Seven new members for GCAA Hall of Fame: Campus Insider: Golf Digest

Seven new members for GCAA Hall of Fame

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Golf Coaches Association of America will welcome seven new members to its Hall of Fame next month in Las Vegas, inducting six coaches who have each won a national championship during their college careers and one journalist who has chronicled more than two dozen NCAA men's championships.

Five coaches--California's Steve Desimone, USC-Aiken's Michael Carlisle, Oklahoma City's Kyle Blaser, Bob Alpers of St. John's (Minn.) and Texas Wesleyan's Bobby Cornett--remain active at their schools. Desimone started coaching the Golden Bears in 1980 and helped the team gain varsity status in 1982 before eventually leading them to the 2004 NCAA Division I title. Carlisle, Alpers and Blaser got their starts in the 1990s and have won 12 national championships between them. Cornett returned to the job in 2009 after coaching at Texas Wesleyan from 1985-99.

Also being honored is Floyd Horgan, who oversaw the Brevard CC program and was Hal Sutton's coach at Centenary in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and Ron Balicki, a veteran writer with Golfweek magazine who has covered college and amateur golf since the 1980s.

Here are some thumbnails on the honorees, who will be formally inducted during the GCAA's national convention at the Tropicana Hotel on Dec. 6

Bob Alpers, St. John's (Minn.), 1992-present
   Two NCAA D-III titles (2007, '08); eight conference championships; 21 All-Americans; 2007 national coach of the year

Ron Balicki, Golfweek, 1983-present
   Covered 26 consecutive NCAA D-I championships dating back to 1985; stories have been recognized as award winners by the Golf Writers Association of America

Kyle Blaser, Oklahoma City, 1998-present
   Seven NAIA national titles; 11 conference championships; 21 All-Americans; six-time NAIA national coach of the year

Michael Carlisle, USC-Aiken, 1991-present
   Three NCAA D-II titles (2004, '05, '06); eight conference championships, 45 All-Americans; one NCAA player of the year; three-time national coach of the year

Bobby Cornett, Texas Wesleyan, 1985-99, 2009-present
   Three NAIA national titles (1990, '95, '99); 65 tournament wins; three-time NAIA coach of the year

Steve Desimone, California, 1980-present
   One NCAA D-I title (2004); eight All-Americans; 11 All-American scholars

Floyd Horgan, Brevard CC/Centenary, 1966-1993
   Seven NJCAA titles; 48 All-Americans; NJCAA Hall of Fame inductee