SC golf legend remembered for 50-plus years of contributions to the game

He’s the little guy in the aging black and white photograph of the University of South Carolina squad that won the 1964 Atlantic Coast Conference men’s golf championship.

But size did not hold him back.

Rather, Jackie Seawell sparkled on the golf course then and excelled for the next 55 years in growing the game he loved and made his life.

“He showed you didn’t have to be a great player to be worthy of the hall of fame,” Happ Lathrop said in remembering Seawell, who died Monday at age 79.

Oh, Seawell won his share. He captured the 1964 South Carolina Intercollegiate, then one of the top tournaments on the schedule, and he led the Gamecocks in scoring in the conference championship tournament.

Nevertheless, his biggest contributions came in promoting and teaching the game. A PGA of America professional, he served clubs in Mauldin, his native Anderson and finally the Aiken area.

“There’s no telling how many lives he impacted positively,” said Lathrop, who oversaw the South Carolina Golf Association for more than 40 years prior to his retirement.

His association with Seawell is even longer.

“Carolina played in the South Carolina Intercollegiate in Hampton (Lathrop’s home town), and I caddied for him,” Lathrop said. “I got $4 a day and a tip.”

Their relationship grew with Lathrop’s taking the SCGA leadership. At the 1986 State Amateur at Cobbs Glen in Anderson, Lathrop would arrive at the course about 6 a.m. and find Seawall, the club’s pro, already on the job.

“He had this old Maytag clothes washing machine that he used to wash range balls,” Lathrop said.

Soon enough, Seawell would end up in the Aiken area — head pro at Woodside Plantation, director of golf at Sage Valley and finally owner of Houndslake.

“Jackie was really a great teacher, especially with juniors,” Lathrop said. “He just had a knack in relating to and working with young people.”

USC All-American Matt NeSmith, now on the PGA Tour, honed his game under Seawell’s watchful eye.

“He was my swing coach from the time I was probably 13 until I went to college,” NeSmith told the Aiken Standard. “He was one of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met in my golfing career, for sure, and he was extremely knowledgeable.”

A favorite memory for Lathrop came from father-son tournaments after Seawell and Lathrop, a former State Amateur champion, no longer played competitively.

“Jackie and I couldn’t play a lick — he skulled every chip and I chili-dipped mine — but we decided that he would play with (son) David Lee and I would play with (son) Biff,” Lathrop said. “We would tee off first and play quick, and I would be back to oversee the tournament.”

At stake?

“The Turkey Trot trophy,” Lathrop said. “Jackie and I were the turkeys the way we played and the trot was how fast we played. We did that until David Lee got too good.”

Seawell earned numerous honors, including his induction into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame.

He is survived by Claire, his wife of 55 years, and their four children: Jay (Stephanie) Seawell, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Daniel (Casey) Seawell, Aiken; Julie (Brian) Allen, Columbia; and David (Ashley) Seawell, Aiken.

The three sons have been involved with golf and all played at USC. Jay is head golf coach at the University of Alabama. Daniel is head pro and a co-owner of Houndslake, and David made All-American in college, spent a year on the PGA Tour and is now on the SCGA board of directors.

Memorials may be directed to the S.C. Junior Golf Foundation (www.scgolf.org), PGA Golf Emergency Relief Fund (www.PGA.org), or St. John’s United Methodist Church in Aiken.

Chip shots. Gene Zeigler (Florence), Major Lenning (Simpsonville) and Braeden Barnett (Galivants Ferry) earned places in the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying in Salisbury, North Carolina. At Briar’s Creek GC on John’s Island, Lucas Acevedo (Charleston), Zach Reuland (Rock Hill) and Rowan Sullivan (Charleston) advanced to the U.S. Junior, set for July at the CC of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina. ... Kiera Bartholomew (Wake Forest, North Carolina), Chloe Holder (Anderson) and Sydney Roberts (Chesnee) advance to the U.S. Junior Girls Amateur in qualifying at Spring Valley CC. ... Annabelle Pancake, a rising sophomore on Clemson’s women’s team, shattered numerous tournament records in winning the Indiana Women’s Amateur by 14 strokes in Carmel, Indiana. ... John Dennis (Greenvile) won the Carolinas Super Senior Championship at Florence CC. ... The SCGA’s Junior Championship, with a field of 144, will be played Monday-Wednesday at Forest Lake Club.