Known for decades as “Mr. Colorado Golf,” Myran Craig died Thursday at his home in Aurora of a suspected aneurysm.
Born in Denver in 1929, Craig served as executive director of both the Colorado Golf Association and the PGA of America’s Colorado Section.
“We owe what the Colorado Section has become to Myran Craig,” current section executive director Eddie Ainsworth said Friday.
Craig was a multisport athlete at South High and taught and coached at East High from 1953-1969. After winning an amateur flight of the 1967 Colorado Open, Craig sought a career in golf and became a club pro, initially working as an assistant for Paul McMullen at Aurora Hills Golf Course. Later, Craig served as head pro at South Suburban Golf Course.
In 1973, he became executive director of the joint CGA and Colorado PGA Section. When the organizations split five years later, Craig remained with the Colorado PGA until retiring in 1995.
Craig was known as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the rules of golf.
“If a golfer needed a ruling and didn’t get it from Myran, it was almost as if it wouldn’t count,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA. “People would try to get a second opinion from Myran before they were satisfied.”
Said retired Indian Tree Golf Course pro Vic Kline, the section player of the year from 1977-79: “I didn’t always agree with Myran’s rulings, but I knew he was always right.”
Craig was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1990. He was preceded in death by wife Kayo, who served in an official capacity as his assistant with the CGA and Colorado Section.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Fairmount Mortuary, 430 South Quebec.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
