Fred Corcoran - Founds LPGA, GWAA

Founds LPGA, GWAA

From the mid-1930s to the late 1940s, there was some friction and dispute on the PGA Tour over Corcoran's perceived conflict of interest as a personal manager of certain tour players at the same time he was promoting and running tournaments where those players competed against others. There was also controversy over how Corcoran should be paid for his services to the Tour, and expenses incurred doing his jobs; the Tour was at the time still a loosely-run, evolving branch of the PGA of America, with little structure or assigned responsibilities and chain of command for the weekly tournaments around the large country. Few disputed Corcoran's skills and worth, but budgets were tight and prize moneys low in the wake of the Great Depression, and professional golf in the USA was but a shadow of what it would become decades later. Corcoran was fired and re-hired several times during this period, but took the conflict in stride, and emerged with his reputation intact.

After World War II, Corcoran helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA). He was well known for providing anecdotes, quotes, and stats to golf writers from a file cabinet inside his head. He worked at the Tournament Director of the LPGA from 1950-54. He also managed the career of Babe Zaharias, entering her into the 1945 Los Angeles Open as the first woman to play a PGA Tour event. He managed golf star Marlene Bauer Hagge, and baseball superstars Ted Williams and Stan Musial.