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Ambassador for area golf dies at age 76

Former Times writer Jimmy Mann, co-founder of County Golf Association, had humor and endless enthusiasm.

By BOB HARIG and CRAIG BASSE
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 11, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Jimmy Mann, a leading Suncoast golf figure and co-founder of the County Golf Association, has died at 76.

Mr. Mann, tournament director of St. Petersburg's former LPGA event for 13 years, died Monday (Dec. 9, 2002) at Mease Hospital, Dunedin. The cause was heart failure, his daughter said Tuesday.

A lifelong golf lover and avid player, Mr. Mann originally got to know many of the game's greats as a writer for GolfWorld magazine in the 1950s.

"He was an unbelievable character," said Jeff Hollis, the golf courses director for the city of St. Petersburg. "I don't want to say a throwback, but sort of the guy you would envision back in the days of (Walter) Hagen and (Ben) Hogan and (Sam) Snead and all those guys. His personality, his ability to tell a story. ... I can't think of anybody who could tell a story like he could."

A former St. Petersburg Times and St. Petersburg Evening Independent sports writer, Mr. Mann covered golf for the newspapers beginning in 1955. In the mid 1970s, he and his wife, Edie, founded the County Golf Association in Pinellas County, and it later spread to Hillsborough and Pasco counties.

With his wife, Charlie Moore and Eleanor Gehlen, he also ran the Festival of States Golf Tournament, the St. Petersburg city amateur, the Sertoma Scramble and the Mini-PGA.

The lure of the CGA was that it offered a different type of golf, "competitive golf," Mr. Mann pointed out in a 1993 interview.

"It's fun to play social golf with your friends and have your bets on the side," said Mr. Mann, a former director of the Skip Alexander/St. Petersburg City Amateur Championship at Mangrove Bay Golf Club. "But some guys thrive on competition."

Richard Hope first met Mr. Mann at the old Sunset Golf Club (now the Vinoy) in the 1960s and maintained a friendship through the years as a member at St. Petersburg (formerly Lakewood) Country Club.

"He's an unforgettable character," said Hope, who recalled that the CGA first was the idea of the Florida State Golf Association, which tried to localize tournaments around the state to find members.

"Jimmy ran the West Central district, and all the rest of them failed," Hope said. "Because of that, they dropped the concept. But Jimmy decided to do it on his own. He got the thing and made it go just on Jimmy Mann. He knew all the area golf pros, worked with them. It was just great. And still is."

"Part of it was the force of his personality," said Mary Detlor, who worked for Mann at the CGA. "He knew more about golf than most of us have forgotten. He knew more stories than you could shake a stick at. After they made Jimmy, they threw the mold away."

Hope recalled reading the book Mr. Mann did with 1958 U.S. Open champion Tommy Bolt, The Hole Truth. "If you knew Jimmy, you could see his style of conversation through the whole book," Hope said. "Jimmy just had a funny way of expressing himself."

Bolt, 86, who lives at Black Diamond in Citrus Country and recently was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, said Tuesday that the book he did with Mr. Mann was published in 1970. "I'm still selling it," he said. "Shoot, it's still on the market. ... Jimmy was a good guy, a good writer. Ol' Jim had a lot to do with golf around St. Petersburg, ran a lot of golf tournaments. I first met him in Greensboro (N.C.), which is where he was from. Man, he could tell some stories. Of course, I could tell some, too."

"He was one of the most spontaneously funny men I ever saw," said Tom McEwen, retired sports editor of the Tampa Tribune. "He should have been a standup comic. He'd feed off you. Everything was amusing with Jimmy Mann. He made life good. If he played golf with you, he'd trick you into thinking he wasn't any good because he made so many jokes about his game. But he was a fine player.

"As a writer, he was one who could cultivate friendships of the people he wrote about. And it got him to know them better."

Among Mr. Mann's many contributions to area golf was as tournament director of an LPGA Tour event. He had been affiliated with the LPGA event in some way since its inception in 1954. Originally called the St. Petersburg Classic, it became the Orange Blossom Classic in 1967, the S&H Classic in 1980 and the USX Classic in 1988. It ceased after the 1989 event.

Before starting the County Golf Association, Mr. Mann worked for the Florida News Bureau, part of the state Commerce Department, promoting sports to encourage tourism.

At the time of his death, he was living in Palm Harbor. He was born in Greensboro, N.C., and attended Guilford College and Duke University. He was an Army veteran.

Survivors include his wife, Edith "Edie;" five daughters: Martha Buttner, St. Petersburg; Mary Smith, Ridgefield, Conn.; Lori Kinstle and Yvonne Eddinger, both of Largo; and MaryJean Corsini, Palm Harbor; a son, Gerald Hardy, Clearwater; a sister, Jean Wold, Greensboro; and 12 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be 1 p.m. Friday at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center-Ninth Street Chapel, 2201 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. N.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Admiral Farragut Academy's Athletic Department, 501 Park Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33710, or to Clearwater Central Catholic High School's Athletic Department, 2750 Haines Bayshore Road, Clearwater, FL 33760.

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