Aries Engineering Golf League: A prior sub has passed away...

Saturday, April 23, 2011

A prior sub has passed away...

We send sympathy and prayers to Andy Welch and his family. Andy's dad, Roman Welch, passed away last Friday. My understanding is that Roman was a sub on our league from time to time. We send our best to Andy and family!

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League History

The Dura Golf League (sponsored by Dura Corp.) was established in 1946, and played at Ottawa Park Golf Course until 1956. In 1957, the league moved from Ottawa Park to Chippewa Country Club, and remained there through 1967.

In 1961, league member and Dura worker Pat Upton passed away. Pat was an excellent amateur athlete and golfer who’s family ancestors have Upton Avenue named for them. In 1962, the league dedicated the current trophy to Pat’s memory. Since 1962, the annual champions names have been engraved on the trophy.

In 1968, the Dura League moved from Chippewa Country Club to the newly opened Whiteford Valley Golf Course. As of 1979, there was no more room on the trophy for the champions names, so the league had an extension attached to the original base of the trophy. In 1992, the league lost the sponsorship from Dura Corp. when the company closed their plant in Toledo. In 1993, Jim Wilcox, a former Dura employee and machinery broker, took over the sponsorship of the newly designated Wilcox Machinery Golf League.

In 2001, Jim went into semi retirement and the league went through another sponsorship change. Systems control entrepreneur Mike Nagy Sr. assumed sponsorship of the newly named M&N Controls Golf League beginning in 2002.

During the 2004 season, the Pat Upton Memorial Trophy was refurbished through the efforts of league officers Russ Bohland, Tom Tinta, and Jim Wilcox.

In 2009, Todd Brieschke and his company, Aries Engineering, took over sponsorship of the league. A year later, (in 2010), the league members voted to move to Giant Oaks Golf Course in Temperance, Michigan, where it remains today.

Many of the league members have been involved for decades, and can recant many stories from far back, making this one of the oldest and most historic leagues in this area.