Legendary amateur golfer inducted at North Shore Country Club, the site of his U.S. Open victory

GLENVIEW, Ill. – One of golf’s greatest amateurs and a longtime youth caddie, Johnny Goodman, of Omaha, Nebraska, was posthumously inducted to the Caddie Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 29, in recognition of his contributions to the game of golf through caddying.

Left an orphan at age 12, Goodman started caddying at Omaha Field Club in 1922 to support his nine siblings at home. He quickly became the club’s top caddie and carried the bag for Walter Hagen while he visited the Field Club at an exhibition.

Between loops, Goodman secretly developed an impressive golf swing by hitting a tin can with an old tire iron. Using three clubs, Goodman won the city’s caddie championship in 1925.

A mere eight years later, Goodman was crowned champion of the 1933 U.S. Open, winning as an amateur at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois. To this day, Goodman remains the last amateur to win the national open or any men’s major championship.

Goodman was inducted on Saturday at the site of historic win ahead of the 121st playing of the Western Amateur at North Shore Country Club. His son accepted the honor on his behalf.

“We are honored to welcome Johnny Goodman as the newest member of the Caddie Hall of Fame,” said Jeff Harrison, senior vice president of advisory and special initiatives for the Western Golf Association, which conducts the Western Amateur and manages the Caddie Hall of Fame. “Johnny’s journey from caddie to champion golfer is the embodiment of dedication and perseverance. It’s only fitting we honor his legacy and achievements at North Shore, where he reached the peak of the game.”

Goodman first made national headlines when he traveled across the country in a freight car and defeated thirteen-time major champion Bobby Jones in the first round of the 1929 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Along with his U.S. Open victory, Goodman won the 1937 U.S. Amateur and three Trans-Mississippi Amateurs.

He was a member of three Walker Cup teams in 1934, 1936 and 1938, and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Goodman passed away in 1970 at age 60. He is a member of the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame and Omaha Sports Hall of Fame, and an Omaha municipal golf course is named in his honor.

“My father would have loved this,” said his son, Johnny Goodman, Jr., who attended with his wife Kimberly, from Arizona. “He did not get any recognition in his later life, and he would have been pleasantly surprised to receive it for being a caddie. Back then, it was just something he did. If he wasn’t in school, he was caddying. Caddying was always his first love, and it goes hand in hand with being an amateur player.”

Established in 1999 by the Professional Caddies Association, the CHOF highlights the tradition and importance of caddying by recognizing individuals who have devoted their lives to the game of golf through caddying or by supporting the role of caddies, or who have used their experiences as a youth caddie as a steppingstone for success. The CHOF has been administered by the WGA since 2011.

Goodman joins fellow amateur U.S. Open winners Charles “Chick” Evans and Francis Ouimet in the Caddie Hall of Fame. Past inductees also include Carl Jackson, Joe LaCava, Jim “Bones” Mackay, Johnny Miller, Old Tom Morris, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Tom Watson and Steve Williams.

To learn more, visit caddiehallfofame.org.