KU All-American still reigns as golf's goodwill ambassador

In its October issue, Southern Living magazine highlights the legends and rising stars of the LPGA, including one of the women who started it all: All-American Marilynn Smith, '51, who in 1999 was inducted into the KU Sports Hall of Fame.

The magazine pictures a beaming Smith, known through her long professional career as "Miss Personality," one hand resting on her golf bag, the other on her car adorned with a Jayhawk license-plate frame.

Smith's outgoing style made her a hit on the Hill, where she led her sophomore class as president. Although KU then had no women's athletics program, and women were not allowed to go out for the men's team, Smith continued to compete in golf, the sport she had aken up at age 12 with the encouragement of her father, Lynn.

As she prepared for the 1949 Women's National Collegiate, her father approached Coach Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, then KU athletics director, to ask whether the school could contribute toward her tournament expenses. "Coach Allen told my dad, 'Mr. Smith, it's too bad your daughter is not a boy.' That's how tough it was in those days," she said.

Smith went on to win the national title, and at age 20 left KU to turn pro. "Everyone except my dad and my local pro, Mike Murrah, thought I should continue my education, but sometimes opportunity knocks but once," she said.

Marilynn Smith's championship form is depicted in a mural in the All-American Room of the Adams Alumni Center. The murals, athletes from throughout KU history, were painted by John Martin, f'59, of Kansas City.

In August 1950, in her hometown of Wichita, Smith and 11 other women incorporated the Ladies Professional Golf Association. To launch the league and promote the sport she loved, Smith became a public-relations pro, speaking on radio and TV and before countless groups worldwide. While winning 21 titles, including two major tournaments, in her 20 years on the tour, she also led more than 3,000 golf clinics, traveling to 50 states and 36 countries. She is especially proud to have met five U.S. presidents. "Not many girls from Kansas can say that," she said.

Last year, she was inducted into the Teaching and Club Professionals Hall of Fame, and she continues to tutor as many as 10 students in weekly private lessons in Dallas, where on Oct. 14, she'll host the Marilynn Smith Dallas Executive Women's Golf Association Classic. The tournament benefits an LPGA Foundation scholarship in her name for high school girls who want to play golf and study education or business at any U.S. college or university. She hopes to increase the scholarship from its current $3,500 to $7,500.

"Growing the scholarship will help these young women," said Smith, who at 73, after a career that has opened doors for so many athletes, feels her work is not yet finished: "I want to do more."

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