Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member Louis (Lou) King Jr., (right) who elevated the Amana Refrigeration brand worldwide, helped create one of the most significant events in Iowa sports history and founded a model golf rehabilitative programs for veterans, died Saturday evening at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City following a brief illness. He was 93.

In 1946-47, King enrolled at the University of Iowa, where he became starting quarterback for the Hawkeyes. After graduation, King declined a $500 offer to sign with the NFL Buffalo Bills for a $7,500 salary.

“I decided to make more money as a door-to-door salesman. I loved it,” he once said. After spending 10 years working for Pillsbury, he arrived at Amana Refrigeration in 1958.

King, who was inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 1993, advanced through sales, marketing and advertising at Amana, and was a member of its board and executive committee.

As Senior Vice President of Marketing at Amana Refrigeration, King helped create the Amana VIP Pro-Am Golf Tournament. In its time the event was one of the most popular Pro-Am tournaments in the country and was played at Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City from 1968 to 1990.

King served as Executive Director of the PGA of America from 1982 through 1987.

In 2007 King, who is a WWII veteran, founded the Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere (GIVE) Foundation. GIVE works with members of the Iowa Section PGA to provide a four-phase golf program for those who use the Iowa City VA Hospital. King served as the first president of the GIVE Foundation.

Click here to read more from the Cedar Rapids Gazette

Click here to read more Bob Denney, PGA Historian, about King