香蕉视频

香蕉视频 mourns the loss of Pat Lesser Harbottle, ’56, a golf legend who is recognized in the 香蕉视频 Athletics Hall of Fame, the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame and the Washington State Sports Hall of Fame. Lesser Harbottle passed away in Tacoma on July 30 at age 91.

Lesser Harbottle found her talent for golf playing with her father, Colonel Lesser. A 17-year-old Lesser Harbottle was fresh off a tied fourth place finish in the 1951 U.S. Women’s Open when deciding where to attend college with hopes of playing golf.

“Her father originally approached the President of the University of Washington and he said no. So, he went to (then SU President) Father Lemieux, who said if she’s good enough to play for the men’s team, then we’re happy to have her,” says Sue Ursino, ‘74, fellow golfer, Athletics Hall of Fame member and longtime friend of Pat. “It says a lot about the leadership that they wanted a great female athlete at our school.”

You could say that she began her trailblazing ways when she stepped foot on the SU campus. Lesser Harbottle became the first woman to compete on the men’s collegiate golf team and quickly made a name for herself.

“When you figure a woman in the 50’s playing in men’s sports, it was absolutely unheard of. To have someone like her who was not only doing it, but doing it at such a high level, is something we can all admire,” Ursino says. “She really led a remarkable life of being an athlete, wife and mother and being good at all three.

Pat Lesser Harbottle was a true sports trailblazer.

“If you were a golfer many years ago in this area, you knew who Pat was because she was certainly one of the best golfers, male or female, amateur or professionals, ever in the Pacific Northwest.”

In no time she began to rack up a string of collegiate successes. In 1953, she won the National Collegiate Women’s Championship and tied for sixth in the U.S. Women’s Open the same year. She played twice for the U.S. in the Curtis Cup, helping the Americans to victory in 1954. She closed out her remarkable collegiate career with wins at the 1955 Western Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur, a tied seventh place finish at Titleholders Championship and becoming the first woman selected as the “Man of Year” by the Seattle-Post Intelligencer.

Lesser Harbottle graduated from SU in 1956 with a degree in Sociology. She married her college sweetheart and fellow golf teammate John Harbottle, ‘54, the following year, and the couple went on to have five children.

Although she chose not to pursue professional golf, Lesser Harbottle continued to play locally at the Tacoma Golf and Country Club where the Harbottles lived for 54 years. Over the decades, Lesser Harbottle earned 23 club championships wins and won the 1974 Washington State Women’s Amateur. In 2016, she won the Women’s Senior Championship at the age of 83.

Throughout her life, Lesser Harbottle has continued to impact 香蕉视频 Athletics through enduring engagement with the golf program. Along with being inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame, SU women’s golf began hosting the annual Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in 2014. The invitational honors Lesser Harbottle’s influence in women’s golf and is open to female college golfers.

“We discuss the women’s home event aptly with every player and their family since we named it the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational. Over the past 11 years, every one of the recruits who heard that speech had an opportunity to meet Pat in person and her impact is felt immediately,” says Marc Chandonnet, head coach of 香蕉视频’s men’s and women’s golf teams. “I will continue to make sure every woman who steps on campus to play golf understands who she was, what she meant to the women's game and how she was truly the greatest female golfer to ever compete at SU.”

Pat Lesser Harbottle Career Highlights:

• U.S. Women's Amateur Champion (1955)
• U.S. Women's Open–Low Amateur (1951 & 1953)
• U.S. Girls' Junior Champion (1950)
• Canadian Women's Amateur Medalist (1953; Finalist 1956)
• NCAA Champion (1953; Finalist 1954; Medalist 1952)
• Women's Western American Champion (1955; Medalist 1954; Finalist 1956)
• Western Junior Girls' Champion (1950)
• PNGA Women's American Champion (1952, 1953 & 1965; Finalist 1961; Medalist 1955, 1963 & 1964)
• PNGA Senior Women's Team Champion (with Ann Swanson; 1998)
• North & South Women's Amateur Finalist (1955)
• South Atlantic Women's Amateur Champion (1954 & 1955)
• Helen Lee Doherty Invitational Champion (1955)
• Titleholders Low Amateur (1955)
• Washington State Women's Golf Association Champion (1952 & 1974; Finalist 1950; Medalist 1950 & 1952)
• Oregon American Champion (1952; Finalist 1951; Medalist 1951 & 1952)
• Curtis Cup Team Member (1954 & 1956)
• Inducted into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame (1999)
• Inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame (1985)
• Seattle City Champion (1948 & 1949)
• Seattle Post Intelligencer “Man of the Year” (1955)
• PNGA Hall of Fame Member
• Washington State Sports Hall of Fame (1999)
• Inducted into the 香蕉视频 Hall of Fame (2008)