20. Johnny Goodman
Golf / Omaha / 1908-1970
QUICK FACTS:
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Could have been seven-time state amateur champion Sam Reynolds of Omaha, five-time winner Rod Bliss Jr., of Omaha or the rest of the "Boxcar Trio," Jack Pollard and Frank Siedlik.
Best moment as an athlete: Winning the 1933 U.S. Open, or beating Bobby Jones in the first round of the 1929 U.S. Amateur
Tiger couldn't do it. Neither could Jack, Arnie or Phil. Omaha's own Johnny Goodman remains the last amateur to win the U.S. Open.
One of 13 children, Goodman became an orphan at 14 when his mother died. His father's whereabouts were unknown. For the next five years, Goodman lived with the Zadalis family in South Omaha.
By then, he was making a name in golf. He won the Omaha city championship at 16 while a South High student. He won the first of his three Trans-Mississippi titles as an 18-year-old in 1927.
Too poor for railroad fare, Goodman several times hired on as a drover for cattle to travel to faraway tournaments. The last time was in September 1929, to get to California's Monterey Peninsula for the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach. And he knocked out the legendary Bobby Jones in the first round of match play.
Goodman held off Ralph Guldahl to win the 1933 U.S. Open at North Shore Links in Glenview, Ill. Four years later, he prevailed in the finals of the U.S. Amateur.
He played on three Walker Cup teams, was runner-up in two other U.S. Amateurs and won the Nebraska Amateur from 1929 to 1931.
One of his greatest disappointments was losing in the first round of the 1941 U.S. Amateur as the home-course favorite at Field Club in Omaha. After serving in World War II, he was seriously injured in an auto accident and moved soon after to southern California.
In 2000, Omaha renamed its 18-hole Applewood municipal course in memory of Goodman.
-- Stu Pospisil
QUICK FACTS:
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Could have been seven-time state amateur champion Sam Reynolds of Omaha, five-time winner Rod Bliss Jr., of Omaha or the rest of the "Boxcar Trio," Jack Pollard and Frank Siedlik.
Best moment as an athlete: Winning the 1933 U.S. Open, or beating Bobby Jones in the first round of the 1929 U.S. Amateur
