Hale Irwin (2002) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Hale Irwin

Induction:
2002
Class:
1968

1967 NCAA golf champion
Two-time Big Eight Conference golf champion
Two-time All-Big Eight cornerback
All-Century Football Team Member

Hale Irwin had the rarest two-sport combinations in college athletics, as he earned a combined six letters in football and golf. After playing quarterback as a sophomore, he became a two-time first-team all-Big Eight selection at cornerback in 1965 and 1966, making nine interceptions. He was a two-time Academic All-Big Eight team member, and in 1989, he was selected to CU’s 25-member All-Century Football Team for CU’s first 100 years of football. But he made his mark in the game of golf, .first at Colorado, and then professionally. The two-time Big Eight Conference champion (1966, 1967) still holds CU’s single-season mark for stroke average, 71.86, as a junior. He capped his collegiate career by claiming medalist honors at the 1967 NCAA Championships. As a professional, he had 20 PGA Tour wins, including three U.S. Open titles (1974, 1979, 1990). He has since become the all-time leading money winner on the Senior PGA Tour, thanks to a Senior Tour record 35 wins. His son Steve followed in his footsteps, also lettering on the Buffalo golf team in the mid-1990s. Hale is a member of both the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, as well as an inaugural member of the CU Golf Hall of Fame.
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