(1923 - 2013)
I like to see a man proud of the place he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. —Abraham Lincoln.
William Cammack Campbell (1923-2013) was the most notable international amateur golf champion and luminary in the post-Bob Jones era.
Rarely does athletic ability and administrative judgement come together in one champion.
Mr. Campbell was the only man in the long history of golf to have served both as President of the United States
Golf Association and Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. He was one of just three Americans ever chosen to captain the Royal & Ancient, which was founded in 1754.
Mr. Campbell and his wife, Joan, maintained a family home in and nearby Lewisburg for nearly 50 years. It was from this home that he would travel in the summer months to compete all over the world and more particularly at the Greenbrier.
Born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, his prowess for golf developed there from the age of three. When
he was 15, he first played in the U.S. Amateur. His college education was interrupted by World War II during which he served as an artillery officer in the European theater, winning a Bronze Star, and rising to the rank of captain.
Between 1941 and 1971, Mr. Campbell qualified
for 37 Amateur Championships, including a record 33 consecutively. He won the 1964 U.S. Amateur. He won the West Virginia Amateur Championship 15 times; the West Virginia Open three times, four North and South Amateurs, two Tam O'Shanter, and one Mexican Amateur. He spanned the most
years, 24, as a Walker Cup player from any country. In 1954, he was runner-up In the British Amateur.
Mr. Campbell spent three years in the West Virginia House of Delegates, He was known for his relentless support of the Cammack Children's Center that was founded by his maternal grandfather in Huntington.
At the age of 65, he was the first serving Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club since 1948 to play in the British Amateur.
When inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990, his formal citation included the following: "In the 1947 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, he hit his first two drives out of bounds, but chipped In to half the hole and went on to win the match."
Ultimately, his highest honor in the game was his selection as Captain of the Royal and Ancient. He was chosen for his humility, self-effacing humor, sportsmanship, respect, achievement, longevity, and a determination to preserve
the best of golf.
In the five centuries of its history, the game of golf will record that he was one of Its great, gentle men.
LEWISBURG FOUNDATION 2016
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