A BIG HONOR FOR JIM CURELL

     Here's another one of those....."you probably won't see anything about this anywhere but in Kelley's Korner." It shouldn't be that way but its the current world we live in.....I guess.

     Thursday, the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame announced the class of 2023 inductees and the late Jim Curell, BHS-1971, of Boone was one of four newcomers to this special group of athletes. Jim's wife, Kim, his children and other family members were in attendance at the induction ceremony.

    A previous Boone inductee into this prestigious Hall of Fame was Dr. Ed Updegraff, BHS-1939, who was selected in 2006. Dr. Ed passed away at 100 years of age last December.

     Jim Curell became known as "the legend" in golf circles as he spent an incredible 50 years plus on the Iowa golf scene. Known as a "gentleman golfer," he set the "standard on how to play the game both as a competitor and a gentleman."

     Curell was a two and three time winner of some of Iowa's top tournaments. He earned the Player of the Year honor in Iowa in 1979 and was twice the state's Senior Player of the Year. He qualified for the United States Senior Amateur twice and scored a remarkable 18 holes in one during his career.

     Jim passed away in  2020.

     There are other Boone golfers who excelled on the Iowa scene and could be future Hall of Fame contenders such as......Dr. Charles Updegraff, BHS-42, Max and Bill Hall, BHS-36, and Bob Appenzeller, BHS-57.

     As an aside......with communication or non-communication as it stands........perhaps we had never noted the passing of Dr. Ed Updegraff, who spent most of his life, after his college days, as a urologist and great amateur golfer in Arizona.

     Highlights of his career included being the National Amateur Golfer of the Year, playing for the U.S. on three winning Walker Cup teams, playing in the famous U.S. Masters tournament and finishing as a semi-finalist in the 1963 British Amateur tournament.

K-----K

     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 928 South Jackson, Boone, Iowa 50036-4932. Phone number is 515-432-1530. Leave a message. To email your stories/memories,comments/death notices.....http://kelleyskorner1@blogspot.com.