Golf in the Northern California region was celebrated Wednesday, Oct. 16 at Silverado Resort as the NCGA inducted its 13th Hall of Fame Class.
Joining Distinguished Service Award honoree Bruce Baker were Tina Barker and Jeff Burda, who were both inducted in the Player Achievement category and former longtime Cal women's golf coach Nancy McDaniel, who was inducted in the Lifetime Achievement category. McDaniel was represented by her husband, Jay.
Bruce Baker--Distinguished Service Award
There’s a saying that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Suffice to say, San Francisco native Bruce Baker has lived quite a life.
As a kid growing up next to the Presidio, he watched players on the Presidio course. He enjoyed it so much that during the summers of 1949 and 1950, he began hopping the wall to work as a caddie--sometimes even carrying the bag for Joe DiMaggio and Bob Hope.
As for his own game, Bruce would head out with second-hand clubs he received from his uncle. There were no high school teams then, but upon attending Cal-Berkeley he began playing casual rounds with friends.
Following his graduation from Cal, Bruce did a two-year stint in the Navy, where he was stationed at a Naval Air Station on Adak Island in the remote Aleutian Islands 1,000 miles off the coast of Alaska. Following his service, Bruce came home in 1961 and began re-settling with his wife Barbara. He’d begin working in the insurance industry for several companies was and able to join the prestigious San Francisco Golf Club.
Having since co-founded Sweet and Baker Insurance in 1975, at San Francisco Golf Club he befriended future USGA Presidents Sandy Tatum and Grant Spaeth.
One day while playing in 1993, Spaeth suggested that Bruce go to Rules school. Bruce not only went but became so knowledgeable that he began officiating with Grant at the San Francisco City Championship. He’d soon after become a volunteer tournament official for the NCGA.
And that’s when things really took off. In 2000, not long after becoming an NCGA tournament official, Bruce was nominated and elected to the NCGA Board of Directors. He’d also become president of the NCGA Foundation.
Looking for a way to give back, one of Bruce’s concerns was the cost for kids to play golf. He expressed his concern to Michael Hexner and Chris Clark, who were on the Foundation committee. The three came up with the idea of having kids play for five dollars.
Soon after, Bruce approached friend Paul Morton of the Paul Morton Foundation. Turns out, it was a perfect match.
The seeds of what would become Youth on Course were planted.
Bruce went on to serve on the Youth on Course Board for two years, including his presidency, and has continued to serve as an honorary chair member for nearly a decade.
Today, Bruce still isn’t finished. He still works nearly 30 days a year as an NCGA tournament official, and he still occasionally sits in on Youth on Course Board meetings.
And he continues to be a huge supporter. The last three years, he’s participated in the Youth on Course 100 Hole Hike. He did it again this year, too, at the age of 87--continuing his streak as being the oldest 100 Hole Hike participant.
The times may have changed, but Bruce has not.
The NCGA is proud and honored to recognize Bruce Baker with its 2024 Distinguished Service Award.
Tina Barker--Player Achievement Award
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia is Tina Barker’s hometown of Marion, Virginia. Home to “Song of the Mountains” PBS bluegrass show, Marion also has its own golf club, Holston Hills. And that’s where Tina’s story starts.
As a youngster, Tina’s father would take Tina and her two sisters to the local golf course and encourage them to play. Tina quickly took an interest.
Eventually, as a teenager, Tina wound up in the ladies’ golf group where the world of golf would become competitive. These ladies passed on their knowledge of shot making and chipping with 6 irons. In 1979, Tina, along with Noni, Norma and Sara from the club, qualified and competed in the Team Net Division for the Walter Hagen National Golf Championship in Walt Disney World. They won. The small-town gals did good!
In 1980, Tina joined the U.S. Navy, serving for five years. Coincidentally, that is when the golf bug really took over. Stationed at Point Mugu as an Air Traffic Controller, there was plenty of time to go to Pt. Mugu’s 9-hole golf course on the base. As her own game began taking more form, Tina, having watched some LPGA tournaments in the nearby Los Angeles and Palm Springs areas, began to consider taking her game to another level.
Early in 1986, Tina met Shirley Spork in Palm Desert to evaluate her potential and ability to play golf as a professional. Even though the pro-golf route did not work out for Tina, the 36-year friendship and bond between Spork and Tina did. Spork took Tina under her wing and gave her advice and structure to be a good golfer and person. As Tina found out, LPGA history was all around Spork, as she was one of the 13 founding members of the LPGA in 1950.
Under Spork’s mentorship and tutelage, Tina, who relocated to Northern California in 1991, decided to re-enter golf competitions. But this time she would do it as an amateur.
It ended up being the right decision
Tina would go on to win the PWGA Legacy Open a record 12 times over three decades. There too were the back-to-back California Senior Women Amateur titles in 2010 and 2011, three wins at the WGANC Legacy Team Challenge, two wins at the WGANC Legacy Stroke Play Championship and a victory at the WGANC Legacy The Eclectic.
In NCGA competitions, she has a pair of wins at the Senior Women’s Championship and a win at the Women’s Four-Ball.
On the USGA front, Tina has played in over 22 championships, including four U.S. Senior Women Opens, one U.S. Amateur, six U.S. Mid-Amateurs, nine U.S. Senior Women’s Amateurs and a member of the 1995 inaugural USGA State Team representing California. Just last year, she competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. At the age of 64, she was the oldest competitor in the field--the youngest was 14.
Yep, the fire still burns.
