Dick Siderowf
Connecticut State Amateur champion 1955, 1960, 1965, 1984, 1985; Connecticut Open champion 1958, 1959, 1973; New England Amateur champion 1961; British Amateur champion 1973, 1976; Canadian Amateur champion 1972; U.S. Walker Cup team 1969, 1973, 1975, 1977, non-playing captain 1979.
A
native of New Britain, Conn., Dick Siderowf early demonstrated his well-disciplined work
ethic at the Stanley Golf Course and on the convenient athletic fields of what is today's
Central Connecticut State University. It was a dedicated formative discipline that
produced a consummate game of comfortable length that, with no conspicuous extra effort,
could be extended when needed, solid mid- and short-iron play, a superior long-iron
capability that consistently brought off the high boring shot that always seemed to land
soft as smoke, and a reliable if unspectacular putting stroke.
Although his overall play and ultimate victory in the 1955 state Amateur at Wampanoag CC is commonly regarded as the initial indication of his eventual prowess, it was his dominating performance as a 16-year-old in the 1954 state Junior championship at Watertown CC that closer Siderowf watchers believe effectively prefigured his predictable exceptional success. In that 13th annual championship, Dick won the medal with 4-under 68 and beat Rufus Peterson of Goodwin Park 6-and-5 in the scheduled 36-hole final. After his Amateur title win in June 1955, he next appeared in the CSGA competitive records with a 10th place finish in the 1955 Connecticut Open at Ridgewood in Danbury, where he made 75-74-74--223, 10-over.
But in 1958, at Brooklawn, which would be the site of future triumphs, a 20-year-old Dick Siderowf became the youngest winner of the Connecticut Open as his 1-over 214 beat home club assistant Wally Cichon by four. To reinforce his right to overall state supremacy, he successfully defended at Shorehaven in 1959 with a one-stroke victory over the state's leading professional of the day, Wampanoag's Bob Kay. Then in 1960, after he had defeated the late Bill Kufta at Shorehaven for the state Amateur title, thoughts of turning professional and trying the tour inevitably intruded, and he got as far as having the Connecticut PGA's national representative, professional Harry Nettelbladt of Avon, submit his application to join the PGA of America, which conducted the tour in those days.
But Dick reversed that decision at the 11th hour, literally having Harry's long thin arm extract the envelope from the mail box, and opted for a working life anxiously watching the big board Tuesday mornings rather than the leader board late Sunday afternoons. He says he's never been sorry, and you believe him: Dick Siderowf has never consciously been ambiguous in his convictions about golf or life. Plain hard work plus a sure sense about the architecture and mechanics of a sound, repeating golf swing have served Dick Siderowf well in some 40 years of always serious competition that has included appearances in a number of U.S., British and Canadian Amateur championships, U.S. Opens and Masters.
Among his many titles not listed earlier are five Metropolitan (NY) Amateur championships, and the Sunnehanna, Northeast and Azalea Amateur championships. He was a member of the U.S. World Amateur teams in 1968 and 1976, and was the first recipient of the NYMGA's Player-of-the-Year award in 1976. Additionally, he was low amateur in the 1968 U.S. Open at Oak Hill.
Dick Siderowf's competitive record and other golf accomplishments leave no question that, with the possible stretching exception of Greenwich native Dick Chapman, winner of the U.S., British, Canadian, French, New England and two Connecticut Amateurs, he is Connecticut's supreme all-time amateur player.
-- Jack Burrill