REUNION--JULY 25, 26, 27 OF 2024

 

In conjunction with Tom Walker’s "Gathering of Wardogs" we are hosting a Miami Golf and Country Club gathering. In July of 2024 it will have been 40 years since our old club burned to the ground. I plan to have the history collected from 1916--1984.

Please join the Stapp family and all former members, staff, and friends of the Miami Golf and Country Club for our Reunion all day July 27 at the Dobson Museum. 

Plans shown below: 

Miami Golf and Country club about 1967.

July 25, 2024, Thursday: We have 5 tee times reserved to play golf (that is only 20 people) at Shangri-la, plus a package offer to stay and play. The package will be under the name of the Miami Country Club. Tee Times will begin at 12:00 noon. Please let me know by spring who plans to play golf. **See note at the bottom of page.

Rooms at Shangri-la will be $199 plus tax for July 24,25,26,27. Golf will cost $77 plus tax.

Lunch will be available for purchase at Shangri la or wherever you choose.

After our round of golf on July 25, we have arranged for a gathering of players, friends, and family for appetizers. A cash bar will be available.

To book rooms at Shangri-la contact McKayla Rutherford 918-257-7779 at <mckayla.rutherford@shangrilaok.com>

*You do not need to stay at Shangri-la to play golf. All MGCC people, friends, and family are welcome to join us. Rooms at various Miami area hotels and VRBO/ARBNB lodges are available. BOOK NOW BOOK NOW BOOK NOW BOOK NOW

July 26, 2024, FRIDAY: John Finley has made 8 tee times for us to play golf at Peoria Ridge beginning at 10:00am. The cost will be $35.00. You must provide your own equipment.

THE DOBSON MUSEUM will have an exhibit set up sharing the memorabilia collected and donated about MGCC history. The MGCC display will be open July 9—September 28, 2024, as one of their “Special Exhibits.”

The Coleman Theater will plan for tours during these reunion days.

All of these MGCC events will tie into “A Gathering of Wardogs” that Tom Walker has organized for July 25 and 26. He will post reminders on Facebook “You Know You Are From Miami Ok When…..”

FRIDAY night, July 26, graduating classes of 1950-1980 are invited to attend “The Gathering of Wardogs” evening event (buffet) at the Peoria Ridge Golf Course. Donations for the cost of the food will be accepted.

July 26-27 Miami's Heritage Fest (link) will be held on Main Street with a huge stage for performers, BBQ competition, food trucks.

July 27, SATURDAY  DOBSON MUSEUM: Jonya and I plan to be at the Dobson Museum throughout the day to host a “meet and greet”. This will be time for everyone to share their golf stories and more. Please plan to visit and stay as long as you like. Tables will be set up for sharing stories and memorabilia.

Jordan Boyd and staff will be hosting us at the Museum temporarily located on 23 North Main. 918-542-5388 or <jboyd@dobsonmuseum.com>

“A Gathering of Wardogs” luncheon buffet at the Peoria Community room, located on the old golf course land hosted by Tom Walker. Donations accepted for the meal. Time to be announced.

“A Gathering of Wardogs” dinner Saturday evening at the Peoria Ridge Golf Course.  Donations accepted for the meal with time to be announced.

Please reply to Letty Stapp Watt in Messenger unless you have my email.  

 *The golf course plans are crucial for signing up. We have only so many spaces. If we fill up by April we will ask for more tee time slots, but after that I cannot guarantee there will be more tee times available. Yes, all classmates and/or spouses are invited to play golf or simply enjoy being there. It is a reunion.    

NAME, ADDRESS, EMAIL, PHONE #

1.   July 25 golf at Shangri-la 12:00 tee time and late afternoon gathering. Yes--Your Name and how many players?

 

2.   July 26 golf at Peoria Ridge 10:00 tee time. Yes--Your name and how many players?

 

3.   July 27 Gathering from 10:00—4:00 Dobson Museum. Please plan to share memories and any memorabilia you might want to donate or share.

