On Sunday when Tiger raised the Wanamaker Trophy, a lot of people around the country might have wondered why it's called the Wanamaker Trophy and just who or what is a "Wanamaker." Something about the name "Wanamaker" made me think of Walter Matthau's character in The Bad News Bears. But a quick Google search revealed that it was Morris Buttermaker who showed up to coach youth baseball with a beer and a cigar in hand - not a Wanamaker.

Though I knew the trophy preceded Matthau's role by some 60 years, I didn't know much about the man it was named for or about the history of the trophy itself. Thanks to PGA.com and a handful of other sites, it's pretty easy to learn more about a very interesting man who helped lay the foundation for golf's popularity today.

Hole One
Lewis Rodman Wanamaker was the son of department store magnate John Wanamaker and eventually took over the family business, helping it expand to New York City and elsewhere. He was also an artist with an interest in Native Americans. His FINE ART">photogravure prints can still be found for sale.

Hole Two
Everlasting golf fame came for Wanamaker when he served as host for a 1916 luncheon at the Taplow Club that launched the PGA of America. Wanamaker invited several top professionals and amateurs - including Walter Hagen, Francis Ouimet, and A.W. Tillinghast - to discuss forming a national organization to promote interest in the game and help build respect for golf professionals, who at the time enjoyed a status somewhere between a chamber pot and an anarchist.

Wanamaker had the foresight to see the growing local enthusiasm for the game as the start of a national trend. And he wanted an organization that would help the game to grow.

Hole Three
As his art would suggest, Wanamaker's vision was not limited to the retail counter and the golf course. For a man who tried to duck publicity, he made a number of significant contributions in areas far from the game of golf. Among his notable donations was the gift to London's Westminster Abbey of the gem-encrusted Cross of Westminster.

Hole Four
In 1927, Wanamaker bankrolled Adm. Richard Byrd in an attempt to fly a plane non-stop across the Atlantic. Charles Lindbergh narrowly won the race, but Byrd's plane "America" still made the flight from New York to France. Cloud cover over Paris prevented a landing there, and the plane returned to Normandy where it crash landed without injury.

Hole Five
At the Milrose Games, there's a race called The Wanamaker Mile. This race is one of track and field's most prestigious events. Naturally, it was named for Rodman Wanamaker.

Hole Six
In helping to found the PGA Championship, Wanamaker sought to create a tournament on par with Great Britain's News of the World Tournament (which shouldn't be confused with the Weekly World News Tournament where Elvis and a host of aliens play annually). The News of the World Tournament, or as it was formally known the British PGA Matchplay Championship, had the largest purse in golf during the pre-World War I era. It ended its run following the 1979 tournament, which was won by Des Smyth by defeating Nick Price in the final.

Hole Seven
Wanamaker provided $2,580 for the first PGA Championship purse and a trophy to be awarded to the winner. On October 9-14, 1916, the first PGA Championship was contested at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, NY, and won by Jim Barnes.

The Wanamaker Trophy weighs 27 pounds, is 28 inches high, 10 inches in diameter and measures 27 inches from handle to handle.

Hole Eight
Walter Hagen won the Wanamaker Trophy four years straight from 1924-1927. But in 1928, Leo Diegal defeated the "Haig" at Five Farms Country Club in Baltimore by a 2&1 margin in the quarterfinals. Diegal went on to be the surprise winner of the 1928 PGA Championship, but there was a problem. The Wanamaker Trophy was missing.

Hagen explained that he had lost the trophy by trusting a taxi driver to return it to his hotel. The trophy turned up in 1930 when it was found in the cellar of LA Young & Company, a firm that manufactured Walter Hagen golf clubs.

Hole Nine
Here's the most amazing tidbit about Rodman Wanamaker: he is generally cited as the driving force behind the tradition of playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" before sporting events.

Photo Credits: © SI.

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