ATHLETE LEGEND
Crummer, Fran
1916 – 2012
SPORT | Golf
YEAR OF INDUCTION | 2012
Fran, at age 12, played her first game of golf at the old Chatham Golf and Country Club. Eighty years later, when she was well into her nineties she still played 9 holes usually two times a week. In between, she competed successfully in provincial and national championships as well as many invitational tournaments throughout southern Ontario. In addition, while at the University of Western Ontario she played on the badminton team and later carried this over to the Garrison Badminton Club where she competed within the club as well as against other clubs in the area.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Chatham Golf and Country Club
won Junior Girls Club Championship (1935)
won Ladies Club Championship (1936)
Maple City Country Club
won Ladies Club Championship 6 times (1963, ‘65, ‘67, ‘70, ‘78, ’80) and was finalist 3 times (1966, ‘79, ‘83)
won Ladies Handicap Trophy 2 times (1959, ‘85)
was Ladies Senior Champion 3 times (1983, ‘86, ‘93) and was a finalist once (1985)
1937-1980
1937 – 1938 – played in 2 Ontario Junior Girls Championships
1961 – 1975 – played in 12 Ontario Ladies Amateur Championships
1966 – 1982 – played in 13 Ontario Ladies Senior Championships
1971 – played in the first National Ladies Senior Championship
1950 – 1980 – won at least 15 Closed or Invitational Tournaments in southern Ontario and acquitted herself very well in many, many others – carried a handicap of between 9 and 12 for over 30 year
Accomplishments
Maple City’s Head Professional, John Dengel, retells the story about legendary golfer, Moe Norman’s comment about Fran. After a Pro/Am tournament where Fran played on his team, Moe told John “that lady is a golfer” in reference to her smooth swing and her striking of the ball.
In addition to playing, Fran worked tirelessly for her clubs, for Essex-Kent District Golf, and for the Ontario Ladies Golf Association. She was instrumental in helping to establishing the junior golf program at Maple City and for years was one of the hardest workers in that regard. For several years, she helped organize the Essex-Kent Tournament of Champions and she was a course evaluator for the Ontario Ladies Golf Association.
In 1973 she received a silver tray from the Ontario Golf Association for “Her Distinguished Contribution to the Game of Golf in Ontario”. In 1995, because of her outstanding work over the years at Maple City Country Club, she was named the first Honourary Life Member by the Board of Directors.
Fran died peacefully on July 26th, 2012 at the age of 96.