Inductees

Back in the mid-1960s, having never before picked up a golf club, Sonnie Dooley found herself on tees, fairways and greens as her husband introduced the sport.

All these years later, she tells the story with a polite grin. After all, learning a challenging game isn’t for those with little patience. And, considering the learning experiences during her first days in golf, many probably assumed she would just walk away.

Not at all.

“I loved it,” Dooley said.

Eventually, junior golfers in and around Joplin benefited from Dooley’s love for the sport. In fact, her contributions to golf, both of time and financial resources, over 40-plus years is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Dooley with the Class of 2021.

A 1961 graduate of Carl Junction High School, Dooley became a regular in couples and ladies tournaments in southwest Missouri before competing nationally. And, with Dooley and her husband Gene establishing themselves as successful business leaders in insurance and rental properties, Dooley saw to it that she played a role in growing the sport.

Specifically, she served as an instructor and official in numerous junior golf events and took it a step further by quietly donating financially behind the scenes.

Her goal was not only to shepherd junior golfers to success by teaching ways to focus and control emotions but also to become good citizens who might later benefit the community.

“That’s what we tried to teach young people,” Dooley said. “We would always try to contribute to tournaments and in other ways. It’s just very important to teach them because they are the future of the game. You wanted them to learn correctly, and about honesty.”

And it began innocently enough. Years ago, a junior golf tournament called on volunteers.

“I thought, ‘I might as well help with that,’” Dooley said. “I think a lot of programs need volunteers, and you just want to protect the future of the game.”

Much of her efforts were directed at Schifferdecker, a city-run course. At Twin Hills Country Club, her efforts led to 200 participants in junior golf.

“I just loved doing it. I didn’t think about the (notoriety) of this,” Dooley said. “I just enjoyed working with children. If you make the game fun for them, they’d enjoy it the same as me as well.”

Dooley’s own golf game developed over the years, thanks to mentors such as her husband Gene, Bill Parlor, Ben Pell, Bob Perkins, Doug Adams and Harold Kirk.

Her golf partners also played important roles. Among them have been Donna Hicks, June Groh, Nancy Duckworth as well as Connie Morris. Hicks has been a consistent partner since the early 1980s.

“They helped me love the game,” Dooley said. “It’s a beautiful game. They made it enjoyable.”

At one point, Dooley helped a team win at Kissing Camels Golf Course in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and competed at Jefferson Landing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her team also won at Jekyll Island Golf Club in Georgia. One year, her team placed fifth in a national tournament at the PGA National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

That was in addition to competing on a Horton Smith Ladies team from 1980 to 1990, with Dooley serving as the team captain in 1988. She also won Twin Hills Country Club’s Ladies Club championships in 1992, 1995, 1998, 2002 as well as numerous other tournaments. She was the champion of the Nutcracker with partner Rilla Miller and the Women’s Tri-State tournaments, plus was a seven-time champion of the Mary Jane Landreth Tournament at Twin Hills.

Along the way, golf became a healthy lifestyle. Dooley never kept a running tab of her wins and losses in competitions, but she and Gene also became members of several area clubs, such as Briarbrook, Twin Hills and Eagle Creek and Center Creek in Sarcoxie.

Most days during golf season, they would hold to a neat schedule – work in the morning, maybe break for lunch, and call it a day at 4 p.m. – and then be on a golf course 15 minutes later. She still remembers Perkins’ influence.

Said Dooley, “He would say, ‘Never try to hit a Jack Nicklaus shot.’”

In reality, Dooley hit home runs, er, aces so to speak by making a difference in the Joplin golf community, with children her primary focus. Their smiles? They always brightened her day.

“That was the best part of it,” Dooley said. “The sweetness of it.”