Dick Smith Sr., former PGA president, hall of fame golfer, and popular club pro, has died at 80

Dick Smith Sr., 80, of Williamstown, former president of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, five-time Philadelphia PGA Section champion, PGA hall of famer, and popular local club pro, died Wednesday, March 8, at the Samaritan Center at Voorhees of complications from a stroke.

Mr. Smith moved to the Philadelphia area from Baltimore in 1962 to be an assistant golf pro at Green Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill. Over the next 60 years, he became an innovative president of the Philadelphia PGA Section, progressive president of the PGA of America, and one of the region’s dominant golfers.

He won more than two dozen championships during his playing career, including the 1970 Philadelphia Open and three straight Philadelphia PGA Section championships from 1981 to 1983. He was Philadelphia PGA Section player of the year four straight years in the early 1970s and played in 13 major championships, finishing 17th at the 1992 Senior British Open and tied for 44th at the 1970 U.S. Open.

In a tribute, PGA president John Lindert said: “The PGA of America is heartbroken.” He said Mr. Smith “had a great influence on our sport both as an administrator and a competitor.”

Other colleagues called Mr. Smith “not only a great golf professional but genuinely a good person” and “truly one of the finest golf professionals and gentlemen I have ever met.” In a 2005 video honoring Mr. Smith, Gary Schaal, former PGA president, said he was a “teacher, player, planner, statesman, diplomat, humorist. Great guy to be around. He does it all.”

As president of the PGA in 1990 and 1991, Mr. Smith improved education and training programs for club pros and apprentices, nearly doubled PGA membership, created effective promotional campaigns, and negotiated far-reaching TV contracts. “It was just an unbelievable and incredible experience,” he told The Inquirer in 1996.

Golf became a sport at the Special Olympics during his PGA presidency, and he supported open club membership for women and people of color. He told The Inquirer that the United States’ victory over Europe in the 1991 Ryder Cup was the highlight of his term. “Once you’ve been there, you’d like to be there forever,” he said of his leadership role.

Mr. Smith was president of the Philadelphia PGA Section from 1978 to 1980. He was inducted into the Philadelphia PGA Section hall of fame in 1992 and the PGA hall of fame in 2005. The local Dick Smith Cup matches were created in his honor in 1993.

One of his most memorable victories came in 1995 when he beat his son and fellow pro, Dick Jr., in a sudden-death playoff at the Woodcrest Invitational Pro-Am. “I had mixed emotions about it,” Mr. Smith told The Inquirer. “I just played as hard as I could, and he played as hard as he could.”

After Green Valley Country Club, Mr. Smith went on to work at nearly a dozen clubs in South Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and New York. He also owned the Williamstown Golf Center for nearly a decade, founded the Golf Group consulting firm, and owned the Dick Smith Golf Academy at Valleybrook Country Club with his brother Tom.

He told The Inquirer in 1998: “I will always call the Philadelphia area my home.”

Richard Lie-Nielsen Smith was born June 17, 1942, in Akron, Ohio. His family moved to Baltimore when he was young, and he learned to play golf with his father and at a local junior program.

At 6-foot-5, Mr. Smith had a powerful swing, and he won the 1959 Maryland State Jaycee Junior Championship when he was 17. He met Adrienne Kane at a family gathering while he was living in South Jersey, and they were married in 1965, had son Dick Jr. and daughter Stephanie, and lived in Stratford, Ivyland, and Williamstown.

Family and golf were Mr. Smith’s priorities, and his family joked that the order of preference changed often. He carried the bag at his son’s 2007 PGA debut, and his son and brother sometimes caddied for him.

He liked to lounge with a cigar, watch TV with his cats, and hang around with his three grandchildren. He sponsored a junior tour in South Jersey, especially enjoyed teaching young golfers, and spent countless Sunday afternoons watching final rounds on TV and then hashing over the results with his son.

Humility, his son said, was central to Mr. Smith’s persona. “He had every right to brag about what he had done,” he said, “but that wasn’t him.”

Indeed, when asked in 1996 if his role as owner of a now-defunct driving range in Williamstown was less rewarding than his previous high-profile jobs, Mr. Smith said: “I don’t feel the least bit set back or put back by the role I’m playing in the game today. Not at all. Dick Smith is still around.”

In addition to his wife, children, grandchildren, and brother, Mr. Smith is survived by other relatives. A brother died earlier.

A celebration of his life was held March 15.

Donations in his name may be made to PGA Reach Philadelphia, 1009 Penllyn Pike, Lower Gwynedd Township, Pa. 19002.