Bob Crowley, 81, golf pro won many tourneys

Bob Crowley, a charter member of the New England PGA Hall of Fame, won more than 400 tournaments. (DAN GOSHTIGIAN/GLOBE STAFF)

Bob Crowley, a longtime golf professional at Pine Brook Country Club in Weston who won more than 400 tournaments, many on the New England pro circuit, never bragged about his accomplishments.

"He was a gentleman and a gentle man," recalled Sis Dine of Wellesley, who was taught the game by Mr. Crowley and went on to win 19 women's championships at the club. "He would say countless times how much he loved getting in his car and driving to Pine Brook."

Mr. Crowley, a charter member of the New England PGA Hall of Fame, died Wednesday of a heart attack at MetroWest Medical Center in Natick. He was 81.

A Natick resident who lived most of his life in Newton, he is enshrined in the Newton High School and Boston College Varsity Club halls of fame. The Robert W. Crowley Golf Scholarship was established at BC in 1985 to coincide with his induction.

"He was a magnificent golfer, as good as anyone to ever come out of New England, but he never had to tell everyone how good he really was. That's why he was so respected," recalled Richard Kinchla of Falmouth, Mr. Crowley's golf teammate at BC from 1947 to 1950. "He beat me in the New England intercollegiate championship our senior year and I couldn't have lost to a nicer guy. Bob invited me to several member-guest tournaments at Pine Brook and it was obvious that the members there thought the world of him."

In a 2001 Globe interview, Mr. Crowley expressed his affection for Pine Brook. "No one has worked for a membership that has been better to them than the people at Pine Brook have been to me," he said.

Morris Goldberg of Newton, a 60-year club member, traveled to Bermuda on many occasions with Mr. Crowley as part of a Pine Brook team that competed in the Goodwill Tournament against an international field.

"We earned instant respect," he said, "because we were with Bob Crowley." Mr. Crowley came to the club in 1957 as an assistant, was head pro from 1961 to 1991, and was its director of golf until his death. Several former assistants are now head pros, including the Hyannisport Club's Rick Johnson, who said Mr. Crowley was his most important influence in golf.

A Navy veteran of World War II who caddied at Charles River Country Club in Newton, Mr. Crowley starred on two undefeated teams at Newton High and four more at BC. He went on to the national PGA tour and was paired with Arnold Palmer in the 1956 Insurance City Open in Hartford. He participated in 10 US Opens, 10 PGA Championships, and 20 tour tournaments, and led in three of them through three rounds.

"If there was a senior pro tour when Bob turned 50, he would have been the Dana Quigley of that era," said longtime friend Jack Neville of Newton, director of golf at Lynch Municipal golf course in Brookline. "Bob was loyal to the NEPGA and was a starter at many of their tournaments. I remember when he was asked why he was so successful as a player, and his answer was simple. He said, `I practice.' "

Called the "patron saint of the NEPGA" by the late Globe golf writer Joe Concannon, Mr. Crowley was a multiple winner of the NEPGA, Massachusetts Open, and NEPGA Seniors championships.

None was sweeter than the playoff victory at the 1973 Mass. Open at Kernwood Country Club in Salem, according to his daughter, Mary Beth, of Newton.

"I was 11 years old at the time and always went to see him play, but the night before the final round it was pouring rain and he told me not to come even though he was leading," she recalled. "I cried and said I wanted to be there to see him win, so he said OK and we drove to Salem together. He hadn't won a big tournament in quite a while so it was very satisfying for him. The Globe ran a photo of the two of us, soaked but very happy, and I like to think he tried a little harder because I was there."

Mr. Crowley, who was nominated as one of Newton's top 10 athletes for the first 50 years of the last century by the Boston Herald-Traveler, turned pro in 1950 and worked at three clubs prior to coming to Pine Brook. There he found time to play weekly with member foursomes of all abilities in the popular Bob Crowley Tournament, with the winning men's and women's teams receiving a trophy.

Although golf was his passion and his life, said his daughter, he found great joy spending time with his grandchildren and he had enjoyed teaching Mary Beth the game and playing many rounds with her.

In a tribute written by club members after his death, Mr. Crowley was described as "the face and spirit of Pine Brook golf. There are life lessons to be learned from golf, and Bob Crowley, for all his accolades, knew, practiced and taught those lessons."

Mr. Crowley also leaves his wife, Marilou Cordova-Crowley of Natick; his son, Robert J. of Sudbury; his stepson, Matthew Cordova of Natick; his former wife, Claire of Newton; and two grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Zepherin Church in Wayland. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery in Needham.