Newport Beach CC turning the big 5-0

BRYCE ALDERTON

As I get set to cover this year’s Toshiba Senior Classic for the

first time, a majority of my hours will undoubtedly be spent perusing

through old newspaper articles and books, along with listening to the

stories from the people who were there. This is all in an attempt to

gain a valuable historical perspective on the PGA Champions Tour

event, which celebrates its 10th anniversary March 15-21.

So it came as a relief that I received an e-mail from Chuck Loos,

a former managing editor at the Daily Pilot, who has been a member at

Newport Beach Country Club since 1997, announcing the club on East

Coast Highway will celebrate its 50th anniversary the weekend of Feb.

13-15.

But wait, an important designation needs to be made here for those

who like to read between the lines. Newport Beach Country Club has

been the official name since 1986. Before that, the venue at 1600

East PCH was known as Irvine Coast Country Club.

More on this later.

Back to Loos and his hard work.

“I’m a member of the tournament committee and they were looking

for ideas of what to do,” Loos said.

To kick off the festivities, a 1950s-style sock hop will be held

Friday night, complete with food and music of the era along with

guest appearances by Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe impersonators.

A men’s golf tournament is scheduled for Feb. 14, the date the first tee shot was struck at the course 50 years ago. A couples’

tournament will conclude the weekend bash on Feb. 15.

Loos welcomed the opportunity to trace the club’s roots, getting

his investigative juices flowing.

“I’m basically a historian,” Loos said. “Country clubs are

notoriously lax in keeping records. I dug up [historical facts] for

the benefit of the members.”

This might bore some of you who already know all of what is to

follow, but for those who haven’t heard, enjoy.

What follows is a little history about how NBCC came about and the

changes it has endured.

Irvine Company President Myford “Mike” Irvine and Hadd Ring,

president of a local investment company, were playing a round at

Santa Ana Country Club on a hot summer day in 1953.

Both were complaining about the heat when Ring turned to Irvine

and said, “Well, why don’t you build your own course along the coast?

I’ll run it for you.”

Not much time passed before that suggestion turned into reality.

Irvine persuaded 100 men to each raise $1,000 and the Irvine Co.

put up another $100,000 to build the country club Ring and Henderson

would own.

It was Valentine’s Day 1954 when Irvine, Ring, Tom Henderson and

Irvine Co. Vice President Charlie Cogan teed off at 1:04 p.m.,

breaking in the course designed by William Bell Jr.

The 6,598-yard layout would host numerous U.S. Open qualifying

rounds and was the home of the Crosby Southern Pro-Am, a two-day

event with a field built around pros who didn’t make the cut at Bing

Crosby’s famous pro-am “clambake” at Pebble Beach. The Crosby

Southern later evolved into the Newport Classic, a mini-tour event

that raised thousands of dollars for Hoag Hospital.

Oh yeah, then that big tournament, the Toshiba Senior Classic,

came to Newport in 1996 and remains this area’s biggest golfing story

each year. The tournament has raised more than $1 million for charity

four consecutive years.

Back to the name game and that great year -- 1986.

On New Year’s Day the club officially became known as “Newport

Beach Country Club” when W.D. Ray -- another investor -- became the

new owner. Ray also owned the Balboa Bay Club and the Balboa Bay Club

Racquet Club. That same year, Jerry Anderson was named the club’s

director of golf. Anderson is currently the club’s president and

chief operating officer.

Also in 1986, the club named its men’s member-guest tournament

“The Regatta” and adopted a new logo featuring a stylized seahorse,

designed by artist Cathy Burns.

The same clubhouse that first foursome walked through in 1954

still stands, but has gone through renovations to maintain its charm.

Maybe we need two birthday cakes. One with 50 candles and another

with 18.

Isn’t history great?