Thanks to the help from Shirley Spork and many others, that kid from Marion has come a long way.
Tina Barker, welcome to the NCGA Hall of Fame.
Jeff Burda--Player Achievement Award
Golf wasn’t even on the radar screen when Jeff Burda was growing up.
The San Mateo native would occasionally dabble with swinging a club, but instead primarily focused on football, baseball and basketball.
It wasn’t until Jeff left Aptos for the University of Notre Dame that golf became a pursuit. While at Notre Dame, he not only walked on to the men’s golf team, he eventually became captain for two seasons, even qualifying for the 1974 NCAA Championships.
Tired of the Midwest winters, following college Jeff returned west to Santa Cruz. Golf again went somewhat on the backburner as he focused on starting a career in accounting and banking and raising a family. In 1979, work brought him to Modesto, where he would stay. He’d still, however, occasionally get out and show off his game, capturing the 1974 NCGA Public Links title, the 1989 Four-Ball title and a pair of NCGA Mid-Amateurs in 1995 and 1996.
Starting around 2000, with his banking career and family in great shape, Jeff dove more into the competitive golf fray full-time.
Turned out, the more mature Jeff was even better.
He’d first rack up two more NCGA titles, winning the 2005 Mid-Amateur title and a third Mid-Am crown in 2007.
Soon after, having turned 55 in 2008, Jeff would become dominant as a senior. As of this year, Jeff as a senior had amassed a record 13 NCGA Senior titles---three California Senior Ams, two Stroke Plays, one Senior Match Play, one Senior Four-Ball, two Senior Valley, two Super Seniors and two Super Senior Match Play titles.
In all, Jeff is the only player ever to win an NCGA title in six different decades.
There too are his three Player of the Year honors—one as a senior and two as a super senior.
But it’s not just within the NCGA circle that he has left an impression.
On the USGA front, Jeff has competed in 18 championships. Highlights include being medalist at the 2006 U.S. Senior, reaching the semifinals of the 2010 U.S. Senior Amateur and reaching the quarterfinals at the 2011 U.S. Senior Am.
In addition, he has eight SCGA titles and other nationwide and NorCal victories such as the 2006 NorCal Open, the 2012 Alameda Senior Commuters, three Trans-Mississippi Senior and Super Senior titles, five Society of Senior titles, the 2022 and 2023 Golfweek Super Seniors and an AmateurGolf.com Super Senior Player of the Year crown.
Not bad for someone who was at one point just dabbling.
Jeff Burda, welcome to the NCGA Hall of Fame.
Nancy McDaniel--Lifetime Achievement Award
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius once said that “a legacy is not for you, but for everyone else.”
Nancy McDaniel has no doubt shared her passion for golf.
When Nancy was still just 8 years old, her parents, Marilyn and Don Kessler, would drop her off at Waverley Country Club outside Portland. It didn’t take very long for Nancy to fall in love with the game, and to make a few friends.
Among her closest pals on the Portland junior golf scene were two sisters, Renee and Lara Mack—today Renee Baumgartner, the athletic director at Santa Clara University, and Lara Tennant, a three-time USGA champion.
Renee would play such a pivotal role in Nancy’s development that Nancy still calls her a mentor. In 1986, it was Renee who encouraged Nancy to take her blossoming game to the University of Washington.
During her four years as a Huskie, Nancy was team captain and an All-American. She also twice earned All-Pac 10 honors and was later named to Washington’s Pac-10 all decade team.
Following her collegiate career, Nancy for five years played as a professional, competing on the Women’s European, Ladies Asian and Players West tours. In 1992, she even won an LPGA sectional qualifier, but she also wanted to get married to her future husband, Jay, and start a family.
Having opted to forgo a professional career, it was one fateful day in 1994 that Nancy saw an ad in Golf World magazine for the position of head coach of the new women’s golf program at Cal-Berkeley.
She’d not only get hired, she’d end up leaving a legacy.
Prior to Nancy’s retirement this past spring, the Bears consistently were ranked in the top 25 nationally, appearing in 10 NCAA Championships and 22 NCAA Regionals.
After garnering back-to-back Pac-10 and West Regional Coach of the Year awards in 2001 and 2002, Nancy led the Bears to a nation-best seven first-place tournament finishes in 2002-03, their highest-ever national ranking at No. 2 and their first of two Pac 10/12 championships. After winning the NCAA Central Regional in 2003, the Bears went on to have three straight top-five showings at the NCAA Championships from 2004-06, including a program-best fourth-place finish in 2004.
Along the way, Nancy received numerous coach honors, including the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional, Golfweek, California's Athletic Alumni Association's Big C Society, LPGA Teaching Division Western Section and Golf World Midseason Coach of the Year awards. She’d be inducted into the WGCA Hall of Fame in 2016, and left Cal having coached 17 All Americans, 31 NGCA/WGCA All-American Scholars and 43 All-Pac 10/12 golfers.
In many of those years, she’d at the same time raise her two kids, Tyler and Molly. She’d also fight against cancer.
While she’s now retired, Nancy’s influence remains. Her coaching tree includes former Cal players who are now coaching: Sofie Aagaard, who is now coaching Cal, Anne Walker at NCAA champion Stanford, Ria Scott at University of Virginia and Washington State assistant Anna Temple.
The values and character that Nancy brought to Cal--including knowing that a woman can be a successful coach and mom-- continue to be passed down and shared.
Nancy McDaniel, welcome to the NCGA Hall of Fame.