Class of 1979
Joe Conrad
Amateur Player
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Biography
Joe Conrad won the Mexican National Amateur in 1950, Texas State Junior championship and Texas Amateur in 1951, Trans-Miss in 1953, Southern Amateur in 1953 and 1954, and Walker Cooper in 1955. After the Americans trounced the British in Walker Cup series at St. Andrews, Scotland, Conrad’s career peaked in 1955 at Royal Lytham in St. Anne’s, England, where he captured the British Amateur championship. He is the only Texan who has won the prestigious event. In 1954 and 1956, Conrad competed in the America’s Cup International matches. Conrad, along with teammates and fellow Texas Golf Hall of Fame Members, Don January and Billy Maxwell, played on three consecutive national championship teams at North Texas State from 1950-1952.
Match play was always Conrad’s forte, which may explain why he was on the PGA tour for only two years. He had top 20 finishes in the 1957 Colonial National Invitation Tournament and the 1957 Masters. Conrad held a club job briefly at Canyon Creek Golf Club, then opened the 19th Hole Golf Center in north San Antonio in the early 1960s.
In 1988, Conrad retired after 19 years at the 19th Hole Golf Center. He played senior tournaments in the Southern Texas Section and won the Section’s 60-and-over championship in the fall of 1991.
He has also been inducted into the UNT Athletics Hall of Fame and San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame.
Birthplace: San Antonio, Texas
Born: March 14, 1930
Died: December 12, 2018