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Wayne Laurila ' 69
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I was first introduced to golf around the age of seven or eight when my family moved from Bunker Hill out near
Coos Country Club. The club had a fairly active junior golf program and our parents were members so they decided to get both myself and my older sister Greda involved. As time went along I just started hanging around the golf course whenever kids were allowed as I could just walk to the course in less than ten minutes. Times were quite different back in those days!
Around the age of nine our mother began entering us in the state junior tournament and a few others around the state. I was able to win a number of junior tournaments in my age bracket and had a pretty successful junior golf career. Junior golf ends at the age of 18.
I simply could not wait to play on the high school golf team! Seeing all of those guys piling in and out of the "crummy" with coach Jim Popp behind the wheel just seemed so cool. We qualified for the state high school tournament all four years I was in school and I will just mention something about each year.
• Freshman year it was myself and four seniors virtually every match and tournament during the season. Only four people could play in the district tournament. Unfortunately one of the seniors was left out.
• Sophomore year at State, Gene Dodd shot his best two rounds of the year and led us to a 5th place finish.
• Junior year the Storm brothers (Smokey and Dwain) moved from Langlois and were very solid contributors to a great season. Unfortunately, we did not play well at state and had a disappointing finish to the year. One thing I will note here, Dwain Storm could throw a golf club a long way, but Kent Day threw them more often!
• Senior year we won District for the only time in my four years and we won by over 20 strokes. Tim Grayson, our exchange student from New Zealand, had his best day of the season and ended up as District Champion.
Following high school I went on to play golf at SWOCC in 1970 and then played on the golf team for the U of O in '71 and '72. During those same years and into the summer of '73 I played in a few major tournaments around Oregon and the Northwest and was able to have a bit of success. I was able to qualify into championship Flight of the Oregon Amateur three straight years, made the cup in the Oregon Open three times with one top 20 finish, and the cut one time in the Northwest Open, and was able to qualify for the Pacific Coast Amateur twice.
In 1974 I went to. work for Al Williams as the assistant professional at Coos Country Club and qualified for my players card. That same year I meet the love of my life, Donna Lillebo from North Bend and we were married in April of '75. I continued working for Al for almost five years then decided to move on. I pretty much quit playing competitive golf except for local stuff (never was able to win the July 4th tournament at Coos) and a few two man tournaments mostly with my old pal KentDay as a partner.
Golf was and has been very good to me. I was able to meet and compete with a number of tremendous players, many of whom ended up playing on the PGA Tour. More. importantly I was able to become friends with a number of wonderful people many of whom are amongst my best friends to this very day.
Noteworthy Achievements:
• 1963 OGA State Champion and Medalist
• 1967 OGA State Champion and Medalist
• 1968 Hogan Cup State Team Member (Inaugural Year)
• 4 Year Letterman MHS
• 1969 Oregon State High School Champion
• 1969 1st Team Al State
• 4 Year State High School Tournament Qualifier
Coos Country Club. The club had a fairly active junior golf program and our parents were members so they decided to get both myself and my older sister Greda involved. As time went along I just started hanging around the golf course whenever kids were allowed as I could just walk to the course in less than ten minutes. Times were quite different back in those days!
Around the age of nine our mother began entering us in the state junior tournament and a few others around the state. I was able to win a number of junior tournaments in my age bracket and had a pretty successful junior golf career. Junior golf ends at the age of 18.
I simply could not wait to play on the high school golf team! Seeing all of those guys piling in and out of the "crummy" with coach Jim Popp behind the wheel just seemed so cool. We qualified for the state high school tournament all four years I was in school and I will just mention something about each year.
• Freshman year it was myself and four seniors virtually every match and tournament during the season. Only four people could play in the district tournament. Unfortunately one of the seniors was left out.
• Sophomore year at State, Gene Dodd shot his best two rounds of the year and led us to a 5th place finish.
• Junior year the Storm brothers (Smokey and Dwain) moved from Langlois and were very solid contributors to a great season. Unfortunately, we did not play well at state and had a disappointing finish to the year. One thing I will note here, Dwain Storm could throw a golf club a long way, but Kent Day threw them more often!
• Senior year we won District for the only time in my four years and we won by over 20 strokes. Tim Grayson, our exchange student from New Zealand, had his best day of the season and ended up as District Champion.
Following high school I went on to play golf at SWOCC in 1970 and then played on the golf team for the U of O in '71 and '72. During those same years and into the summer of '73 I played in a few major tournaments around Oregon and the Northwest and was able to have a bit of success. I was able to qualify into championship Flight of the Oregon Amateur three straight years, made the cup in the Oregon Open three times with one top 20 finish, and the cut one time in the Northwest Open, and was able to qualify for the Pacific Coast Amateur twice.
In 1974 I went to. work for Al Williams as the assistant professional at Coos Country Club and qualified for my players card. That same year I meet the love of my life, Donna Lillebo from North Bend and we were married in April of '75. I continued working for Al for almost five years then decided to move on. I pretty much quit playing competitive golf except for local stuff (never was able to win the July 4th tournament at Coos) and a few two man tournaments mostly with my old pal KentDay as a partner.
Golf was and has been very good to me. I was able to meet and compete with a number of tremendous players, many of whom ended up playing on the PGA Tour. More. importantly I was able to become friends with a number of wonderful people many of whom are amongst my best friends to this very day.
Noteworthy Achievements:
• 1963 OGA State Champion and Medalist
• 1967 OGA State Champion and Medalist
• 1968 Hogan Cup State Team Member (Inaugural Year)
• 4 Year Letterman MHS
• 1969 Oregon State High School Champion
• 1969 1st Team Al State
• 4 Year State High School Tournament Qualifier
