Iowa Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2022 announced
The Iowa Golf Hall of Fame will add three members in 2022, bringing the total number in the Hall of Fame to 92. Those three include Barbara (Bubany) Berkmeyer, Mark Egly and Charles Pribble. These three individuals will be enshrined during a ceremony later this year (Date TBD). We will post details regarding the induction as soon as they are finalized.
Barbara (Bubany) Berkmeyer
Barbara (Bubany) Berkmeyer’s success on the golf course goes back over six decades.
Born in Fort Madison, Berkmeyer began swinging the club at age four, under the watchful eye of her father, Frank. There was no doubt she was destined to become an accomplished player.
After moving in 1952 to Ottumwa, Berkmeyer continued to hone her golf skills by playing across the state. At age 10, Berkmeyer participated in the 1954 Southeast Iowa Women’s Championship, an event that attracted the best female golfers from Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. Within a few years she was a consistent top-five finisher at the event, winning the overall title in 1965, with runner-up finishes in 1964 and 1966. Her career as an amateur golfer was off and running.
Following stops in Davenport and ultimately in St. Louis, MO, Berkmeyer, who was already an accomplished player in her home-state of Iowa, began to make a name for herself in Missouri. Soon after arriving, Berkmeyer captured the 1962 St. Louis Women’s District Golf Association Junior Girls’ Championship, which helped earn her the first women’s athletic scholarship in the history of the University of Missouri, regardless of sport.
At the age of 21, Berkmeyer, won the first of her five (1965, 1970, 1974, 1975 and 1984) Missouri Women’s Golf Association State Championships. Many more tournament wins followed, while always crediting her Iowa golf pedigree to her success.
“The swing my dad taught me back at Fort Madison Country Club has served me well,” Berkmeyer once said. “I learned how to play the game and compete growing up in Iowa. That experience was invaluable.”
Berkmeyer has competed in a total of 11 USGA Championships over her playing career, including five Women’s Amateurs, two Mid-Amateurs and four Senior Women’s Amateurs. She finished runner-up in the 2002 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and made it to the Round of 16 in 1999 and 2000. She was the runner-up of the 2002 Canadian Ladies National Senior Championship and she has won the Missouri Senior Women’s Amateur title 13 times.
As a full-time middle school teacher for 25 years, Berkmeyer has been inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
“Her respect, kindness, courage and talent are second to none,” Jim Holtgrieve, two-time Walker Cup Captain said. “Barbara is an absolute perfect role model for the future of women’s golf.”
Mark Egly
Mark Egly has been teaching and, more importantly, introducing golfers to the game for over 40 years.
It would be very difficult to put a number on the golfers that Egly has helped and influenced in his teaching. Egly has been named Iowa PGA Teacher of the year seven times, including 2021. He has received countless awards from Golf Range Magazine and Golf Digest for his teaching accomplishments.
Egly is also an accomplished player in his own right, having won the 1988 Iowa PGA Match Play Championship, 1990 Iowa Open Championship, and numerous Iowa PGA events when he was coming up as a player. After suffering from an injury in a car accident, Mark has since changed to help golf games of others throughout his teaching career.
“I have known Mark for over 30 years, and rarely have I seen anyone with his passion for teaching the game,” Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member Ken Schall said. “I travelled with Mark often in our younger years playing in mini tour events and state opens. He was always a force to be reckoned with. What I am most impressed with is his positive influence with junior golfers. Mark has donated his practice facility and his time to the First Tee of Central Iowa for many years now.”
Egly’s teaching resume can be stacked up against anyone – as he was the lead instructor at Des Moines Golf & Country Club in 1979, Willow Creek Golf Course from 1980-84 and Des Moines Driving Range from 1994 to present day, taking ownership in 2002.
“Mark has taught thousands of golf lessons and has become renowned with helping high school golfers and many times at little or no charge,” Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member Jeff Smith said. “Over the past 20 years Mark has been recognized for nearly 40 awards.”
Egly’s lessons don’t just end with the fundamentals of golf.
“More importantly, the legacy that Mark leads leaves an impression on the lives of others and encourages them to do the same,” former student Victoria Grasso said. ”Mark is one of the reasons why I have chosen to pursue a career in coaching women’s college golf, as I desire to help make a difference in the lives of others just as Mark has done for every person that he has taught.”
It has been said that no one has given away more free range balls than Mark Egly. It’s safe to say not many have helped grow the game more than him either.
Charles Pribble
Charles (Charlie) Pribble was ahead of his time – plain and simple.
