By the time Jim English moved to Colorado in 1957, he had already competed against future PGA Tour pros Julius Boros and Skee Riegel during their service in World War II, and he had won the 1947 Nebraska Amateur, 1950 Trans-Mississippi Championship, 1951 Iowa Open, 1954 Kansas Open and the 1955 Broadmoor Invitational in Colorado Springs.
The lifelong amateur went on to win five major Colorado Golf Association championships—the 1957 and 1960 Match Play and the 1958, 1959 and 1961 Stroke Play (now known as the Amateur).
On a national level, English finished ahead of Jack Nicklaus and Charlie Coe to earn low-amateur honors in the 1959 US Open at Winged Foot in New York. It was one of nine U.S. Opens for which he’d qualified.
In 1959, he became the first amateur champion of what became the Colorado Open, and he copped the low-amateur title in the first two Colorado Opens played at Hiwan Golf Club in 1964 and 1965. He also repeated as Broadmoor Invitation champion in 1964 and won a second Kansas Open in 1965.
In addition, English won the 1977 Colorado Senior Stroke Play championship, one of the more than 90 victories during a golf career that included wins in 11 club championships at Columbine Country Club.
In addition to the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, English has been inducted into the golf halls of fame in Nebraska and Iowa. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 90.
