Minnesota Golfer - Travel 2023 - 25

M I NN E S OTA GO L F HALL of FAME 2 0 2 3 IN DU C T E E S
Solomon Hughes Sr.
Solomon Hughes Sr., an AfricanAmerican
professional golfer born in
GERALD " JERRY " GRUIDL
Jerry Gruidl, 79, of Plymouth,
Minnesota, enjoyed a competitive
golf career that spanned five
decades, beginning with his qualifying
for the 1960 U.S. Junior Amateur
Championship, where he advanced to
the third round of match play, to his
fifth and final MGA Senior Amateur
Four-Ball Championship title in 2007.
In between, he would qualify for a
dozen USGA amateur championships,
including four U.S. Amateur and U.S.
Mid-Amateur championships, two
U.S. Senior Amateur championships, a
U.S. Amateur Public Links and a U.S.
Senior Open Championship. His first
individual state championship came
in 1972 at the Minnesota State Public
Links Championship, and a shared victory
at the 1977 MGA Amateur FourBall
Championship. Yet Gruidl would
leave his mark in the competitive senior
ranks by winning two MGA Senior
Amateur championships in 2000 and
2002, three MGA Senior Players' (match
play) championships in 2001, 2002 and
2004, and earning the MGA Senior
Player of the Year honors three times in
1999, 2000 and 2002.
Don Herfort
Gadsden, Alabama, was a winning player on the
United Golfers' Association circuit in the 1930s
and 1940s. The UGA was formed for Black golfers
in the 1920s who were barred from playing on the
segregated PGA tournament circuit. Hughes won
the 1935 National Negro Open at the age of 26, and
would add more UGA wins throughout his career,
including the Joe Louis Open, the Midwest Open
and the Des Moines Open in 1945. After relocating
his family to Minneapolis, he and Ted Rhodes entered the 1948 St. Paul Open but were
refused the opportunity to participate due to pressure by the PGA on local sponsors. At
the time, the PGA of America had a " Caucasians only " clause, a relic from segregation-era
racial laws. A few years later, Hughes and Rhodes participated alongside white professionals
at the 1952 St. Paul Open, becoming the first professional Black players to compete in a
PGA event. Thanks to the efforts of Joe Louis, who put a spotlight on the discriminatory
practice, the PGA of America struck the clause in 1961. Because of Hughes' trailblazing
efforts in dismantling segregation in golf, a path was cleared for the likes of Rhodes,
Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Calvin Peete, Jim Thorpe and Tiger Woods to compete on what
is now the PGA Tour. Hughes, who passed away in 1987, was credited with opening the
clubhouse at Hiawatha Golf Course to African-American golfers who had been denied
access due to segregation. The clubhouse was renamed in his honor in 2022.
Johnny Lakotas
Loquacious and confident, when Johnny Lakotas' game
was on, he felt he could beat anybody, and he was not shy
about saying so. His first state title, the 1935 Minnesota
State Public Links Championship held at Superior Golf
Course (now Brookview GC in Golden Valley), was won
with a two-bit (25 cent) putter he nicknamed " Old Stick
in the Mud, " and a borrowed set of golf clubs and shoes.
Years later, Lakotas wrote that beating Joe Coria in the
1935 semi-finals was his " greatest thrill in golf...and the
happiest day of my life. " He would win the 1937 and 1939 State Public Links, as well as
win more than a dozen city and regional tournaments, including the 1935 Resorters.
At the peak of his game, Lakotas qualified for the National Amateur Public Links
championship four times in 1936, 1937, 1939 and 1940. Lakotas passed away in 1978.
As an engineer at the 3M Company in 1965, Don Herfort
found himself in charge of the construction of the Tartan
Park Golf Course, the company's recreational facility near Lake Elmo. The project launched Herfort's
40-plus year career as a golf course architect, where he helped design and renovate 40 golf courses in
Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin. A few of his original designs include Brackett's Crossing CC,
Bent Creek GC, Dellwood CC and Pebble Creek GC. In 1990, Herfort collaborated with fellow architect
Kevin Norby on Superior National, Greystone GC and Little Crow CC, among others. In 1970,
he was elected membership to the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the first Minnesotabased
designer to be so honored. His final work was a collaboration with Norby on the renovation of
Green Haven GC in 2003. Herfort passed away in 2011.
mngolf.org
Travel 2023 MINNESOTAGOLFER 25

http://www.mngolf.org

Minnesota Golfer - Travel 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Minnesota Golfer - Travel 2023