Marilynn Smith, one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour, died Tuesday. She was 89.
FILE - In this Oct. 19, 1999, file photo, eight founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association pose at a celebration of the association's 50th anniversary in New York. Back row from left are Marilynn Smith, Marlene Hagge, Alice Bauer, Louise Suggs and Betty Jameson. Front row from left are Bettye Sanoff, Shirley Spork and Patty Berg. Marilynn Smith died Tuesday, April 9, 2019. She was 89.
"Marilynn was my founder, my North Star and most importantly my friend," LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said on the tour's website. "In her life, she broke barriers, shattered stereotypes and made others 'believe.'" Smith had turned pro in 1949 at a time when equipment companies began to recognize the potential for growth inafter World War II. She signed a $5,000 contract with Spalding for up to 100 clinics a year, and she eventually had a signature line of golf clubs.
She recalled going to a fight with Spork one year, where they were to climb into the ring and talk to the spectators. Born in Topeka, Kansas, she attended the University of Kansas and won the 1949 national individual intercollege championship after having to scrap up the money for travel expenses. She often told about her father going to the athletic director to ask for financial help and he was told, "It's too bad your daughter is not a boy."
"I took my mitt off and I threw it against the wall and I said a four-letter word beginning with 's' that I had picked up from the boys," Smith said at her Hall of Fame induction in 2006. "When my dad came home from work, she told him what I had said. And he said, 'Well, we'd better take her out to the Wichita Country Club and teach her a more ladylike sport.
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