Memories: Coach Bobby Greenwood – “The Volunteer Coach”

Coach Bobby Greenwood – “The Volunteer Coach”

When Bobby Greenwood left the PGA Tour in 1975 and came back to Cookeville to be with his children, he got into coaching through the basketball Optimist Club program; the baseball Little League and Babe Ruth programs.

“The biggest reward in coaching is to see my former players grow up to be successful, outstanding citizens… sometimes very surprising! 😊,” said Bobby. “I got a lot of help from my assistant coaches such as Coach Charles and Wes Keith, Stacy Farris, and Lon Marcum. I was also the assistant coach to Marty Cook in baseball and to Becki Holman, who was the head coach of the National Championship Girls Basketball team in 1986.

You would think my first love in sports was golf but not at all, my dream was to become a professional basketball player. That was before I realized at 5’9” tall, I was a dwarf.

The night that happened was when at a Cookeville High School game, I drove in and shot a fade away hook shot that was blocked into the 4th row of the bleachers! On the bus ride back to Cookeville I wondered if I might try golf. But, Cookeville High School did not have a golf team at that time… 1956.

In grammar school, I had played on the Old City school basketball team with the great Glynn Carmack. And in high school, I was point guard on the CHS team with the great Jim Ragland. The next year, I was the leading scorer on Riverside Military Academy basketball team.

I played freshman basketball at Tennessee Tech University where it was an honor when Coach Johnny Oldham asked me to guard the great Kenny Sidwell in practice every day.

Years later, I played Cookeville’s Independent Church League Basketball and was the leading scorer in the City until I broke my wrist in the Jere Whitson gym in 1967.

So, after all is said and done, I think that I should have pursued Pro Baseball… 😊”

COACHING RECORD:

*BASKETBALL
1 Tennessee State Runner-up
2 League Championship
1 Tennessee State Runner-up
1 Tennessee State Championship
1 National Championship

*BASEBALL
3 League Championships:
1 minor league
1 little league
1 Babe Ruth league

*5 years – Baseball Coach
*6 years – Basketball Coach

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SOURCES/PHOTO CREDITS:

*Personal recollections of Bobby Greenwood, January 28, 2023.

*Memories: “The Basketball Coach” posted February 10, 2020 at:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2774757632561445&set=pcb.2774766509227224

*Memories: “Coach Bobby Greenwood” posted October 5, 2019 at:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2478086018895276&set=a.2478085222228689

*Memories: Bobby Greenwood, 1981-’82 Volunteer Basketball Coach” posted December 1, 2016 at: https://www.facebook.com/greenwoodpga/photos/a.304786246225275/1177171268986764

*Photo credits: http://www.GreenwoodPGA.net

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BOBBY GREENWOOD, PGA
Former PGA Tour Player
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame
PGA of America Life Member

Official Website: http://www.greenwoodpga.net/
Official Blog: https://greenwoodpga.wordpress.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/greenwoodpga

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Bobby Greenwood presenting Aubrey King with Plaque of Recognition from Tennessee Section PGA of America

Bobby Greenwood presenting Aubrey King with Plaque of Recognition from Tennessee Section PGA of America

[EXCERPT from “King of Cumberland County Golf” article by Pauline Sherrer, Crossville-Chronicle publisher, Dec 10, 2011:

“Friends and family of Lake Tansi Golf Pro Aubrey King celebrated his 37-year career last week. King is preparing to retire from his post Dec. 23, 2011.

After nearly four decades of promoting Lake Tansi golf, teaching hundreds of youngsters the art of the game and arguably being one of the leaders in making Cumberland County the Golf Capital of Tennessee, golf pro Aubrey King is retiring.

PGA Tour player and past Tennessee Open Champion Bobby Greenwood presented King with a plaque that read, ‘The Tennessee Section of the PGA of America and its 425 golf professionals in Tennessee are proud to present you with this plaque in recognition of your distinguished career in the golf industry for 37 years and as a gifted teacher who had helped thousands of people be introduced to the great game of golf and who has helped golf pros and ranking amateurs alike.’

Greenwood told the crowd that even though King over the years had won many individual honors playing golf, it was the team events that Aubrey enjoyed the most.

‘The Lake Tansi team was the team to beat in Tennessee section events for several years,’ Greenwood noted.

Greenwood added that in his prime, King was considered the longest hitter in Tennessee, sending a ball 322 yards. On the original Lake Tansi Golf Course, one hole measured 695 yards and was named ‘Trail of Tears.’ Only two players ever reached the green in two shots — one was Doc Goss, legendary East Tennessee golfer and National Long Drive Champion — and the other Aubrey King.

PHOTO CAPTION:

“PGA Tour player and past Tennessee Open Champion Bobby Greenwood presented King a plaque on behalf of the Tennessee Section of the PGA in recognition of King’s distinguished career in the golf industry.”]

Sources & Photo Credit:

*Crossville-Chronicle <https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/news/local_news/king-of-cumberland-county-golf/article_990f81da-1de7-57c8-8261-f22625bd37e8.html>

*Personal recollections of Bobby Greenwood.

