Joe
Springer
Joe
Springer was born in Elmwood, Wisconsin, just a
short distance from Durand where he graduated from
high school in 1969.
While in high school he participated in
basketball, football, and golf. Joe
walked on at UW-Madison his freshman year but then
transferred to UW Stout to pursue the dream of
being a receiver on the football team.
The
first CVGA tournament Joe played was in the summer
of 1970 at the Bloomer Memorial Golf Course. The first
not being memorable, Joe didn’t break 40 on any of
the nines in the 27-hole tournament, but that was
to change quickly.
Thousands of range balls later, Joe became
a dominant player throughout the 70’s, racking up
victories at most of the courses, most notably
Hillcrest in ’74 and Hallie in ’75.
His
game continued to improve and his dreams became
bigger; that is until October 8, 1975. It
was on that day he was in an automobile accident
between Durand and Elmwood. It left
his body with multiple fractures and twisted body
parts. After
an entire winter of healing and rehab, Joe was
back on the golf course in the spring of ’76. He won
the second tournament he entered and got back to
winning CVGA tournaments.
What
followed in the next decades was a career in the
CVGA that will never be equaled: 100 tournament
wins, 16 Player of the Year awards, 6 Tournament
of Champions victories! "Never seen before or
since!", says Bob Yule, "Don Johnson and I
used be in the running for trophies back then. We
referred to those years as BJ, 'Before Joe'.
That guy was really good!"
A little quirky ......
eccentric? Maybe, but inarguably,
there will never be another player like Joe
Springer on the Chippewa Valley circuit.
Joe
shares his time between Eau Claire in the summer
and Beaver Creek, Colorado in the winter where he
is an expert downhill skier and a member of the
Ski Patrol.