Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame: Wright Waddell finds lifelong success as an amateur golfer

A rogue wave has done what Wright Waddell's golf competitors never could do -- keep him from terrorizing his opponents on golf courses throughout the state.

But the crutches and the metal in his broken leg won't keep the 53-year-old Columbus amateur golfing great from taking his place of honor when he's inducted into the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday. He will join Carter Mize, John Flournoy, Eddie Lowe and Dennis Holmberg.

Waddell's accomplishments from junior golf through collegiate competition at the University of Georgia and amateur individual and team events since entering the business world will be highlighted at the ceremony honoring the area's top athletic achievers.

They'll include his four consecutive state championship years as a key member of the Hardaway High School golf team; four victories at the Southeastern Amateur (1990, 1994, 1996 and 2000) and three runner-up finishes; selection as an All-American in 1983 at UGA; three-time selection as All-SEC (one first-team and two second team); captain of the UGA golf team (1984); and 15 USGA championship victories, including four-time champion of the GSGA Four-Ball Championship with Mize (1991, 1995, 2003 and 2004).

Just as he followed in his father, Elliott's, footsteps by becoming captain of the UGA golf team (1941), he'll follow his father-in-law -- Gunby Jordan -- into the CV Sports Hall of Fame.

But those attributes, while significant, don't tell the whole story of Wright Waddell -- the boy whose first love was playing baseball until he went with his father to the par-3 Bibb City golf course at the age of 12.

"I'll never forget that I hit the ball and it just went so much farther than a baseball ever went," Waddell said. "I really was hooked from that day on."

With Mize, his best friend -- they threw baseballs, footballs, hit golf balls and did just about everything together from age 6 on -- he found a sport he not only loved, but in which he excelled.

Ask who his mentors were and he'll give you two names.

"My dad, because he instilled the basics and introduced me to golf," Waddell said, "and Hugh Royer Jr. I grew up playing golf at Bull Creek Golf Course under Hugh Royer. He never charged us for a lesson, and he took us to so many tournaments."

Although his dad was a great motivator and an excellent golfer, he never pushed his son to follow in his footsteps. But Wright always knew his watching father was pulling hard for his son.

"I didn't really like my dad watching me play golf," he said. "I'd hit a bad shot and see him shaking his head. I'd let him down."

But when his dad died at age 58, when Wright was 15 years old, it was Royer who was his teacher and mentor. And it was that high school experience under coach Larry Gaither that molded him into a believer in not only his game, but the importance of a team effort.

"To this day, I still tell everyone about that team that Carter and I played on," Waddell said. "All six of us went on to receive golf scholarships at major colleges. Carter Mize and Ricky Smallridge went to Auburn University. Johnny Hammond, Madden Hatcher and I went to the University of Georgia, and Mike Miller went to Centenary."

"It's just weird that at that time there were so many great players in our city," he said. "That was great motivation and great for competition. It may have suppressed how good we really were, because everyone was so good."

But Waddell also had a stiff kick in the hind-quarters that put him on the track for future successes.

"I remember that after my dad died, I probably had slacked off a little bit," he said. "Royer pulled me into his office and we had our first heart-to-heart He said, 'I know you want to go to Georgia like your daddy did, but unless you start working, you're not going anywhere.' "

Waddell said he and Royer mapped out an itinerary for practice and goals for progress. Then he had his biggest confidence boost with his 1979 individual win at the Georgia Junior PGA Championship, when he was a high school junior. That propelled him to try even harder as he matured, he said.

He had lots of success at UGA, playing as a freshman and lettering all four years on his way to a Bachelors of Science degree that became the basis for his professional success in the world of business and finance.

But the world of professional golf was never for him, Waddell said. "Turning pro never really entered my mind," he said.

After graduating in 1985, he worked in commercial lending at Trust Company of Georgia in Atlanta for two years and hardly ever touched a golf club.

That two-year hiatus "motivated me," he said.

"I realized that I wanted to come back to Columbus and to start back playing golf," he said. "I really worked at my game. Sometimes you have to miss something before you realize how good you had it."

He was back for real in 1989, when he won his first Southeastern Amateur. The year before, he had lost in a playoff to LaGrange's Allen Doyle.

"Winning that was like breaking a mental block. It was a reward for some pretty hard, steady work. Did I doubt it would ever happen again? Yes. Absolutely. You'd better believe it. It went a long way helping my confidence and showing that if you work really hard, good things sort of happen."

Then he and Carter Mize linked up to play the GSGA Four-Ball, and the rest is truly history. Four victories and three runner-up finishest has the duo in all the record books.

As his leg mends -- that rogue wave from behind hyper-extended his leg and resulted in a break requiring surgery and a long period of immobility -- Waddell recalls that he had been "coasting" and not playing a lot of golf for the last 10 years.

But that's about to change again for the father of five who, with wife Katherine, now dotes on eight grandchildren.

"I'm looking forward to cranking it up again when I'm 55," he said. "I believe I can be competitive again with the 55-year-olds, but I just can't keep up with those 20- and 25-year-olds any more."

-- Jim Houston is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 10:40 PM.