Time Machine: A Cedar Rapids golfing legend

Editor's note: This is a continuing series of Eastern Iowa sports history 'Time Machine' articles. Mark Dukes worked at The Gazette from 1973 to 1998, the last 14 years as sports editor.

John Jacobs III of Cedar Rapids was one of the state's most successful and decorated amateur golfers. But you'd never hear it coming from his dad.

Jacobs' father was proud of his son, yet demanding when it came to golf. Tough love, some would say.

His father's approach alternately irritated and motivated Jacobs toward a career few in Iowa can match. His success came during a time when drivers were wooden, irons were not oversized and balls were not made of synthetic materials.

'John hit a low hook like a lot of players back then,' said Mike Hall, St. Andrews Golf Club professional and superintendent. 'He was very accurate, not a super putter but good enough. An absolute gentleman and fabulous player.'

Efficiency off the tee. Laser-like iron shots. Better than average putter. Toss in a bulldog-like competitive attitude that belied his pleasant demeanor and it was a combination that stood up for nearly six decades.

The early years

Jacobs' father introduced him to golf at age 5, but the youngster wasn't always enamored by the game.

'There were stories that sometimes Dad didn't like or want to play,' Jacobs's son, Pete, said. 'Dad would hide in the alley but his dad could find him, pick him up and take him to the golf course until it was dark.'

By the time he was 13, Jacobs was regularly breaking 80 at Kenmore, now known as Elmcrest Country Club. He won several junior tournaments locally and regionally and was able to enter them, as he learned much later in life, because his father mortgaged the family car to pay expenses.

At 15, Jacobs carded a lifetime-best 59 at the old Legion Course in Mason City. He made 12 straight '3s' during the round.

Jacobs attended old Immaculate Conception, but never got to compete in the high school state tournament because I.C. did not have a golf team. But his father saw much promise in his son through his performances in junior golf.

John Jacobs II, a safety director and legal adviser for Borden Foods in Cedar Rapids, was forever the taskmaster.

'My dad never said at any time that I played well,' Jacobs said in a 1985 interview. 'He always said I had to work harder and I took that as a challenge. I found out he said to other people that I was doing great, but he never said it to me.'

Two weeks out of high school, at age 18, Jacobs captured the first of his six Iowa Amateur championships. He downed fellow Cedar Rapidian John Vavra in a 38-hole match.

'While I was basking in my glory, my dad came up to me and said, 'God, do you need to practice,'' Jacobs recalled in a 1978 interview. 'When I got home, I was still disgusted. My dad and I seldom had words, and this was a rare show of temper for me, but I took my clubs out of the car and threw them on the parking in front of our house. They stayed out there for eight or nine days.'

At his mother's urging, Jacobs retrieved his clubs and returned to play golf.

The college years

Jacobs began his college career at Notre Dame and won the school championship in his first year, shooting a 68 in the final round. Golfing great Walter Hagen finished third in that tournament.

'Freshmen weren't supposed to win that event,' Pete Jacobs said. 'So the upperclassmen got him and threw him in the lake. The trophy was supposed to stay at Notre Dame, but Dad was so upset that he kept it. After Dad died, my uncle Dick got it and returned it to the school.'

That summer, Jacobs successfully defended his Iowa Amateur crown and won a third straight in 1941. That latter year was a magical one. He also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur in Omaha and the Western Amateur in St. Louis.

His U.S. Amateur finish earned him a spot in the 1941 U.S. Open at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. He made the cut and was tied for 18th place after two rounds with Ben Hogan. Although he was the second low amateur in the tourney, Jacobs closed with rounds of 82 and 83 and finished far behind winner Craig Wood.

The war beckoned and Jacobs spent much of the next five years at sea, serving in the Mediterranean aboard the USS Plunkett. He spent a month in the hospital with pneumonia after his discharge, but returned to brilliant play on the golf course after his recovery.

Jacobs enrolled at the University of Iowa after service. At age 24, he won the Big Ten Conference championship in Minneapolis by five strokes. He was the first Hawkeye to capture a conference individual title and no other Iowa player won it until Brad Klapprott in 1992. Jacobs finished tied for sixth in the NCAA tournament in Princeton, N.J.

