Class of 2022 – Anderson, Coffin Look Back on Hall of Fame Careers
On Oct. 1, the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2022 will be inducted during a ceremony at The Hill at TPC Summerlin, which kicks of the Shriners Children’s Open. Inductees are Jeremy Anderson, Bob Coffin, Dale Hahn, Dave Johnson and Ann Sunstrum. –By Brian Hurlburt, www.lasvegasgolfinsider.com
In a previous article, we talked with Hahn, Johnson and Sunstrum, and now Anderson and Coffin share memories and their thoughts about this lifetime achievement. Click now for the previous 2022 Class Article. In a future article, we will look back upon the career of Brady Exber, who is receiving a special lifetime inductee award.
Tickets are available for the Night of Induction by visiting www.lasvegasgolfhof.com
Anderson was a 3-time All-American and academic All-American at UNLV and a key member of the 1998 UNLV golf team that won the NCAA title. He also played on the PGA Tour and remains a Southern Nevada resident who is active on several non-profit boards.
“The history of golf in Las Vegas is so deep and so rich, so to be a small part of that history and be recognized for it is humbling,” Anderson says. “It’s also a bit overwhelming because when you’re out accomplishing things that you’re setting out to do, you don’t really think about the historical significance of it because as a golfer, you’re just thinking, go do it again the next day and try to do it a little bit better than you did the previous day. For those things to be recognized and appreciated, and to be now included as a piece of that history of Las Vegas golf, is a pretty amazing feeling when I really sit down and think about it.”
Anderson has lived in Las Vegas since his UNLV days and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I really felt like I had ingrained myself in the community while I was at UNLV to where I didn’t really want to go anywhere else,” Anderson says. “As a professional golfer, it was easy having the two TPCs here and knowing that I always had a couple options of places to work on my game when I was at home. I never really thought about going back to Florida because I enjoy the the west coast. This really is home and it felt like home since I got here as a freshman in 1996. It’s been the right fit for me since day one and I love it here. I love being ingrained in this community. It’s always nice to go visit other places, but it’s even nicer to come back home.”
Anderson’s professional career was cut short due to injuries, but still provided plenty of memories. However, his overriding memory is lifting the NCAA trophy.
“Winning the NCAA title was by far and away, my most special moment in golf because so rarely do you get to celebrate an accomplishment in golf with other people,” Anderson says. “Golf is such an individual sport so to truly celebrated with a team like we did in school was great. Plus, it was so much bigger than us. It was a thank you to the university. It was a thank you to the Rebel Golf Foundation. It was a thank you to the entire Southern Nevada community because all of that support and infrastructure that was put into place to give us the opportunity to go out and perform at our highest levels. None of that could have been done without all of those people.”
For Coffin, the 1970 Nevada State Amateur champion and a U.S. Amateur qualifier, golf has always been part of his life, some seven decades later. Coffin also served as president of the Nevada State Golf Association, was the Review-Journal golf columnist and served in politics for decades as both a state senator and Las Vegas city council person.
“This is such special recognition of a lifetime of being in golf and around golf and always having it on my mind,” Coffin says. “Not so much playing in my later years, but rather just to be fostering it, to be encouraging it, and doing what I can to be a part of it.”
Coffin was a top amateur and a member of the UNLV golf team. He will always remember a certain summer.
“1970 was quite a summer because I won the Nevada State Amateur in sudden death over Bruce Ashworth, an All-American and I also qualified for the U.S. Amateur,” Coffin says. “The summer of 70 was a high water mark for me playing the game. And wouldn’t you know it, about four or five months later, I started getting involved in politics with some prominent people and seemed like it never stopped from that moment.”
Coffin has always believed golf is an integral part of Nevada and worked in front of and behind the scenes to help the golf industry and in other ways.
“Golf is just critical to Nevada’s economy and I think people who simply want to just tear up golf courses and build houses are not thinking about the welfare of the people,” Coffin says. “And the welfare of the people includes treatment for all classes. I know there are still some people who think that golf is only for the wealthy, but I am discouraged when I see a public golf course like Desert Pines go to a developer. The tragedy of Silverstone and Badlands being closed and this turmoil was caused by developers, some of whom are trying to force it through local governments. I had to be on my toes right up to the very end (on the council).”
