PAUL HAHN SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Each year the invitees to the Toledo Junior Invitational select the player from their fellow competitors who throughout the year has best displayed the qualities of a great sportsman.
This award bears the name of our friend Paul Hahn, who was a tremendous help to the T.J.G.A. in our early years.
The game' s top vaudeville star, who was a native of Charleston, South Carolina, abandoned early aspirations to play tournament golf when he discovered a latent talent for trick shot artistry. Gifted with a quick wit, a warm personality and a glib tongue, Hahn hit the barnstorming trail in 1949 and launched a career which carried him around the world with performances at the British Open, The Masters and numerous PGA championships. In 1970 he and his son Jimmy, also a talented trick shot artist, made a global circuit in Paul's personal plane.
In 1969, Paul received the coveted Horton Smith Award in recognition of his many contributions to the PGA education program. He was scheduled to receive the Ben Hogan award in 1976 at the Metropolitan Golf Writer's Dinner during the Westchester Classic when he passed away on March 3, 1976 at the age of 57. We are very proud of the contribution he made to golf and to our own organization but most of all we are proud of the friendship we had with him. We along with all of his friends throughout the world miss him.
This award carries a special significance because of the great importance of good sportsmanship, the selection process, and most of all by the name the trophy has inscribed on its base... PAUL HAHN.
Congratulations to Denny Brown Jr. from St. John's High School who was voted by his peers to be the Sportsmanship Award winner! Great job Denny!
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