Byron Nelson

John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) played professional golf from 1935 to 1946 and is regarded as one of the sport's all-time greats. Born near Waxahachie, Texas, to Madge Allen Nelson and John Byron Nelson Sr., his parents were long-lived and devout members of the Church of Christ. Byron Nelson remained a committed member of that congregation throughout his life, even cleaning the building as a janitor after becoming famous.

When he was 11, his family moved to Fort Worth, where he nearly died of typhoid fever, losing half his body weight and becoming unable to have children. After his baptism at age 12, he began caddying at Glen Garden Country Club, often practicing in the dark by placing a white handkerchief over the hole. At 14, he beat fellow caddie Ben Hogan in a nine-hole playoff to win a club tournament. Nelson and Hogan were close teenage friends and early rivals, but Nelson's quick success strained their relationship, though mutual respect remained.

In 1934, while working as a golf pro in Texarkana, Arkansas, Nelson met Louise Shofner, his wife of 50 years until her death in 1985. He turned professional in 1932, working as a club pro in Texas and playing tournaments when he could afford it during the Great Depression. In 1935, he took a job at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey. Recognizing that steel shafts required a new swing, Nelson developed a technique with increased leg drive, often called the father of the modern golf swing. His first major win was the 1935 New Jersey State Open, followed by the 1936 Metropolitan Open, which he won with only five dollars in his pocket. He served as head pro at Reading Country Club in Pennsylvania from 1937 to 1940, then at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, where he mentored young Frank Stranahan.

Nelson won his first major at the 1937 Masters, two strokes ahead of Ralph Guldahl, with a first-round 66 that stood as the lowest opening round at Augusta until 1976. He also won the 1939 U.S. Open, the PGA Championship in 1940 and 1945, and a second Masters in 1942. A blood disorder that slowed his clotting four times longer than normal kept him out of World War II military service. Though his career was brief, he is best remembered for winning 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 total in 1945. He retired at age 34 to become a rancher, later worked as an ABC Sports commentator, and lent his name to the Byron Nelson Classic, the first PGA Tour event named for a professional golfer. As a former Masters champion, he continued playing there, placing in the top ten six times between 1947 and 1955 and as high as 15th in 1965.

Nelson received the Bob Jones Award in 1974, the USGA's highest honor for sportsmanship, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He earned the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, the second recipient, and the Old Tom Morris Award in 1994 from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006.