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BOBBY GREENWOOD, PGA
Former PGA Tour Player
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame
PGA of America Life Member

Official Website: http://www.greenwoodpga.net/
Official Blog: https://greenwoodpga.wordpress.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/greenwoodpga

Memories: University of North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame 2002

Memories: University of North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame 2002

Bobby Greenwood was inducted to the Athletic Hall of Fame on November 2, 2002, at the University of North Texas (formerly North Texas State University) in Denton, Texas. He was inducted with other four inductees, namely: Bill Blakely, Barry Moore, G. A. Moore, and Dee Walker.

[EXCERPT from North Texas Athletics – Mean Green History:
“BOBBY GREENWOOD – Greenwood was a three-time letter winner in golf at North Texas from 1961-63, helping lead the Eagles to three consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championships. As a senior, he led the Eagles to the NCAA championship tournament in 1963, when North Texas placed third. Greenwood received honorable mention All-America honors as a sophomore in 1961 and was a first-team All-America as a junior and senior.”
-Source: North Texas Athletics: Mean Green History, http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/archives/f02/hallof.htm%5D

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[WRITTEN ON THE PLAQUE:
“University of North Texas, Athletic Hall Of Fame – BOBBY GREENWOOD 2002

In the early 1960’s, Bobby Greenwood was instrumental in enhancing North Texas’s stature as a collegiate golf powerhouse when he led the Eagles to three consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championships while earning All-American recognition all three years he was on the team.

As a sophomore in 1961, Greenwood won the Southwest Recreation Championship and earned honorable mention All-American honors.

The next year he was named second team All-American and in 1963 as a senior, Greenwood won the Southern Intercollegiate Championship and was named to the NCAA’s first team All-American team.

Since earning a Business Administration degree from North Texas in 1964, Greenwood has enjoyed a lifelong association with the game of golf, including playing as a PGA Tour professional from 1969-1975.

He won more than 150 amateur and pro tournaments during his playing career, including the Rhode Island Open Championship (while he was on the PGA Tour), the Tennessee Open Championship and the Tennessee Senior PGA Championship three times.
He served as the Director of Golf at the Sawgrass Country Club in Florida, which hosts The Players Championship, and has been active in golf course designing since 1978.

At the time of his induction, Greenwood was president of the Greenwood-Clifton Golf Design Group in Deltona, Florida.”
– Transcribed by Elma Greenwood, Cookeville, Tennessee, October 31, 2003.]

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[EXCERPT from Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, TN, December 19, 2002:
Greenwood inducted into North Texas Hall of Fame
By Buddy Pearson, Herald-Citizen Staff

It’s been almost 40 years since Cookeville golfing legend Bobby Greenwood played golf at the University of North Texas, yet the school located in Denton, Texas, still remembers the impact Greenwood had on the program. In a ceremony held recently at UNT, Greenwood was inducted into the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame.
Greenwood and four other inductees were the 2002 recipients of the University of North Texas Sports Hall of Fame awards and were honored during enshrinement. They each received a plaque and a Hall of Fame ring at the Hall of Fame Breakfast.

“North Texas is a big school and they treated me so nice, giving me the ring and the plaque at the breakfast,” Greenwood said. “North Texas is a great golf school. For me to get voted into the Hall of Fame is humbling. There are other players who should be in it before me, but I’ll take it.

A three-time NCAA All-American, Greenwood is the only First Team NCAA All-America in the school’s history. During his years at North Texas, the Eagles won three consecutive Missouri Valley Conference Titles.

Greenwood was selected by the NCAA Golf Coaches Association to play in the North-South All-Star matches in his senior year. And, he was also selected to the Prestigious 10-member Texas Cup Team in 1964.

“The greatest thing about it to me was that after 40 years, all my teammates decided to show up for my induction,” Greenwood explained. “I think there was one guy who didn’t show up and nobody knew where he was.”

In his rookie year on the PGA Tour, Greenwood was selected as “Champions Choice” to play in the Colonial Invitational Tournament in Ft. Worth, Texas. Past champions of the Colonial Tournament vote on the rookie to receive a sponsor’s exemption to play.

After spending seven years on the PGA Tour, Greenwood served as Director of Golf at Sawgrass Country Club, home of The Players Championship and most recently Head Professional at Suntree Country Club, a 36-hole Resort and home of the Suncoast Senior Golf Classic.

Greenwood, who currently resides in Cookeville with his wife Elma and daughter Viola, spends his time as a golf-course architect and also gives lessons on a limited basis.

Other than the induction ceremonies, Greenwood doesn’t get back to Denton much to watch any of the Mean Green sports teams, particularly basketball. But he will get a chance to see his alma mater play on Saturday when Tennessee Tech takes on North Texas at 7 p.m. at Eblen Center.

So, who will Greenwood be rooting for?

“I love Tennessee Tech,” Greenwood said. “There’s a different feeling about North Texas and the Missouri Valley Conference. I had a great experience out there and I love Texas people — they are positive and encourage you. I really had a great time there and was successful but Tennessee Tech is my hometown team.”

– Source: Herald-Citizen, December 19, 2002, 3:06 PM CST]

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Sources:
*Personal recollections of Bobby Greenwood.
*BLOG: https://greenwoodpga.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/induction-to-the-hall-of-fame/
*BLOG: https://greenwoodpga.wordpress.com/2006/08/24/greenwood-inducted-into-north-texas-hall-of-fame/

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BOBBY GREENWOOD, PGA
Former PGA Tour Player
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame
PGA of America Life Member

Official Website: http://www.greenwoodpga.net/
Official Blog: https://greenwoodpga.wordpress.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/greenwoodpga