Dr. Herb H. Davis and Herb H. Davis Jr. Memorial Award Retirement

March 15, 2024

The Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame has announced the retirement of the Dr. Herbert H. Davis and Herbert H. Davis Jr. Memorial Award. The Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame will now consider any candidates that meet these criteria for inclusion into the Golf Hall of Fame itself.

For years, Herb and John Davis wanted to establish an award in the memory of their father, Dr. Herbert H. Davis, who spent much of his life working to make golf better for everyone in Nebraska. They felt the recipient of such an award should be an individual, or a group of people, who made such an effort behind the scenes without proper public recognition. In 1988 the Hall of Fame established the Dr. Herbert H. Davis Memorial Award to recognize those individuals.

In 1991, the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame instituted a Special Recognition Award that had almost identical criteria for nominations. Realizing a great duplication of effort existed, the Davis family and the Hall of Fame board combined the two awards. In 2003, Herb Davis died while on a golf trip to one of his favorite golf courses, Sand Hills Golf Club. The Hall of Fame has annually presented the Dr. Herbert H. Davis and Herbert H. Davis Jr. Award to deserving individuals in their memory.

With the retirement of this special recognition award, the Hall of Fame will no longer classify these individuals as Herb Davis Award recipients, but rather as full members of the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame.

They include:

Harold Glissmann, Omaha

Don Lee, Omaha

Orville Olson Jr., Omaha

Mary Walley, Hastings

Darrell Vonnahme, Omaha

Kevin O’Connor, Omaha

Bill Kubly, Lincoln

Richard Youngscap, Lincoln

Virgil Parker, Lincoln

University of Nebraska Turfgrass Team, Lincoln

World-Herald Sports Department, Omaha 

Lou Feuerstein, Fremont

Paul Kunzman, Alliance

Steve Hogan, Omaha

Ing Maurstad, Beatrice

Family of Dr. Herbert H. Davis and Herbert H. Davis Jr., Omaha

Richard Watson, Lincoln

Jerry Treadway, Kearney

Dottie Bowman, Kearney

Carolyn Ryder, Grand Island

Bobbie Hopp, Fremont

Laura Saf, Lincoln

Stu Pospisil, Omaha

Bruce Gilliland, Kimball

FA (Andy) Anderson, Lexington

* Two other past recipients, Del Ryder of Grand Island and Bob Popp of Omaha, are already in the Hall of Fame.