Local Sports Journal

Dick Topp, a longtime area golf promoter, will be honored by the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame as the 2015 recipient of the organization’s Distinguished Service Award.

Topp, who was the driving force behind bringing the prestigious Michigan Amateur and other state and USGA events to Muskegon Country Club, has also been a huge booster and promoter of junior golf throughout his life.

“I don’t think there’s anything like watching youngsters carrying their bags down the fairway. I haven’t seen many kids go wrong on the golf course,” said Topp, 73. “Junior golf has been in my heart for a long time. The kids playing today are fantastic youngsters. A tremendous group of kids have come out of the Muskegon area for golf and have done well.

Topp, a past president of the Golf Association of Michigan, will be inducted with the rest of the Hall of Fame class on June 6 in a banquet at his beloved Muskegon Country Club. Other inductees will be Cathy (Fitzpatrick) Nowak, Mike Holmes and the Muskegon Heights basketball teams of 1978 and 1979. A male and female student-athlete of the year will be announced in May.

Topp, a Muskegon resident since 1965 and the retired finance director at Webb Chemical, served as GAM president in 2013 and has served on the state’s golf governing board since 2001. He was instrumental in bringing the Michigan Amateur to MCC in 2005 and 2013. Topp and his wife, Mary, have two children, Trish and Rick, and five grandchildren.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually by the MASHF to an individual who has made a tremendous contribution to the betterment of sports in the Muskegon area, but not as an athlete. Topp is the 31st individual to receive the local hall’s service award.

For more information, visit the Hall’s web site at www.mashf.com or call MASHF board member Tom Kendra at (231) 766-1954.