Arthur C. “Ace” Williams
1943 team captain
The Yale golf team won its twenty-first and last national intercollegiate championship at the Olympia Fields course in Chicago in 1943. The team of seniors Bob Kuntz, J. G. Harris, Walter Beckjord, and junior Keith Bridston played thirty-six holes in a total of 614 strokes and beat second-place Michigan by four strokes. However, they played without their team captain, Ace Williams (Class of 1943), who was serving as a Marine Corps Corsair pilot in the war.
Arthur Williams had arrived at Yale in 1939 as a good enough golfer to have already won the New Jersey Junior Amateur Championship. He was elected captain of the freshman team that won all but one of its matches. One of his teammates was Bud Semple, who later became president of the USGA.
One experience from that freshman year remains vivid in Williams’s memory. Bobby Jones, winner of the Grand Slam in 1930, came to New Haven as one of the first inductees into the Hall of Fame of the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance. Arthur was trying out for the Yale Daily News staff, so he called Jones at the Taft Hotel and arranged a special interview. In the interview he learned that the thirteenth hole at the Yale course was one of Jones’s favorites. Jones also praised the indoor practice facility that Ben Thomson had constructed in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
During Yale’s spring break in 1940, Coach Ben Thomson welcomed golfers from all classes (who could pay their own way) on a trip to Augusta, Georgia. They played matches at Augusta Country Club, Aiken Country Club, and the Augusta National Golf Club. On the way home, they played at Pinehurst No. 2. Williams was on the trip with his fellow freshmen, who became “friends for life.”
As a sophomore Williams was one of three team members who qualified for the individual competition at the 1941 ncaa National Championships. He qualified for match play with a score of 141 (as did Cary Middlecoff) but lost his second match. The 1942 team went undefeated and won the Eastern Intercollegiate Championship. That spring Williams was elected captain. Beside his commitment to academic study and the golf team he was also working for the Yale Daily News and logged 35 hours learning to fly in the Government’s cpt program. In June 1942 Williams left for war time service.
After the war he returned to competitive golf and reached the final of the Connecticut Amateur in 1956, where he lost to Alpheus Winter (Yale 1939). Williams has qualified for the National Amateur three times. His most memorable golf experience came in the 1961 playoff to qualify for the John G. Anderson Memorial Four-Ball Tournament at Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York. With club professional, Claude Harmon, looking on, Williams aced the tenth hole of the West Course (his first of six holes-in-one). Many assume this string of aces gave him his nickname, but he actually acquired it in his youth at Andover, from his initials A.C. At age eighty-six in 2008 he was still working as a lawyer, playing golf to a 16 handicap, and regularly shooting his age.
Arthur Williams had arrived at Yale in 1939 as a good enough golfer to have already won the New Jersey Junior Amateur Championship. He was elected captain of the freshman team that won all but one of their matches. One of his teammates was Bud Semple, who later became President of the USGA.
One experience from that freshman year remains vivid in his memory. Bobby Jones, winner of the Grand Slam in 1930 came to New Haven as one of the first inductees in the Hall of Fame of the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance. Arthur was trying out for the Yale Daily News staff, so he called Jones at the Taft Hotel and arranged an special interview. In the interview he learned that the 13th hole at the Yale course was one of Jones’ favorites. Jones also praised the indoor practice facility that Ben Thomson had constructed in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
During Yale’s spring break of 1940, Coach Ben Thomson welcomed golfers from all classes (who could pay their own way) on a trip to Augusta, Georgia. They played matches at Augusta Country Club, Aiken Country Club, and the Augusta National Golf Club. On the way home, they played at Pinehurst No. 2. Williams was on the trip with his fellow freshmen, who became “friends for life.
As a sophomore he was one of three team members who qualified for the individual competition at the 1941 NCAA National Championships. He qualified for match play with a score of 141 (as did Cary Middlecoff) but lost his second match. The 1942 team went undefeated and won the Eastern Intercollegiate Championship. That spring he was elected captain. Beside his commitment to academic study and the golf team he was also working for the Yale Daily News and logged 35 hours learning to fly in the Government’s CPT program. In June 1942 he left for war time service.
After the war he returned to competitive golf and reached the final of the Connecticut Amateur in 1956, where he lost to Alpheus Winter [Yale 1939]. He has qualified for the National Amateur three times. His most memorable golf experience came in the 1961 playoff to qualify for the John G. Anderson Memorial Four-Ball Tournament at Winged Foot G.C., Mamaroneck N.Y. With Club Professional Claude Harmon looking on, he aced the 10th hole of the West Course (his first of six holes-in-one]. Many assume this string of aces gave him his nickname, but he acquired it in his youth at Andover, from his initials A. C. At age 86 in 2008 he is still working as a lawyer, playing golf to a 16 handicap, and regularly shooting his age.
