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1990-1999: Delancy (Lancy) Smith, Parity Reigns at Men's State Senior, Our 75th Anniversary, Super Seniors

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Delancy (Lancy) Smith

Buffalo native and longtime Park Club member Lancy Smith compiled two hot streaks decades apart as a NYSGA competitor with a total of seven state championships. Winning her first Women’s state Amateur Championship in 1966 at age 18, Smith went on to take home the trophy again in 1968 and 1970. Almost 30 years later, Smith started her second championship blitz when she captured the first of four NYSGA Women's Senior Ams in five years: 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002.

Smith’s impact wasn’t confined to New York, with several appearances on the national scene. The former dental technician won the 1974 Women’s Western Amateur and Women’s Eastern Amateur (1970, ’71, ‘73, ’74) championships. Coupled with her participation in numerous USGA events, Smith was recognized by Golf Digest magazine as one of the top ten U.S. amateurs a dozen years from 1970 to 1984 — taking the top spot in 1980.

Lancy Smith of Williamsville (lower left), and Mary Anne Widman of Elmira (second from top left) on 1984 Curtis Cup Team.

One of the most important parts of Smith’s competitive life was her extensive involvement with the Curtis Cup competition, the biennial set of matches between the best women amateurs representing the United States and a team from Great Britain and Ireland. Smith was a starting member of five Curtis Cup squads (1972, ’76, ’78, ’80 and ’82) and an alternate on four more.

With Smith’s selection as captain of the 1994 U.S. team, she joined Willie Turnesa, Walker Cup playing captain in 1951, as the two New Yorkers who captained our country’s most important international amateur teams.

Lancy Smith of Williamsville with Martha Clute of the NYSGA after winning her final NYS Women's Senior Amateur in 2002.

Parity Reigns at the Men’s State Amateur

For the first time in its history, the NYSGA Men’s State Amateur Championship had ten different winners in a full decade. Often taken as a sign of good health in the sporting world, no single player dominated the state’s most important amateur event. 

The move in 1992 from a medal-play, 72-hole event to a match-play finish may have been a big reason for the lack of one or two players rising above the field.  The new format actually depended on medal play in local qualifying to identify the 144-player field, then again on site to determine the low 32 qualifiers who would then commence match play. More potential potholes coupled with the typically unpredictable nature of match-play golf may explain the many different eventual winners.

In 1994, however, one family definitely was in control of the proceedings. At Victor’s Cobblestone Creek, David and Paul Bonacchi, brothers from East Rochester, made their way into the final, the first such all-in-the-family final in NYSGA history.

With four of the brothers’ eight early matches taking them to at least the 17th hole, the journey was anything but easy. But in the final, David, a career East Rochester policeman, took charge of the 36-hole, brotherly squabble with a solid 3-&-2 victory. David, 39 at the time of his only NYSGA championship victory, went on to become a two-term mayor of East Rochester. 

Paul and Dave Bonnacci of Rochester, brothers who faced off in the 1994 NYS Men's Amateur final at Cobblestone Creek.

Our 75th Anniversary

In 1998, the NYSGA took a moment to commemorate its 75th anniversary at Yahnundasis, during the NYS Mid-Am, which was won by a member of the club in New Hartford, Luke Hobika. Sharing prime real estate behind the ninth green and the club’s League of the Iroquois totem pole, a boulder and plaque were dedicated to note the founding of the organization in 1923 at that club. 

Not lost on any of the attendees was the vital role Yahnundasis has played in the growth of the NYSGA and golf in the Empire State. Besides the ten Men’s and Women’s Amateur Championships hosted by the club, Yahnundasis supplied the association’s first president, Sherrill Sherman, and has provided counsel and support for every important decision. A stronger relationship would be hard to imagine. 

The NYSGA Committee during a 75th anniversary celebration during the 1998 NYS Men's Mid-Amateur at Yahnundasis Golf Club.

 Super Seniors

In 1996, the NYSGA Men’s Super Seniors Championship debuted. The latest in a birth of new championships practically every decade of the NYSGA’s existence, the Super Seniors reflected the importance of a growing demographic within New York golf — the player over 65 years of age. A proof-of-principle event, the men’s version was followed in 2007 by the first NYSGA Women’s Super-Senior Championship. Both events are experiencing excellent attendance.

In its second year, the Super Senior crowned a familiar name. When Bob Hoff, who won the NYSGA Men’s Senior three times (1982, ’84 and ’87), came out on top at the Cedar Lake Club in Utica, he became the first winner of both the association’s Senior and Super Senior championships. 

Then, in 1998, Hank Malfa of Mamaroneck won the first two legs of his three-peat, with wins at Midvale and Stafford. Malfa would complete the job the following year with his win at McConnellsville.

Hank Mafla of Mamoraneck with Pat Keenan of the NYSGA after winning the NYS Men's Super Senior.

Familiar Faces:

• Moira Dunn, a national-level amateur and eventual LPGA tour member from Utica, captured three straight Women’s State Amateur Championships in 1992, ’93 and ’94. These wins validated her 1989 New York State Junior Girls Championship promise. The Florida International All-American turned pro in 1994.

• Belying the usual difficulty of winning junior golf championships over two years — much less three — Kerri Murphy of Amsterdam carted off three State Girls Junior Amateur Championship trophies beginning in 1993, her 6-&-5 victory in her first win being the event's largest margin. Not to be outdone, Nannette Hill from Pelham Manor won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002.

• Don Allen won three NYSGA Men’s Senior Championships in four years 1994, ’96 and ‘97. Allen’s final win at the Cedar Lake Club in 1997 was his record 11th NYSGA title in his distinguished playing career.

• A big decade for New York girls junior golf, the 1990s also saw the emergence of Rye’s Meaghan Francella, who won State Girls Junior Amateur Championships in 1998 and 1999. What made Meaghan particularly special was that she was still in junior high school. She became the NYSGA’s youngest champion at age 13 when she won in 1998 at Vestal Hills.

Moira Dunn of Utica won three straight NYS Women's Amateurs from 1992-94. 

Danielle Downey, Betty Deeley and Meaghan Francella during the NYS Girls' Junior in 1999. Nannette Hill (right) holding trophy at NYS Girls' Junior in 2000.