 

 

1966 Dickie Neel's Story From a Friend's Point of View

 1966 Dickie Neel's Story From Dick Lillard's Point of View

 

Some thoughts about my best friend Dick Neel. Dick was one of the finest men that I have ever met.  Dick had so many friends and I never knew a man, woman or child that did not like Dick Neel.  I moved to Miami and May 1963 and I met Dick that fall playing in a pickup basketball game, Dick, not being very tall was still good at that game as he was in all athletic endeavors. In that first meeting he found out that I liked golf, he said he played a “little” himself and we met a few days later to play our first round, of so many I cannot count, together at Miami Golf and Country Club.  Yes, he played a “little”! I was 24 at the time and Dick was 21, he was certainly the one best players I had played with or been around.  He was never one to brag about his accomplishments on the golf course even though there had been many before that time and many to come after as well.

I later found out that Dick along with his friend Bob Hill (an exceptional person and an exceptional golfer as well) had won the two-man high school state championship for Miami High School when they were seniors. It turned out that athletic state championship was the first state championship of any kind won by Miami High School.  Dick attributed his skills on the golf course to lessons learned from his father, brother and Miami Golf and Country Club Pro Johnny Stapp.  One of his proudest moments was being named the golf pro at Miami Golf and Country Club.

 

Thank you to Dickie Neel's family for sharing the photograph albums with me.

Dick and I played some winter golf that same year and, in the spring of 1964, Dick began to play “the circuit” of Invitational’s held by the country clubs in the four-state area. I had no idea that this occurred but it was a wonderful way to spend a weekend if you loved to play golf and if you love to have a great time. Dick won many of these tournaments that were usually just Saturday and Sunday events. I think Twin Hills country club in Joplin Missouri was a three-day event. He would usually sell the merchandise he won, that was an additional source of income at that time.  Another source was taking more than a few dollars gambling on golf games.

Dick won the Hickory Hills tournament in Springfield at least twice.  I know he won the Baxter Springs tournament two or three times and our local Miami Golf and Country Club Invitational.  He also won tournaments in northwest Arkansas as well as others here in Oklahoma. I believe it was 1966 or 1967 he talked me into playing the Baxter Springs invitational.  When my round was over in something like B Flight, I rushed to watch the conclusion of Championship Flight because I knew Dick was close to the top. Championship Flight ended in a tie between Dick and another gentleman forcing a sudden death playoff.  Dick asked me the caddy for him for the playoff.  His drive on number one was perfect, it ended up about 15 yards short of the green. The other gentleman was farther away and his next shot ended up about 20 feet from the pin. Dick pulled out a putter, I was a little shocked but he explained that the ground was smooth from his ball to the green and that the greens were mounded and he thought this was his best chance to get the ball close. He stroked the putt from off the green and it ran up the slope to within about 12 inches from the hole. The other gentleman missed his put.  Dick for a birdie for the win.  I shall never forget that day because Dick’s winning prize was a new set of Titleist irons.  He gave them to me. He knew my set was old and a mixed match.  He knew I could not afford them.  He had such a big heart.

I was in Dick’s wedding in 1966 and he was in mine in 1967. We played golf together almost every summer weekend until his death in 1994. He loved the game so much; I was always impressed that he never lost his temper he just tried to hit the next shot better.  In the early 1970s my golf game had improved. My uncle was a member at the Oaks Country Club in Tulsa and he invited Dick and me to play with him. I remember it well because I parred the first four holes and was four down because Dick had birdied them all.  I think he shot 67 and it was the first time he had seen the course.  Another very important golf story with Dick that shows his character and the kind of man he was happened years later when he and I were playing against two other gentlemen. We were up quite a bit and they pressed on the 18^th hole.  Our drives were both good and as we sat in the cart together, he said quietly they cannot afford to lose this amount.  I asked what he wanted to do and he said I’m going to miss the next shot on purpose, he did, we broke even for the day and our opponents were elated to have tied and they never knew how kind Dick Neel was to them that day. It was a teaching moment for me and another view into his soul.

It is been 28 years; I miss him and I shall never forget the kindness he showed to me. He was a fine golfer but an even better person. 

 

*This is part 1 of Dickie's story in golf. Part 2 will follow in the 1970's after Dickie earned his PGA card. 

Yours Truly,

Dick Lillard

(shared with Letty Stapp Watt 2023)