One day before his untimely death in 1997, Ralph Moore sat down, probably more for his own amusement than for posterity, and listed the things for which he wanted to be remembered. It is interesting that after covering 23 U.S. Opens, 21 Masters, 10 PGA Championships and all Denver LPGA events from 1972 to 1985, his one reference to being remembered for writing about golf was his 30 years on the golf beat at The Denver Post and to “probably being the last scribe to cover Jack Nicklaus’ first major (the 1959 U.S. Amateur at the Broadmoor).”
What Ralph wanted to be remembered for in regard to golf was: “Helping Bob Hickman and Bob Kirchner put on the first Colorado Open.” “With Bob Collins, authoring the Munylinks and Muny Tournaments and the Denver Junior Golf Association.” “Initiating Indian Tree Golf Course and hiring Vic Kline as the professional.” Ralph is remembered for these contributions. He is also remembered for helping link the Eisenhower and Evans scholarship funds into the Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship Fund, which provides University of Colorado scholarships to qualifying Colorado caddies. And, of course, he is remembered for writing about every junior tournament he covered, every women’s amateur tournament and a lot of charity events as though each was a U.S. Open.
When it came to golf, Ralph was a writer whose heart was bigger than his vocabulary. He worked through his career to make the game better and more accessible. His deep respect for history caused him to help found the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He was particularly proud of the Colorado Open Ralph Moore Golf Journalism Award intended to forward the pursuit of excellence in golf reporting.
