Remembering Jim
Butler Country Club has 580 members, many of whom knew Jim Simons.
Those who didn't are learning about him.
Each time a golfer stops into the shelter off the 12th hole, he or she receives a lesson about the life of the late PGA golfer, who died in December of 2005 at age 55.
That recently rebuilt and modernized building is now the Jim Simons Memorial Golf Shelter and houses numerous artifacts and tributes to the golfer's career.
The new facility was funded primarily by Simons' parents Ralph and Orpah Simons, with some club members making contributions.
"We wanted to do something for our son,"Ralph Simons said. "This was his course. He loved to play here and he learned the game here.
"Building this shelter was a good way to showcase his achievements and honor his memory."
Butler Country Club is hosting a banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday to dedicate the new shelter, which was completed earlier this summer. Longtime PGApro Lanny Wadkins, a teammate of Simons at Wake Forest University, will be the principal speaker.
Seating for the event will be limited. Tickets are $47 and are available by calling 724-586-7701.
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A memorial golf tournament for Simons will be held earlier that day.Simons Shelter project coordinator Bucky Parisi played a number of rounds with Simons at BCC over the years."Jimmy was such a smooth player,"Parisi said. "He never missed a green, never missed a fairway. He made it look easy."His amateur record was absolutely incredible."Simons won the PIAAchampionship as a sophomore at Knoch High School. At 17, he qualified for the U.S. Open and made the cut at 18-year-old.He was a first-team All-American at Wake Forest and went on to win three PGA events during his professional career."He was a Little League baseball all-star at age 10,"Ralph Simons recalled. "That's the age he was allowed to start golfing at the country club and that spelled the end of baseball. He was up here playing every day."Among the items on display in the shelter are pictures of Simons, a set of his golf clubs and bag, framed Golf World magazine covers depicting Simons, framed letters from Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, and a highlighted scorecard of Simons' BCCcourse record 63, which he attained on June 20, 1975.BCC president George Bilowick is an 11-time club champion who played numerous rounds of golf with Simons and held his own against him."We used to have some very competitive matches with each other,"Bilowick said.That all changed one week during the 1970s, when Simons came home to visit family during a break on the PGA Tour."We played seven times in a week and a half and he never made a bogey, "Bilowick said. "Jim Simons was the most consistent golfer I've ever seen. And he was always competitive."At that time, during that week ... I realized I couldn't beat him anymore."Bilowick described Butler Country Club as a "blend of a premier country club and a small-town country club, a comfortable, family-oriented atmosphere with a tournament-quality golf course."He said Simons epitomizes what the country club represents."Jim was always a fine young man who loved competitive golf," Bilowick said. "He availed himself the opportunity to become a premier player and worked tirelessly to accomplish that."During the era he grew up, the course was always available and Jim would play from dawn until dusk."Butler Country Club has been around for 100 years and Bilowick said he's proud to have the Simons Memorial Shelter as part of its heritage."Jim Simons represents what this club is all about," he said. "He represents its tradition and history. He was a pleasant person to play with, always a gentleman who played the game of golf with dignity and pride."He always considered this his home course — and we're very proud of that."