With stops as Head Golf Superintendent at Quincy (IL) Country Club, Sunnyside Country Club and Airport National Golf Course, Pribble always had time to help his fellow superintendent, regardless of their location.
“He mentored numerous young men who also became first class superintendents,” Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member Steve Tyler said. “Being very innovative, I believe Charlie was the first to ever grind the back of a greens mower bed knife off to get to a .10 inch cutting height. Toro, Jacobsen and others then saw the need for this and began to manufacture them for general use. He also took a poorly-constructed Sunnyside CC and made it into one of the best in Iowa.”
Pribble was also an irrigation expert, being one of the first to understand the hydraulics of irrigation and system design. He designed many systems and advised on numerous irrigation projects for other superintendents.
“I will always believe that my career was shaped very strongly by the hours I spent talking with Charlie in those first days as a Superintendent,” former Iowa Turfgrass Institute Executive Director Jeff Wendel said. “Charlie spared his time without expectation or payment.”
Pribble, who was the IGCSA President in 1979, Superintendent of the Year in 1984, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 2007 and Meritorious Service Award in 2008, was truly a one of a kind superintendent.
“No matter how unorthodox or out of the box his methods might have been, he got the job done with the money and budget he had to work with,” Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member Rick Tegtmeier said.
Iowa PGA Executive Director Greg Mason may of said it best in regards to Pribble.
“Pribble’s accomplishments cannot just be placed on a piece of paper,” Mason said. “Talk with the people that have served with him in association work or like me as a friend and colleague in the game of golf, work and life. We all saw it first-hand. Whether he was yelling at you or laughing at you, you always knew he was pulling for you to succeed. There is no telling how many people ‘Pribbs’ has touched in his profession in terms of wisdom and guidance on items related to their facilities.”
The Iowa Golf Hall of Fame is administered by the Iowa Golf Association on behalf of all golf organizations in and around the state, such as the Iowa Section PGA and the Iowa Golf Course Superintendents Association.
The nomination and induction process consists of two committees, the Nominating Committee and the Voting Committee. The Nominating Committee determines the eligibility of nominees submitted by the general public as well as identifies individuals to nominate. They finalize the ballot. The Voting Committee has the task of researching and studying those on the ballot and casting votes for induction. The Voting Committee consists entirely of individuals who are current members of the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame.
Mark received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. He participated on the Men’s Golf Team while at Iowa. Mark turned professional and had stints as an Assistant Professional at the Des Moines Golf & Country Club. Then he was Head PGA Professional at Otter Creek Golf Course in Ankeny, Iowa and Irv Warren Golf Course (Byrnes Park GC) in Waterloo, Iowa before becoming a Co-Owner and building Airport National Public Golf Complex in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He sold that facility and retired to Lenexa, Kansas in 2019. Mark was a PGA Member for nearly 39 years, having gained his Class A status on June 1, 1983.
Scott Fjelstul (right), Luther College men’s golf coach, has been named this year’s George Turner Distinguished Service Award recipient for his years of service to the game of golf. He will be recognized during a ceremony at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines on Dec. 17.
The Iowa Golf Association named its distinguished service award after Turner in 2003. His name value runs beyond state borders. Turner qualified for and played in the 1981, 1984 and 1993 U.S. Senior Open and the 1988, 1990 and 1991 U.S. Senior Amateur. Off the course, George has been an Iowa Golf Association volunteer for decades, helping run numerous events. George and John Nervig took over operations of the Iowa Masters from the late Harry Burrell 20 years ago. It’s not an official Iowa Golf Association event unless George Turner was somewhere on the course! (Courtesy of Rick Brown)
Elliott never led in the closely contested championship match until Gunthrope failed to convert a 12-foot putt for par on the final hole, rallying from one down with two to play.
A regular feature column written by IGA Foundation board member Mark Gambaiana, Up and Down the Iowa Golf Scene is designed to take the reader beyond the headlines and scoreboards to share stories of those who help make Iowa golf so rich and rewarding. Profiles will spotlight those who advance the game through volunteerism, service, extraordinary achievement, competition, human interest and the many other dimensions of golf in Iowa.
The Ann Griffel Scholarship was named after the long time IWGA President, Ann Griffel. Ann was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 2006 to honor her contributions to the game. Since 1963, 253 students have received this scholarship. The IGAF awards $2,000 Ann Griffel Scholarships to Iowa high school senior girls who intend to further their education at an Iowa institution of higher learning, whether a college, university or trade school.