Lindeblad’s Hall of Fame election well-deserved

Hall of Fame voters get second-guessed and criticized at almost every level.

But more often than not, they get the vote right.

And that’s exactly what the Pacific Northwest Section of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America did recently in electing Gary Lindeblad to its Hall of Fame.

Lindeblad, the longtime head professional at Indian Canyon Golf Course, will be officially honored later this year during induction ceremonies at the PNWPGA’s annual meetings in Puyallup.

Joining him in this year’s induction class – the Section’s first since 2003 – will be Bruce Wattenburger, the head professional at Juniper Golf Club in Redmond, Ore.

Lindeblad and Wattenburger will become only the 45th and 46th members of the PNWPGA’s Hall of Fame, which was established in 1981 and includes such names as Spokane’s Bud Ward, Bob Duden, Don Bies, Ken Still, Rick Acton and Jerry Mowlds.

“It’s a big deal, because it’s peer recognition from people who have been in the business a long time and know what’s going on,” said the 56-yeard-old Lindeblad, who played his high school golf at North Central before earning four varsity letters at Eastern Washington University. “Golf-wise, it certainly ranks as one of the biggest things that has ever happened to me, because it validates your entire career.

“I was telling someone how I always wanted to be Player of the Year and he said, ‘Why? That only takes into consideration what you did in one year. This takes in what you’ve done in a lifetime.’ “

Jeff Ellison, the executive director of the PNWPGA, said induction into the Hall of Fame is the highest honor the Section can bestow upon one of its members.

“It reflects a lifetime of excellence and service to fellow professionals and their profession,” he explained. “We have a very strict set of criteria that our members need to go through to even qualify to be elected, and Gary qualifies in a lot of ways.”

Lindeblad, who first became a PGA member in 1975, spent 11 years as an assistant pro at Liberty Lake Golf Course before being named the head professional at Indian Canyon in the winter of 1985.

Among his biggest accomplishments as a player were winning the 1990 Rosauers Open and the 1995 Lilac City Invitational. In addition, he qualified for 11 Hudson Cup competitions and recorded numerous top-10 finishes in sectional events.

He was also named Player of the Year in the Inland Empire Chapter of the PNWPGA four times.

But Lindeblad has also deeply touched the lives and careers of fellow professionals, many of whom he assisted in contract negotiations.

He was three times named the recipient of the Section’s Bill Strausbaugh Award, which goes to the person most involved in career services and employment issues of its members. And in 1991, he was named the National Golf Businessman of the Year by both PGA and Golf Magazine.

It should also be noted that 12 of his former employees went on to become either head club professionals or head golf coaches at the major college level.

Still, Lindeblad’s greatest and most lasting contribution to golf in the Pacific Northwest might be his founding of the Rosauers Open in 1988.

The tournament, with the exception of 1991 when it was moved to MeadowWood Golf Course because of the poor condition of the greens at Indian Canyon, has been held annually at Lindeblad’s home course.

Since its modest inception – which was heavily financed by Lindeblad, himself – the 54-hole tournament has evolved into the richest PGA Section event in the nation, boasting a purse of more than $150,000. And it has raised in excess of $3.5 million for the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, which serves abused children in the Spokane area.

“Gary has done a remarkable job of helping the Rosauers Open become one of the premier section events in the country,” Ellison said. “And when he won it in 1990 … well, let’s just say we haven’t had a host head professional win a sectional event since.”

Lindeblad has been forced to limit his playing in recent years, however, after contracting a rare form of cancer known as Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia, a disease that has forced him to undergo chemotherapy treatments that have sapped his strength and weakened his immune system.

There is no known cure for the disease, but a combination of drug therapies has allowed Lindeblad to remain on the job and continue serving his fellow professionals, as a friend and colleague, and golfers of all skill levels, as an instructor.

And he plans to make the cross-state journey to attend his Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on Oct. 24, which seems like a just reward for the voters.

You know. His peers.

Another bunch of hall-of-fame voters who got this one right.