Hall of Fame Inductees
JERRY TREADWAY
2007 Inductee
CHARTER MEMBER and CHARTER BOARD MEMBER, and first President of CNSGA.
G.G. “Jerry” Treadway was a charter board member of the Nebraska Senior Golf Association which was formed in 1965 at Fremont. Jerry later served as president of the NSGA in 1982. During that time Jerry encouraged the NSGA to hold tournaments farther west in Nebraska with little success. During the summer of 1984 Jerry lead discussions to start a Central Nebraska Senior group. On August 13, 1984, a group of senior golfers met at the Kearney Country Club, electing Jerry Treadway as acting President, Ted Richardson as acting Sec-Treas; and Dale Brownfield, Dean Candea, Wally Hopp, Al “Pug” Horn, and Lyle Teel as directors. The first tournament was held at Kearney Country Club on October 2, 1984.
1997 Inductee
Dean Candea
CHARTER MEMBER and CHARTER BOARD MEMBER of CNSGA.
Dean Candea says that golf was a different game than it was today when he grew up in North Platte. “The only courses in the area had sand greens, the high school didn’t have a golf team, and nobody knew what a handicap was,” he said. That’s the reason tennis was Dean’s sport until he got out of the service after World War II. “All the courses in our area of the state still had sand greens when I took up golf,” Candea adds, “although North Platte Country Club eventually had nine grass greens and nine were sand.” Candea is being recognized for his dominance as a sand greens player by his induction into the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame. It is said that he considered it a bad round if his 18-hole score every exceeded 59. He still cherishes the three gold putters he won as the state sand green champion in 1949, 50, and 51.
1994 Inductee
Wally Hopp
CHARTER MEMBER and CHARTER BOARD MEMBER of CNSGA.
Wally Hopp was a dominant sand greens golfer in the days when green grass courses were only found in Omaha and Lincoln. A Hastings native, Hopp was the Hastings City Champion for five consecutive years (1946-50). He prodded that string of victories by winning the State Sand Greens title in 1945, then added three more state championships to his trophy case in 1952, 53, and 56. A lover of competition at any level, Wally was a familiar figure at the many one and two-day weekend “open” tournaments in Nebraska and Kansas, wining more than 50 championships. Before his untimely death, in a letter to the Hall of Fame selection committee, former Lt. Governor Gerald Whelan wrote, “Charisma is an overworked word, but whatever it is, Wally Hopp has it. On the golf course, Wally’s stories and jokes were always flying — but never did a club fly.” “Wally was and is a rough and ready guy, but his etiquette is always impeccable. His language on and off the course is fit for the seminary. Wally was always the premiere shooter in any foursome. But, if paired with a high handicapper, he always went out of his way to make that person feel comfortable. Both as a champion golfer and a great person, Wally Hopp belongs in the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame.