Inductees

When Virgil and Constance Borland moved their family from Butler to Carthage in 1946, they found a house close to a landmark that would be a focal point for the family.

Brothers Joe and Glen often ran across the street to the Carthage Municipal Golf Course.

Two years after moving to southwest Missouri, Gary was born, and as soon as he could play golf, he was on the links. What followed was a trio of brothers who won high school, college and amateur levels. And that is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the Borland Golf Brothers of Carthage with the Class of 2026.

Glen, now 84, and Gary, 77, are still both active golfers and their names are often still on the leaderboard of local tournaments in Carthage. Joe passed away in 2018.

“Golf is something you can play until you can hardly walk anymore, and it’s good for you,” Gary Borland said.

Each one of the brothers has a lofty resume.

Glen helped the Carthage High School golf team win three Big 9 Conference titles and was a junior when the Tigers placed third in 1959. After high school, he played for Joplin Junior College – now Missouri Southern State University – and was a Juco national runner-up.

He won the Missouri State Senior Amateur title in 1993, playing at nearby Twin Hills Golf & Country Club in Joplin. He also once held the club record with a 62 at his home course in Carthage.

Joe overlapped with his brother and was part of the 1959 team that took third and was part of three conference championship teams as well. The 1960 graduate from CHS, he joined the Air Force after high school. He was a base champion twice in Topeka at Forbes Air Force Base.

He won the Carthage Pro-Am Championship four times and placed 13 other times.

He was the Carthage Men’s Golf Association Player of the Year five times, winning back-to-back honors in 2004-2005 and 2011-2012. He won the course’s Dick Mansfield Championship a record five times, including a span of four consecutive from 2010-2013. He won the CMGA Stroke Play Championship five times overall, twice in the senior division.

And just to add a little brotherly rivalry to the sport, he shot a Carthage Municipal Golf Course record of 59 in 1998, besting the mark that Glen set.

In his career, Joe had 39 individual first-place finishes and 50 team first-place finishes, as well as 32 second-place finishes in individual and team play.

Gary followed and has been playing the game for as long as he can remember.

“As soon as I was able to go across the street, I started playing,” he said. “It was something that was really accessible to us. Sometimes, we had to sneak on when the pro wasn’t looking and play a hole or two out of his sight… but I’m sure he knew.”

Gary helped Carthage win the Big 9 Conference title in 1964 and qualified for state that year and in 1965.

He followed Glen’s footsteps and played at Missouri Southern. In 1968, the first year of the school that went from a junior college to a four-year school, he was a NAIA national qualifier.

Like his brothers, he also had success winning at his home course.

His resume included winning the CMGA titles three times overall and winning consecutive crowns in 2006-2007; the Dick Mansfield Championship three times, including repeating in 2010-11; the Nevada Senior Championship in 2003; the CMGA Stroke Play title in 2010 and the CMGA Senior Stroke Play championship in 2012.

He won the 22nd annual Joplin Globe City Championship in 1995 and was the Carthage Pro-Am champion five times, ranging from 1968 to 1983.

His 1981 win was memorable as he won the ‘amateur’ portion of the title. The winner of the pro part?

A 24-year-old from Springfield named Payne Stewart, who had recently graduated from Southern Methodist University and was playing pro golf overseas. It turned out to be the first ‘pro’ win for Stewart, a 1994 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee who later went on to win three majors. His dad, Bill, was a traveling mattress salesman for Leggett & Platt, which is headquartered in Carthage.

“It’s a surprise,” Gary said of the Hall of Fame call. “We played golf for a long time. We didn’t play for any recognition. We just played because we loved the game. It’s an honor … we really appreciate it.”