Tommy Vickers, golfer and entrepreneur, died Wednesday after suffering with stomach cancer for three years. He was 72.
The funeral mass will be at 11 a.m. today at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 8035 S. Quebec St., Centennial.
Vickers started playing golf at age 3, when his father, the late John Vickers, built his five sons a golf course in Wichita, Kan. The father was a polo player and didn’t want his sons entering that sport, said Vickers’ wife, Rhonda Vickers.
He was in his first Broadmoor junior golf tournament when he was 11.
Tommy Vickers taught his children to golf and tried to teach his wife.
“When people ask if I play golf I say, ‘I own clubs,’ ” she said.
He played in two U.S. Amateur Championships and the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am.
Family friend Buddy Martin said he was a “key figure” in bringing The International golf tournament to Colorado.
The tournament was held here for 25 years, Rhonda Vickers said.
Vickers built his first shopping center at age 21, when he was just out of college and living in Wichita. A few years later, he built a nightclub and restaurant in Wichita.
When he came to Denver, he bought 4,000 acres, which he later sold to a developer who built The Meadows subdivision in southwest Denver, his wife said.
“He had an immense interest in business,” said Tom Triplett of Wichita, one of Vickers’ lawyers. “Nothing was out of bounds: he owned all kinds of businesses, was in real estate and owned a television production company that televised college basketball games. Most business people have a niche, but nothing was out of bounds for Tommy.”
Tommy and Rhonda Vickers moved to Colorado in the mid-1980s.
Thomas M. Vickers was born Sept. 7, 1937, in Wichita and went to a boarding school, Cascia Hall, in Tulsa, Okla. He went to the Municipal University of Wichita, then trained in New York City to be a stockbroker.
“Most of his life he was in investments, or as I said, he was a professional gambler,” said his wife, laughing.
He also owned franchises in the pizza business and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Tommy Vickers married Rhonda Haug in January 1969. In addition to her, he is survived by his daughter, Corie Rogers of Los Angeles; his son, Bo Vickers of Denver; one grandchild; two sisters, Paula Petrie of Indian Wells, Calif., and Pat Sinclair of Oklahoma City; and three brothers, Jack Vickers of Castle Pines, Jimmy Vickers of Indian Wells and Byrne Vickers of Wichita.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
