TOM CHAPMAN, SR

Fort Dodge | Inducted 2018 | Category: Amateur Golfer/ Historical Selection

Tom Chapman Sr. was a legend in Iowa amateur golf. He spent his life in Iowa, except for his stint fighting in World War II.  It was after the war when his amateur golf career really took shape.

His college golf career at the University of Iowa was interrupted by the war where he was a fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps. Tom flew the Burma campaign in Southeast Asia. In off hours he played cards with members of his squadron – one of those men was Lee Marvin, who would become a star in Hollywood. On returning to Iowa City, and the University of Iowa, he became captain of the golf team.

For more than two decades he was a dominant force on the Northwest/North-Central golf circuit playing from his home base in Sioux City, Mason City and Fort Dodge. Considered one of the longest hitters of his day, Chapman, Sr., won many tournament titles in Northwest Iowa, including three Ft. Dodge Amateurs (1954 in a tie with Bill Black, 1956 and 1962).

Chapman, Sr., joins his son, Tom Chapman, Jr., in the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame.

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