Frederick J. Corcoran (1977)

The 1977 Distinguished Service Award was presented posthumously to Fredrick J. Corcoran. No one could have been more human, both in his outlook and in his touch with other persons. No once would have been more pleased to receive such an award – nor yet more conscious that it was but the frosting on a very large cake of substantial achievement. To Freddie, service was its own reward. Even though he was in the business of making things happen, he derived a professionals’ amateur delight from it all.

What Fred Corcoran did for golf has been well chronicled. Corcoran was involved in the founding of some of the game’s major organizations: The Ladies Professional Golf Association, the World Cup, and the Golf Writers Association of America.

According to the 1977 MGA Annual Report: “the way Corcoran lived and “did his thing” will be even longer remembered by those who knew him best. His deeds were professional; his style was almost amateurish in its refreshing enthusiasm – and what is more contagious He was talk and reminisce by the hour. His files are writ larger in the telephone company’s records and paid bills than in his own papers. Although not a trained journalist, he had an unerring eye for “the story,” and with a twinkle, occasionally heeded Hugh Fullerton’s advice to a cub reporter: “Never let a good story be spoiled by the facts.” Corcoran got his start in the game as a caddie, and even though he walked with kings, he never lost the common touch. Never so smug as to be above seeking advice, he rarely hesitated to try to find the right answer – as witness scores of telephone calls to the USGA about rulings while he was running the PGA Tour. A professional promoter and manager, Fred yet had no superior in his respect for the basic decency of the game – and one suspects that his adoration of Francis Ouimet had something to do with that. A man of unusual imagination, he was yet an establishment man in a profound sense.”

Corcoran was inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975.