DON JANUARY: still got that swing
ate afternoon sunlight filters into Don January’s office through wide plantation-style Venetian blinds. The phone interrupts his storytelling, which veers these days from the coeds he coached at the University of North Texas to the joys of golfing at 79. “I’m just about through here, so come on over,” he says to his caller. “We’ll go out and hit some balls.” He hangs up, leans back into his plush chair, and starts reminiscing again about a professional life that began with one man’s dream to build the nation’s best collegiate golf team at the University of North Texas.
January is still a strikingly distinguished man despite taking a beating from the sun. He sports standard golfer attire of collared polo shirt and slacks. White hair crowns alert blue eyes that sparkle with enthusiasm. His smile is easy and relaxed and, at times, mischievous. Amid the usual mementos of a career on the links, January has devoted one entire wall behind his desk to a giant, 6-foot-square oil painting depicting him in his trademark white-brimmed hat with his wife and three grown children in turn-of-the-century links-appropriate attire. They are standing on a gorgeous tree-lined fairway, clubs in hand. The painting, a gift from his wife Pat, is a nod to his successful career but it says more about the importance of his family.
It was the mid-1930s when 8-year-old Don accompanied his father to Stevens Park Golf Course in Dallas and held a club for the first time. He knew then he was cut out to play golf. “I loved the game, and I was good at it from the beginning.” He says it without apology; it’s a statement of fact.
January’s father was a successful roofing contractor in Dallas. Growing up, Don labored alongside his dad, kneeling on the shingles of rooftops in the blazing sun. Fair-haired, he was constantly sunburned. But that did nothing to hinder him from spending his downtime under the North Texas sky. He would wrap a bandanna around his neck and seek solace and relaxation on the course, practicing what he had every intention of making his profession.
If only he could settle on a university or college. It took four tries before he got it right. After graduating from Sunset High School in Dallas’ Oak Cliff area, January and a golfing buddy went to play golf for Oklahoma A&M. But a golfing friend convinced them to return to Dallas to play for Southern Methodist University. Mistake. January didn’t feel like he and SMU were quite the right fit, so he moved on to Arlington State College (now The University of Texas at Arlington). Finally, he was recruited by North Texas State College, known today as The University of North Texas, a change that set in motion the realization of his life dream.
It was 1950, and Coach Fred Cobb led the North Texas golf team. Golf scholarships for college players were illegal at the time under the rules of the United States Golf Association (USGA), so the game’s collegiate best worked for their education, earning their eligibility to play National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) golf. Cobb was recruiting to build a dream of his own, a winning, record-breaking dream team of golfers to shake the world of NCAA golf. He wanted Don January for that team and put him in a scholarship job doing what he knew Don knew best: golf.
January taught beginning and advanced golf for North Texas P.E. classes. The classes were coed, but most of the 15 to 20 students in each class were young ladies. The girls, it seems, were keen on golf because they didn’t have to wear gym clothes or run around getting all hot and sweaty. One of his lady students took to golf just fine, but started a game with January that has gone on for over 50 years now and includes three beautiful kids, a lovely home, and a lifetime of good memories. Don and Pat married right out of college. But that is a story for another time.
From 1949 to 1952, the North Texas golf team — with Don January as one of its stars — stunned the nation by winning the NCAA Division I Title in men’s golf four years in a row, dominating collegiate golf. Cobb not only realized his dream, he launched the professional careers of several great golfers, including January’s. “Fred Cobb was the major reason I decided to join UNT for golf,” says January. “He understood me and he knew what it took to help me be my best. I have him to thank for my education.”
January started on the pro tour immediately after college. “It’s a different game — amateur to pro,” says January. “When you’re a pro, you play every week under any and all conditions. That’s where I really learned to play golf, but it took awhile. I remember my first time to take cash as a pro. It was Phoenix in ’56 and I made $12,000 my first year. I thought I’d killed every turkey in town! Once the bills were paid, I just had maybe $2,000 left to live on for the year, and even back then, that wasn’t much. It took about five or six years and then I really found my groove.”
And find his groove, he did. During his pro career, he won 10 Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour titles. He won his first PGA Tour victory in Dallas in 1956 (while his groove was still under development, he says ruefully). Then in 1967, he won the PGA Championship at Columbine Country Club in Colorado. But January still considers 1976 his best year of play ever. That year, he won the Vardon Trophy, awarded annually to the PGA player with the lowest scoring average for the year, and was picked to play on the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup. The tournament brings together the “best of the best” pros from each continent to play against each other.
While he enjoyed a celebrated career as a pro, Don January thinks he saved some of his best golf ever for retirement. The Legends of Golf Tournament begun by veteran pro Jimmy Demaret in the late ’70s inspired January and several colleagues to work with the PGA in 1980 to establish and formalize the Senior PGA Tour for golfers over 50. Several of the “greats” who weren’t on the PGA tour anymore, who had lost that level of edge to their game, still itched to play competitively. The Senior PGA, now called the Champions Tour, gave them an outlet and promoted golf as a lifetime sport at the same time. January won 23 events on the senior tour, including two PGA Seniors’ Championships. He was the first player on the senior tour to pass the $1 million mark in earnings — even as he expanded his golf interests into course development and consulting.
He hasn’t forgotten what UNT gave him. “In the four years I played for North Texas, we won every single championship tournament we played in — and every single match — except one. It was a great team. It was fun at school, but it was hard, too. Back then, no one had any money. That’s how I learned the real facts of life and how to appreciate a dollar. My first three years at UNT, I didn’t really appreciate what college was all about. By my fourth year, I got it. My grades were good. I walked away with an education. Fred Cobb, the golf team, and North Texas were really good to me and that’s what got me educated. I cherish the time I had in Denton.”
Chuckling, January shakes off the reflective mood and stands at the sound of the doorbell. “That’s my son, Richard.” He reaches over to retrieve his white brim hat. “I found this thing years ago to keep the sun off my face and neck. All those years in the sun took their toll. I’ve been cut and sawed on more times than I can count, getting these skin cancers taken off. That’s the only scar the game left me. Anyway, I guess this hat just became my trademark.”
He greets Richard in a loud but cheerful voice and claps him on the shoulder good-naturedly.
“Let’s go play some golf,” he says.
BY KIM PHILLIPS