Eight inductees headed into Macon Sports Hall of Fame

Amateur golfer Lee Gerdes is one of eight individuals who will be inducted in the Macon Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday night at the Macon Coliseum.

Gerdes will be joined by Mercer basketball head coach Bob Hoffman, former Central and Georgia swimmer Laura Conway, Mars Hills football head coach Tim Clifton, former Southwest and Purdue football player Michael Brown, Negro Leagues baseball player Robert Scott, former Ballard Hudson and North Carolina A&T basketball standout James Outlaw and former Central and Georgia football star Tony Gilbert. All have resumes worthy of recognition in the Macon Hall.

Gerdes has been near or at the top of local amateur golf since his family moved to Macon in the summer of 1982 when he was about to begin his sophomore year of high school. He enrolled at Mount de Sales and immediately made his mark with the Cavaliers. He was a three-time region medalist and a three-time all-region selection, and he also was the state runner-up in 1985. The Mount de Sales Hall of Fame inductee still holds the record at the school for career scoring average, season scoring average and match score.

His high school accomplishments earned him a golf scholarship to Chattanooga. While with the Mocs, Gerdes was a four-year letterwinner, a two-time all-conference selection and a two-year team captain. He was a member of Chattanooga’s first Southern Conference championship team and was the individual runner-up. To give you an idea of how good he was in college, he had 18 top-20 finishes, 10 top-10s and six top-fives, as well as one individual tournament title. With those type numbers you would think he would want to give the PGA Tour a shot, but he says he never considered going that route.

Following graduation, he returned to Macon and became an insurance executive while concentrating on golf as an amateur. Gerdes has been a dominant force in the amateur golfing world during the past three decades. He has more than 25 local and state-wide tournament titles to his credit. Included are eight Cherry Blossom championships, playing with the likes of Sonny Trammel and Taylor Jernigan, five Honors Tournament championships, teaming with John Maggiore, Jernigan and Coleman Tidwell, five Macon City championships, four Macon Middle Georgia titles, three Golden Isles championships and one Peach Blossom crown with Jernigan.

Gerdes, who just turned 50 back in March, seems to get better with age. He has posted rounds of 62 on four different occasions with three of those coming in the last year at Idle Hour, Sea Palms and Kingwood Forest. Another highlight of his career was posting a round of 4-under-par 68 at the famed Pebble Beach course in California. He calls Pebble Beach his favorite course that he has ever played, but he says that could change if he ever gets a chance to play Augusta National Golf Club.

He qualified for the U.S. Amateur in 1989 and made it into the match play competition. Gerdes has been club champion at three different Macon area country clubs on numerous occasions. He has won at Healy Point 10 times, at River Forest seven times and at Idle Hour once.

While Gerdes’ resume is impressive, the other seven inductees in this year’s class have had similar success in their respective fields. Tickets for the Macon Hall of Fame may be purchased at the door Thursday night for $30 each.

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Eight inductees headed into Macon Sports Hall of Fame."