CMC75 Moments: 1990 Men's Golf Wins SCIAC Championship
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
1990 Men's Golf Wins Earns First-Ever NCAA Bid
The 1990 CMS Men's Golf team started off the season slowly, opening the year with a third-place finish in the SCIAC Best Ball Tournament, and then suffering defeats in their first four SCIAC duals, as it looked like hopes of a league championship were slipping away in the early going for Head Coach Grayle Howlett's team.
However, the Stags were able to get their full roster healthy and quickly turn it around, defeating every one of those SCIAC foes in the rematches to finish at 8-4 and in a three-way tie for first place. The momentum carried through late-season non-conference wins over Cal Lutheran and Chapman (both not yet SCIAC members), and the Stags were then able to win the SCIAC Championship, the first league title for the program in 19 years, and earn a trip to the NCAA Division III Championships, its first-ever team qualification. The Stags had a solid showing at nationals as well, making the cut and finishing in 13th place.
Senior Frederic Winssinger, who earned second-team All-America honors as a junior in 1989 and first-team honors as a senior, was the SCIAC Championship medalist and was named the SCIAC Player of the Year. J.B. Broms joined Winssinger on the first team, while Tom Isaak was named to the second team before going on to earn the SCIAC Player of the Year and honorable mention All-America honors in 1991 and 1992, when the Stags won the SCIAC title outright to extend their streak to three in a row.
Tom Isaak:
The list of results leaves out why we started out slowly that year: Bryan Beasley was also a freshman point guard on the basketball team. At the end of the basketball season, when we were anticipating his arrival to our golf team, he broke his hand after the game when he punched a wall in the locker room after they lost! We lost him for the first six weeks of the golf season while his arm healed. Once he returned and solidified our top six, we were a much different team.
Bryan is a character in many ways - his self given nickname during his freshman year was 'Diego'. At the SCIAC finals at San Dimas Canyon, we won fairly handily which catapulted us over La Verne and Redlands who were both ahead of us in the regular season. For me, as it was my first experience with pretty serious golf, it made a huge impression and really made me love competitive golf!
I was very fortunate that both JB and Frederic (as well as Richard Fox) were on the team in my first two years as they provided my guidance, motivation, and showed me what a 'real golfer' looked/acted like on the course. I remember JB making fun of me (rightfully so) for wearing Lakers purple and gold cotton shorts to qualifying rounds with the team. Frederic had to show me how to mark my ball on the greens, etc.
I was so fortunate that Grayle allowed a total beginner out on the golf course with the team and thankful for the mentoring he gave to me. A large part of the reason that I am a high school teacher and golf coach is because of my experience at CMC with the golf team.
Frederic Winssinger:
Grayle and the Golf team were just trying to put the program on the national map so dominated by a few East Coast and Cal State Schools. I had gone to Nationals as an individual the prior year and the experience left no doubt that going back to Nationals as a team would stand as the highlight of my final season.
We started slowly. We played our first conference match against Occidental and lost. As Tom recounts, our new freshman recruit, Bryan Beasley (Diego-Beaz-the Kid) and hopeful core member of the team missed the match on account of an emotional outburst between his fist and the gym locker door. I, myself, missed that match due to a final interview for a consulting job I really wanted and for which I subsequently accepted an offer.
We fell short in the first few matches, but Grayle never ceased to remind us that these matches did not mean anything until the season ending conference championship. In other words, we had our 'Holy Grayle' and his code was: Win the conference championship and we go to Nationals.
We had a good tournament at the UCSD invitational at Torrey Pines early March and by Spring Break, Beaz was back in golfing action. For a freshman in the team van, Beaz was never short of commentary and reading our putts before we knew we could hit a green. Our spirits were further lifted post a strong performance at a tournament in Phoenix over Spring Break and we finished the regular season matches on a winning streak. Then came the conference championship at San Dimas.
The tournament was played over 36 holes in one day. I remember pouring rain on that spring day. I fought hard for a great round of 72 under difficult conditions that morning. By early afternoon, I remember the sun breaking through the clouds and the rain stopped. The next few hours brought the highlight of the day and what was to become the season's achievement. JB Broms shot the low round of the day with a 70 that afternoon. My 75 was enough to claim the individual title in the tournament but JB used his night vision skills to read a final putt and edge out Brody from Cal Lutheran in a playoff for individual runner-up. And I will never forget Tom Isaak, whose sheer athletic talent had forged an ever improving golf swing throughout the season; his efforts led him to a personal best of 74 that afternoon. Not only had Tom broken his records, but the team rallied to a conference championship victory that day.
Another memory comes to mind. The fight was not over and Grayle had to appeal a controversial ruling situation. If I remember well, Tom had hit a high tension electric wire while playing and taken relief per conventional USGA rules as we had always assumed before. San Dimas however had different relief rules written on its score card. Coaches met and voted to disqualify Tom's round. I believe Grayle appealed the decision to some NCAA supervisory body and prevailed as the records show.
We went on to Nationals at Jekyll Island and had a fantastic time. Grayle arranged for us to fly into Jacksonville, FL, and planned a few practice rounds in the area before heading up to the Georgian island. We had finished school a few weeks prior, we had not seen each other since and we needed to bond again. We had all practiced hard and we played well that week over the four-day tournament.
I kept in touch with Grayle over the next few years, he never failed to make me feel special highlighting the fact that 1990 elevated CMS golf to the beginning of a great NCAA Division III sporting dynasty. Tom, JB, Beaz and younger generations kept the upward momentum to a National Title in the past decade.
CMS golf brought me special friendships and irreplaceable lifetime bonds, we all miss Grayle dearly, yet he lives through the connection we still have today.
On a personal note, I had recently moved from Belgium where sporting achievements meant very little in the face of academic learning. After my junior year, Grayle and I traveled together to Nationals, he was prouder than me over the All-American honors I earned over my last two years at CMC. He loved sports, his golf team and treated others with utmost respect, all cloaked in casual humor and candid humility. Only years later I realized how much he taught me.
1990 Men's Golf Roster
Head Coach: Grayle Howlett
Mike Barr (Fr., CMC)
Bryan Beasley (Fr., CMC)
Matt Bibbens (So., CMC)
J.B. Broms (So., CMC)
Adam Gilbert (Jr., CMC)
Scott Gilbertson (Jr., CMC)
Grant Hosford (So., CMC)
Tom Isaak (Jr., CMC)
Jeff Johnson (Sr., CMC)
Paul Keltner (Jr., CMC)
Andy Leventis (Fr., CMC)
Chris McDarment (Fr., HMC)
Reuben Marshall-Tikalova (Fr., CMC)
Steve Taylor (Jr., CMC)
Erik Weedon (So., CMC)
Frederic Winssinger (Sr., CMC)