Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame

2010 TENNESSEE GOLF HALL OF FAME CLASS ANNOUNCED & FOUR NEW DIRECTORS ELECTED TO Tennessee Golf Foundation Board

 (Franklin, Tennessee) The Tennessee Golf Foundation announces its 2010 Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame Inductee class and the election of four new members to its board of directors.

2010 Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame

Lew Conner, Willie Gibbons and Bill Greene will culminate their years of their dedication to, and participation in Tennessee golf with their induction into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame this year.

Lew Conner has served the Tennessee Golf Association for over 40 years on its active and emeritus board. He is a past TGA President and a past chairman of the Tennessee Golf Foundation. A member of The Golf Club of Tennessee, Belle Meade Country Club and The Honors Course, the highlight of his playing career was qualifying for the USGA Senior Open.

Willie Gibbons served as the head golf professional at Belle Meade Country Club for 32 years. He has won numerous Tennessee PGA awards and served every office in the Section, including President. Willie is a past chairman of the Tennessee Golf Foundation. Bill Greene served on the TGA board for 40+ years and during his tenure as Chairman of the Tennessee Golf Foundation its endowment increased 100%, twice! 

Bill Greene is a member at multiple clubs in Tennessee as well as such renowned clubs as Pine Valley and Seminole. During Bill’s tenure as board president, the foundation reached new levels of endowment growth and increases in statewide program participants.

Induction dates for the three will be announced at a later time.

 New Tennessee Golf Foundation Board of Directors

The Tennessee Golf Foundation was incorporated in 1991 and four of the foundation’s original board members, Lew Conner, Willie Gibbons, Bill Greene and Toby Wilt moved to “emeritus director status on March 1. These four charter members each served on the Tennessee Golf Foundation for 19 years, that 76 years of combined service to Tennessee Golf.

East Tennessee’s Bill Greene of Elizabethton and Middle Tennessee’s Toby Wilt, Lew Conner and Willie Gibbons, PGA have actively served golf and in particular the Tennessee Golf Foundation, with outstanding distinction.  Greene and Conner represented amateur golf and were elected by the Tennessee Golf Association (TGA) to serve, while Gibbons represented the Tennessee Section PGA (TPGA) and its 500 golf professionals across the state. Toby Wilt was the independent director that was elected by the board of directors.

The TGA elected West Tennessee’s Tim Jackson and Middle Tennessee’s Jim Seabury to be the new representatives for amateur golf, while the TPGA has selected Ken Crowder, PGA of East Tennessee to the Foundation board.

Loren Roberts, PGA was elected as the independent director to fill out the nine member board. Loren is a member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame as well as a member at Memphis Country Club, TPC Southwind and Spring Creek Ranch. He has twice won the Charles Schwab Cup, emblematic on the Champions Tour of its Player of the Year. He is a Trustee of the Tennessee Golf Foundation and a long time supporter of junior golf, The First Tee, and the LaBonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.

Other Tennessee Golf Foundation board members serving are Chairman Kirk Bailey (West), Hunt Gilliland, PGA (East), Neil Collins, PGA (Middle) and Scott Hare, PGA (East).

More information may be found at New Hall of Fame Member Bios