Tom Gillis, the head coach of Notre Dame’s boys golf team, was formally inducted Saturday into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. He shared the honor with five other decorated and celebrated championship golfers.
In the photo above: From left, Bob Ackerman, Brian Cairns, Tom Gillis, Suzy Green-Roebuck and Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. Alexander Ross is deceased.
BIG RAPIDS – They could be called the Super Six.
The Michigan Golf Hall of Fame’s newest class was presented Saturday in induction ceremonies at Ferris State University’s Katke Golf Club, and it featured six decorated and celebrated championship golfers.
PGA Master Professional Bob Ackerman of West Bloomfield, PGA Professional Brian Cairns of Walled Lake, PGA Tour veteran Tom Gillis of Lake Orion, former LPGA Tour player Suzy Green-Roebuck of Ann Arbor, the late Alex Ross of Detroit, who was a U.S. Open winner 110 years ago, and Michigan State University women’s golf coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett tied for the largest class in history with the induction group of 1990. They bring the number of inductees to 119.
“It’s humbling to be in the Hall of Fame,” said Green-Roebuck who joins her father Pete Green, a 1986 inductee, in giving the Hall of Fame its first parent-child members. “It’s hard to find the right words to describe how wonderful it feels.”
Ackerman, 63, owner of Bob Ackerman Golf in West Bloomfield, won his first Michigan Open title in 1975 as an amateur and added a second in 2003 while also winning the Michigan Senior Open that year and being named Michigan PGA Player of the Year.
Cairns, 52 and a teaching professional at Fox Hills Learning Center in Plymouth, was inducted into the Michigan PGA Section’s Hall of Fame last year. His credentials include being a three-time Michigan PGA Professional Champion and being named the national Senior PGA Professional Player of the Year in 2015.
Gillis, 48, played nine seasons on the PGA Tour including 2016 and has been a touring professional since 1993, including stints on the European Tour, the Web.com Tour and has played competitive golf in 26 countries. He plans to play the Champions Tour when he turns 50.
Green-Roebuck, 50, won her third Michigan Women’s Open title last summer at age 49. She played for seven years on the LPGA Tour in the 1990s, and was a four-time winner on what is now the LPGA’s Symetra Tour. As an amateur she won the Michigan Women’s Amateur among other titles.
Ross, who died in 1952 at age 72 is the brother of famed golf course architect Donald Ross, and is credited with having won seven of golf’s major championships because of his 1907 U.S. Open win at the Philadelphia Cricket Club and six North and South Opens at Pinehurst Resort (considered a major in the early 1900s). The native of Dornoch, Scotland, was the head professional for 31 years at Detroit Golf Club.
Slobodnik-Stoll, 45 and a Grand Rapids native is the successful head women’s golf coach at Michigan State University with five Big Ten titles and 10 trips to the NCAA Championships, and as a player is the winningest golfer in Golf Association of Michigan history with 15 titles, including two Michigan Women’s Amateur Championships and an unprecedented eight GAM Mid-Amateur wins.
The MGHOF is a heralded collection of portraits, plaques and memorabilia that currently commemorates the likes of Walter Hagen, Chuck Kocsis, Horton Smith and more current notables Dave and Mike Hill, Dan Pohl, Meg Mallon and Kelly Robbins. The collection will soon be housed and displayed in the new Professional Golf Management Learning Center planned by Ferris State University at its Katke facility. A $4 million fundraising effort is nearing completion.
The MGHOF is administered by the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame Committee, which is funded through the non-profit Michigan Golf Foundation (501(c) (3) since 1996) and includes 18 members representing a cross-section of the state’s golf associations as well as the golf media. The MGHOF committee conducts an annual election to recognize the achievements of competitive Michigan golfers, but also those of individuals who have contributed to the growth of the game.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.