Person:Leonard Newquist (1)

LEONARD EDWARD NEWQUIST

My Uncle Leonard was a frequent visitor to our home in DeKalb, and lived with my parents (and worked in the Newquist Foundry) for several years before his death. In particular, he and I spent many hours together when I would return home on breaks from college. And I recall his attendance at the engagement dinner that my parents gave Pat and I in Aurora, Illinois at the Sky Club atop the Leland Hotel in July, 1957.

Nicknamed "Chisel" by some, he was a golf enthusiast and spent much of his life with friends on the pro-golf circuit. When his mother, Genevieve died in 1943, he was an Army private confined to the military hospital in Walla Walla, Washington. I believe he died in a Veteran's Hospital in Joliet, IL.

Leonard had a very dry wit and easy smile. He always wore fashionable clothes.

As a manager for the Spalding Sporting Goods Co., he was very generous with sports gifts to members of the Newquist family. Leonard was a very close friend of Johnny Dawson, the man once termed "Golf's Uncrowned King".

Born in 1903, Dawson and his four brothers grew up caddying in their hometown of Wheaton, IL "where there were only 3,400 people and three golf courses," Johnny would later say. One of his regulars was the western manager for Spalding, and when Dawson was graduated from Wheaton High School in 1920, he went to work for the sporting goods company traveling the golf circuit to sign up professionals to represent Spalding.

The USGA eventually ruled that Dawson's job was a violation of amateur status rules so Dawson resigned from Spalding in 1929 to compete in the U.S., British and French Amateurs and the French two-ball championship.

After winning the two-ball and being a semifinalist in the British and French Amateurs, Dawson headed to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Amateur. There was, however, an obstruction looming: Spalding had refused to accept Dawson's resignation. Despite being assured by USGA officials that he would be welcome to compete, Dawson arrived at Pebble Beach (and set a course record in a practice round), only to have the USGA reverse itself. Dawson refused to fight the decision; he returned to work for Spalding and limited his competition to non-USGA events.

However, Dawson's most enduring legacy isn't his magnificent golfing achievements. Rather, it is his vision that you could actually grow grass in the desert, a belief that led him to purchase the Thunderbird Dude Ranch in Palm Springs and turn it into the Coachella Valley's first real estate development and second golf course, Thunderbird CC. He followed that with Eldorado, La Quinta, Marrakesh and others in the desert, as well as Pauma Valley in northern San Diego County and Marin GC and Silverado Resort in Northern California.

Leonard NEWQUIST

   Birth Date: 10 Jul 1904  
   Death Date: Sep 1979  
   Social Security Number:  336-07-6743  
   State or Territory Where Number Was Issued:  Illinois 
 
 Death Residence Localities 
   ZIP Code: 60435  
   Localities:  Crest Hill, Will, Illinois 
 Joliet, Will, Illinois 
 Shorewood, Will, Illinois 
 Stateville, Will, Illinois 
 
 Death Benefit Localities  
   Zip Code:  60411  
   Localities: Chicago Heights, Cook, Illinois 
 Ford Heights, Cook, Illinois 
 Lynwood, Cook, Illinois 
 Otto Mall, Cook, Illinois 
 Sauk Village, Cook, Illinois 
 South Chicago Heights, Cook, Illinois 
 

1. ↑ .

   Broderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 2, Ed. 5, Social Security Death Index: U.S., Date of Import: May 2, 1998, Internal Ref. #1.112.5.29852.119

2. ↑ .

   Broderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 2, Ed. 5, Social Security Death Index: U.S., Date of Import: May 2, 1998, Internal Ref. #1.112.5.29852.119