Local Golf Whiz Bob Gunnell Has Best Year Yet

Robert M. “Bob” Gunnell reads electric meters for the City of Jamestown. He can also “read” a golf green or fairway and put with it the mind, muscle and know-how to be rated by may as one of the finest club swingers in Western New York.

After Gunnell’s latest Buffalo District Golf Association victory, a Buffalo newsman called him “equal to any amateurs I have seen around here in a long time.”

Veteran local golfer Dr. Karl Englert of Lakewood, a fine amateur himself, says, “Bob, in my mind, has to be rated as one of the best amateurs in Western New York.’

The BDGA is a prestigious event, gateway to the famous Porter Cup Tournament, for which Gunnell is now qualified.

Englert speaks as a former champion. He is, as far as we have been able to learn, one of four men from this immediate area to ever win the BDGA. The others, in addition to Englert and Gunnell, are Dan O’Neill, who won twice, and Jim Keim. The latter is a member of Moon Brook Country Club, but lives in Erie.

Husky, outspoken Gunnell was into golf when he was 12 years old, but forsook the game for baseball, and then returned to golf.

This year, 1980, has been his biggest year and copping the BDGA gave him one of his biggest thrills. “Beating out John Lantz over a course that is usually tough for me, Ransom Oaks, will always be unforgettable,” he said. “It is a typical Robert Trent Jones course and it is a real challenge.”

Another big one for the dark-haired Gunnell this year was the Jack Ahern Cup victory at Wanaka. Bob and his partner, Tommy Smith of Wanaka, defeated such illustrious amateur units as Bert Lash and John Langer; Carl Kluckholm, a former college football player, and Wayne McDonald; Dave Koch, the former collegiate national golf champ from Indiana, who was teamed with a Buffalo area favorite, Ward Wettlaufer; and Leo Kanton and Gary Battistoni, two-time district champion.

There are other major victories like the Clete Fox Memorial, a scratch better ball at Transit Valley and another in a long line of Chautauqua Golf Club Championships. Gunnell has won three club championships at Moon Brook and emerged as top man at Jackson Valley and South Hills , giving him a championship at every club at which he has been a member.

Then he and his son, Robby, finished second ion the father-son tournament this year at Gowanda. Other achievements include second at the Pre-Seniors at Gowanda and being a member of the Chautauqua team placed second at the Buffalo District Team Championships at Gowanda, Other members of the team were Joe Johnson, Tom Johnson and Tim Casler.

The victory list also includes the Southwestern New York Amateur title four times at Maplehurst and competing in the Southwestern New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Classic at Olean seven times, making the finals five times and being medalist twice.

Gunnell has been a record setter at just about every course where he played for any length of time. Here are some of them: Chautauqua, 62; Cable Hollow, 64; Blueberry Hill, 63; Jackson Valley, 65; South Hills, 64; and North Hills, 63.

The New York State Amateur has been a familiar field for Gunnell during the last three years. His best finish was at Drumlins near Syracuse a year ago. This year he made the cut at Binghamton, then withdrew. He finished 13th the year the tournament was played at Moon Brook.

One might wonder who Gunnell finds time to read meters in view of his busy golf schedule. That’s easy. He golfs weekends and during vacations. “I really get around the golf courses then,” he smiled.

“When I’m not on my job, I usually hit tournaments through Jamestown, Olean, Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo areas,” he explained. One of his favorite courses is Craig Burn at Buffalo and two of his toughest, Ransom Oaks at Buffalo and Oak Hill near Rochester. He says, “I play a lot of two-ball scratch and usually my partner is Bert Nash of Hamburg,” the plus-one handicapper explained.

Gunnell, who has been employed by the city for 28 years, started swing golf clubs at the age of 12 when his family lived at Bemus Point, but soon fell for the lure of baseball.

He pitched a no-hit game for Jamestown High School against Westfield Academy High as a sophomore and during his first test on the mound. He recalls Greg Mulleavey, now a prominent TV and movie actor, played shortstop for Jamestown during that period. That JHS team went on to the sectional finals and was tied, 3-3, by a Buffalo team in a game called by darkness and never resumed.

His baseball prowess did not go unnoticed. He was invited to a Dodger tryout camp where the late Greg Mulleavy, former Jamestown PONY League manager and father of the actor, was in charge. Later Gunnell was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies and was sent to Pulaski, Va., of the Appalachian League. He terminated his baseball career after returning to Jamestown and, at 21 years of age, started to take golf seriously.

J. Robert O’Neill, now in the golf cart business and father of Dan O’Neill, is given a lot of credit by Gunnell for shaping up his game. “I went to him when something would crop up, some flaw that golfers often develop, and Bob always had the answer.”