed Updegraff Award in 1999, which is the highest honor given by the AGA, for his demonstration of the true “spirit of the game.” He was inducted into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. Among his many accomplishments within the organization, Graves and his partners Bob Warren and Al Potts rated the majority of Arizona’s nearly 400 golf courses. Ed Gowan, executive director of the AGA, called Graves “the ultimate volunteer,” noting that Doc’s dedication and service was unmatched.

“Doc was truly concerned for everyone he met,” Gowan said. “He was a friend to all, and an exemplary model for all to emulate.”

According to his wife Barbara, Doc

30 | AZ GOLF Insider | PREVIEW 2020 was born and raised in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri for a year before enrolling and graduating from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis. Doc and Barbara met while both were working at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center near Denver. In 1955 they were married, and Graves practiced chiropractic medicine in Denver until he retired early in 1979 due to a service-connected disability. “He was always a golfer, and so we decided to move to Phoenix, where the plan was for us to play golf every day,” Barbara recalled with a laugh. “It ended up that he played golf every day, and he got me a job (as a Realtor). “But that was OK, because Doc took care of the house and I still got to play some golf when I wasn’t working for the next 19 years.” Doc could play the game, as evidenced by the fact that he once held the record at Ahwatukee Country Club with a 9-under 63. And his 49 at Ahwatukee Lakes will stand as the course record forever as the former executive 18 that once played to a par 60 no longer exists.

“I’ve shot my age a couple of dozen times,” he once said of his golf career. “But I’m not the only golfer in the family. My wife, Barbara, recently got her fourth hole in one, and she lets me know it. I’ve never had one in 63 years

of playing the game, although I have had a couple of (double-eagle) 2s on par 5s.” Besides being a golfer, rater and rules official, Graves was a brilliant character who was admired and loved by most everyone who knew him. And he never disappointed with a quip or a joke. For instance, Doc had this to say upon his induction into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been in every nook, every cranny, every gully and on every mountaintop of every golf course in this state,” he said with obvious pride. “And during that time, I’ve gone through 13 cars while driving over 500,000 miles (for the AGA), and I didn’t ask for a dime! Why (the AGA) pays these guys to do that now. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Barbara Graves said that was the thing about Doc that everyone admired. “He was never afraid to be the butt of the joke,” she said. “And he liked to tell jokes because that made people happy, and Doc always liked to be around happy people.” Doc and Barbara raised three children and have four grandchildren. She said that Doc, who was a corporal in the Army, was buried during a “simple military burial” and that a celebration of life will be forthcoming from the family. n

Ex-ASU golf coach Randy Lein dies at 69

Former Arizona State men’s golf coach Randy Lein, who led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Championship in 1996, died in late December in Scottsdale. He was 69.

Lein (pronounced “Line”) coached at Arizona State for 18 years, from 1993 to 2010. He also coached at USC from 1983 to 1992. During that time, his teams won 67 tournaments, including 10 Pac-10 Championships. Eight of those conference titles came at ASU, including a record six in a row from 1995 to 2000.

Lein was selected as Pac-10 Coach of the Year on seven occasions, including five times at ASU. As a result, he was honored as the PacJack Nicklaus presented former ASU coach Randy Lein with his CGCAA Hall of Fame plaque in 2008.

10’s Coach of the 20th Century and inducted into the College Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008.

“Randy really cared about his players,” former ASU women’s coach Linda Vollstedt said of Lein, whom she worked alongside of during his 18- year tenure with the Sun Devils.

“Coaching was his passion; he loved helping his players develop not only as golfers but as people. His players were his family, and he stayed in contact with them and their families after they left the program. He was proud of their accomplishments.”

ASU recognized Lein’s impact and honored his legacy during a celebration of life Jan. 20 at Papago Golf Course, the new home for Arizona State golf. A 2015 inductee into the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame, Lein was remembered as a wonderful friend and mentor, as well as one of the nicest individuals you would ever encounter in the world of golf.

Gifts in memory of Lein can be directed to the Coach Randy Lein Memorial Fund with the Sun Devil Club. n