Jacobs had to drop out of college due to financial hardship after his junior year, but he still continued to excel in the amateur ranks.

The post-college years

The scrapbooks his widow, Marge, has procured are chock full of newspaper articles of his playing career, notes from well-wishers, score cards, photographs and handwritten notations of prizes he won at various events.

Jacobs won three more Iowa Amateur titles (1946-48-50) and captured four straight Northwest Amateur crowns (1948-49-50-51). At one time, Jacobs notched nearly two dozen straight wins in Iowa Amateur match play. His closest rivals often were fellow Cedar Rapidians Vavra and Tom Crabbe Jr.

Jacobs captured the Waterloo Open as both an amateur (1951) and as a professional (1953). In '53, he won it in a playoff over Davenport's Jack Fleck, who two years later shocked the golf world by taking down Hogan in the U.S. Open.

Jacobs, who died in 2001 at age 79, won numerous other tournament titles around Iowa. He set or tied course records at several courses, including St. Andrews (64), Cedar Rapids Country Club (62) and Bunker Hill in Dubuque (63). He turned professional for a few years but prize money in those days made it difficult for a lot of players to make a living.

Jacobs worked at Iowa Electric Light and Power for 10 years, Mid-America Life Insurance for four and Amana Refrigeration for more than two decades. Later, he helped manage the clubhouse at St. Andrews.

In his 50s and 60s, Jacobs continued to shine on the senior circuits. He competed in multiple U.S. Senior Amateurs, once reaching the semifinals. At age 66, Jacobs relished his victory in the U.S. National Senior Olympics in St. Louis, where he defeated renowned golf architect Pete Dye by one stroke. He won it with a sand save par on the final hole, and Dye three-putted from 35 feet.

Star-crossed moments

In his teenage years, Jacobs became friends with Nile Kinnick, the 1939 Heisman Trophy winner from Iowa.

'Nile and I were close friends,' Jacobs said in 1986. 'He came up to Cedar Rapids one summer and we played golf at the Country Club. He was a pretty fair golfer, you know. And we just struck up a friendship.

'One time he asked me to come down to a basketball game in Iowa City, and all the kids gathered around before we went in. Nile said to me, 'John, you better go in because this could take a while.' But I stayed with him. We missed the entire game. He just stood and signed autographs for those kids all night.'

It was not uncommon years ago for greats from golf and other sports to make appearances in Eastern Iowa. Jacobs played in exhibitions with the likes of boxing champion Joe Louis and professional golf greats Sam Snead and Hogan.

In 1946, Jacobs participated in an event at Manchester Country Club billed as 'the biggest golf event ever in Iowa.' Snead and Jimmy Hines shot 67, Jacobs 71 and Walt Hodges 75. Four years later, Jacobs and Snead played in an exhibition at Cedar Rapids Country Club.

In 1949, Jacobs was teamed with Louis in a match in Sioux City. Jacobs shot 70, Louis 77.

An estimated 1,600 people attended an event at Ellis Park in Cedar Rapids that included Hogan, Jacobs, local pro Chuck Johnson and Crabbe. Hogan carded a 69, Jacobs 73.

Epilogue

John and Marge Jacobs had four children — John IV, Greg, Pete and Tracy. John IV won the 1965 Men's City Amateur tournament. Pete was a frequent competitor in city and state events and won the State Father-Son with his dad. Greg and Tracy play golf infrequently.

'Dad never really forced me to play, never pressed me to play,' Pete said. 'He didn't come out and follow you around and never gave any lessons. He was supportive but didn't push me into golf.

'He always told me that you didn't have to tell him how you did. He said if you were any good, it would show up in the newspaper. He was very modest.'

Hall, whose father Bill also was one of the state's top players, didn't hesitate when he had an opportunity to hire Jacobs at St. Andrews. He was good with customers and trustworthy.

'The best story is when John was closing the club at night,' Hall said. 'John never was very good at setting the alarm so I went ahead and did it, but I forgot one thing. John had the money bag, locked the door and put his keys in his pocket. The alarms went off, blaring. The cops and the helicopter came. He was standing there with the spotlight on him, and John had to explain himself.'

Jacobs at the golf course, spotlight shining. Ironically appropriate.

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