RIP Frank Hannigan

Let's hope at this point that bad news comes in threes, as the game has lost three of its most interesting elder statesmen over the last few days.

Frank Hannigan, Executive Director of the USGA from 1983-89, died Saturday at age 82.  Hannigan had undergone an unspecified surgical procedure earlier in the week, and was one week short of his 83rd birthday (a birthday he shared with your humble blogger.

Hannigan held a series of positions with the USGA in a 27-year association with the organization, but is undoubtedly best known to golfers for his subsequent role as on-air rules expert on the ABC golf telecasts during an era when ABC broadcast both the U.S. Open and Open Championship.

From John Strege's remembrance:

Former United States Golf Association Executive Director Frank Hannigan was opinionated, cantankerous at times, unafraid to step on toes, even those with which he was intimately familiar. 

"Never, in the history of USGA championships, has rule 6-7, calling for a penalty for 'undue delay,' been invoked," he wrote last April.

"Observation: Sigh." 

This appeared in a story he wrote on behalf of his former employer, the USGA, that appeared on its website as part of its "While We're Young" campaign against slow play.

Back to Strege:

A newspaper columnist, Hannigan was hired by the USGA in 1961, as its public information

manager, and edited the USGA's publication, Golf Journal. He later became its tournament director, and in 1983, he succeeded Harry Easterly Jr. as executive director. Hannigan was credited with bringing the U.S. Open back to Shinnecock Hills, the site of the second U.S. Open in 1896, and a course not part of the U.S. Open rota.

It's difficult to remember, but returning the Open to Shinnecock was considered folly at the time because of the logistical challenges.

Hannigan was extremely outspoken, and continued to make his opinions known in ways that couldn't have been well received in Far Hills, NJ.  There's this, for instance:

He was not averse to offering his opinions, and they were often aimed at the USGA. In Golf World's Words from the Wise issue (April 1, 2013), he said this: "The USGA adheres to a structure that is totally out of date. All power is granted to the volunteer executive committee. It is absurd to say the president, who has a full-time job and may live 2,000 miles away from Golf House, is the chief executive officer."

 And this:

In the same interview, he said that the '86 Open at Shinnecock Hills "was a huge success. I'm enormously proud of that. They had an absolute disaster at Shinnecock in 2004. I simply don't understand what happened. You water the damn golf course."

And do read Shackelford's tribute to Frank, in which he credits Frank's for the credibility of his website

due to Frank publishing open letters there since 2006.  Do treat yourselves to this Bill Field's Words From the Wise piece on Frank from a year ago, and this earlier Shack post has a nice video of some of Frank's ABC appearances, including one with an alarmingly young Peter Allis (again wiuth the embedded video issues).  Opinionated and passionate, Shack makes clear that Hannigan was not an easy man:

He could be so difficult. His letters had to run as he submitted, of course, after the typos were cleaned up and the 1’s fixed because he still typed lower case l’s as 1’s (some sort of old typewriter habit he said). 

The man was a brilliant writer. A master storyteller with a great recollection of details and a cadence that had you hearing his distinctive voice as you read his words. In the coming days I’ll share snippets of his many emails to me sharing memories of his USGA and ABC days.

Ahhh...that will give us something to look forward to, and will provide an ongoing tribute to Frank.  Then there's this:

As recently as March 14th he had sent me an email letting me know how clueless I was (he was mystified by my admiration for Jim Murray and Arnold Palmer). I never took these personally, as I knew he was just trying to keep me honest. Based on conversations with many others, it was just Frank’s way to be the administrator of tough love

Added fun, at least to this blogger, is to imagine the look of profound horror on Shackelford's face as in the video referenced above Hannigan describes the necessity of choking golf courses with rough.  

We'e lost another interesting man who passionately loved our game and contributed greatly to it.  RIP.