Andy Wall leaves legacy on Tyler golf links

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, November 13, 2024

When I learned Saturday morning that Andy Wall had passed away, I couldn’t help but think of the amazing record he compiled in East Texas amateur golf.

It was during a banquet in his honor at Willow Brook Country Club in 2021, to raise money for Kourage, one of his favorite charities, that I described his winning the Willow Brook Men’s club championship so often that it “bordered on the ridiculous.”

How else would you describe winning 15 times during a stretch of 31 years from 1974 to 2005? I had the honor that night of being an emcee along with good friend Don Robert Johnson before a packed ballroom of Wall’s family and friends. For not only was Wall a championship golfer, he was a successful banker committed to community service.

“As a banker, Andy helped a lot of people in Tyler through the years,” Wall’s close friend Van Stewart said. “I am going to miss him dearly for he was my best friend in Tyler for many years.”

Stewart is an ace golfer as well, and he traveled the country with Wall playing in top level events as part of the Society of Senior Golfers.

“We played some great courses through the years and had a lot of fun,” Stewart said. “Andy had a real passion for golf and always wanted to get better.”

Johnson and I had a blast during that banquet as we recalled hearing about Andy for the first time when we were at Hogg Junior High. Our speech teacher was Wall’s wife, Diane, who knew Don Robert and I were already playing junior golf. She was a great teacher and told us that her husband was a good golfer who played at Hilltop Country Club in Troup. Being typical teenagers, Don Robert and I were a bit skeptical but that changed quickly later that year when we saw Andy going toe to toe with the likes of future tour players like Rik Massengale and Hal Underwood at the old Briarwood Invitational.

Later in the evening of the banquet, taking questions from the audience, our friend George Rowe piped up from the back of the room, “Andy, how did you make all of those putts under pressure during the club tournament?”

“I just set my mind on making the putt and let it happen,” Wall said.

About Wall’s putting, I always marveled at how well he putted with a most conventional method, very similar to the way Tiger Woods has always putted. But the setting of his mind on making the putt was probably his secret.

“When I think of why Andy was so successful in winning the club tournaments, I think of his love of the game and his singleness of purpose,” Willow Brook director of golf Chris Hudson said. “I used to joke that he must put his golf shoes on while still at the bank because there were so many days I would see him on the practice tee by 5:30 in the afternoon.”

Not bad for a guy who said he was not good enough to make the team at the University of North Texas during the early 1960s. He played well at Tarleton College in Stephenville which was a junior college at that time but only played recreationally while at North Texas, where he met Diane who was a cheerleader and homecoming queen!

It was Diane that Wall credited as the key to his success playing golf. He said she supported his love of the game and once their children Andrea and Cullen were grown and had families of their own, she endorsed his devotion to practicing after work.

“Diane was so good to let me head out to the club after work during the spring and summer to hit balls and work on my short game,” Wall told me during one interview for a story after he won the Texas Golf Association Senior Championship in 2005. Wall was 65 at the time and beat a host of “younger” senior golfers that year at Tapatio Springs near San Antonio. It was his most impressive win because it was a state championship though in addition to winning those 15 club titles at Willow Brook, Wall also won six club championships at Hollytree, a couple at Briarwood and one at Hilltop.

Wall’s journey of golf accomplishments began at Hilltop, continued at Briarwood and then finally he joined Willow Brook in the early 1970s, at the suggestion of the late A.J. Triggs, both a friend and a mentor to Wall through the years.

“In the 1970s, when I was playing mostly at Briarwood, A.J. urged me to join Willow Brook and join his group with Shirley Simons, Jimmy Wynne and Chad Hanna,” Wall said. “I didn’t feel comfortable until A.J. started calling me “Drewsky” and the nickname stuck. It’s silly but everyone else had a nickname and I finally got one, too.”

For the record, those were some colorful days at Willow Brook with Triggs known as “Bean”, Simons as “Beast”, Wynne as “Burger” and Hanna as “Rack.” All were pillars of Tyler society and top notch golfers.

My memories of Wall and his golf swing are sublime. The last shot I recall seeing him hit was a drive at the 10th hole of the Texas Super Senior Amateur about 10 years ago at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving. He ripped it straight down the middle and though the competition was rain shortened, he won his Legends flight that year.

Wall bravely continued to play once beset with Parkinson’s syndrome some 10 or so years ago but the insidious illness eventually robbed him of his ability to play. But four years ago, playing with friends Lonny Uzzell, Herd Snider and Don Thedford, Wall made his 12th hole-in-one at the 17th at Willow Brook.

On a personal note, Wall was always a great friend who took the time and initiative to call me after he enjoyed reading one of my articles. That meant so much and encouraged me to continue pursuing my love of sportswriting. It turns out Andy had been a sportswriter himself during those college years at North Texas.

Golf is said to be a game of a lifetime and “Drewsky” proved that adage with a joy and a zeal that will be missed. His legacy on the links is one of accomplishment and will give future golfers a lofty goal to pursue.

SERVICES

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Marvin Methodist Church Sanctuary, 300 W. Erwin St. in Tyler. It is under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home.

Following the services a reception/visitation is scheduled for Pirtle Hall near the sanctuary.