With the world’s top golfers kicking off the 124th. U.S. Open this week, local historian Chuck Langerman has shared the professional golfing career of Bob Hendricks, a 1937 graduate of Cheltenham High School.

According to Langerman, after his days in Wyncote, Hendricks became the first and only alumnus in school history to qualify and play in the U.S. Open Golf Championship, which was held at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

Hendricks attended Temple University on a basketball scholarship before serving as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1953, he began his career as a PGA Professional at Indian Valley Country Club in Telford, Pa., where he was head pro for 18 years.

In 1971, he designed and built the Avalon Golf Club in Avalon, New Jersey where he was golf director and head pro until his retirement.

On July 27, 2001, Hendricks suffered a fatal heart attack playing golf with good friends at Carolina Trace Country Club in Lake Gaston, North Carolina. He was 81 years old.

For more on Hendricks’ designed courses, you can click here.

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