Dick Topp to be honored by Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dick Topp to be honored by Muskegon Area
Sports Hall of Fame

Dick Topp, a longtime area
golf promoter, will be honored by the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame as the
2015 recipient of the organization’s Distinguished Service Award.

Topp, who was the driving
force behind bringing the prestigious Michigan Amateur and other state and USGA
events to Muskegon Country Club, has also been a huge booster and promoter of
junior golf throughout his life.

“I don’t think there’s
anything like watching youngsters carrying their bags down the fairway. I
haven’t seen many kids go wrong on the golf course,” said Topp, 73. “Junior
golf has been in my heart for a long time. The kids playing today are fantastic
youngsters. A tremendous group of kids have come out of the Muskegon area for
golf and have done well.”

Topp, a past president of
the Golf Association of Michigan, will be inducted with the rest of the Hall of
Fame class on June 6 in a banquet at his beloved Muskegon Country Club. Other
inductees will be Cathy (Fitzpatrick) Nowak, Mike Holmes and the Muskegon
Heights basketball teams of 1978 and 1979. A male and female student-athlete of
the year will be announced in May.

Topp, a Muskegon resident
since 1965 and the retired finance director at Webb Chemical, served as GAM
president in 2013 and has served on the state’s golf governing board since
2001. He was instrumental in bringing the Michigan Amateur to MCC in 2005 and
2013. Topp and his wife, Mary, have two children, Trish and Rick, and five
grandchildren.

The Distinguished Service
Award is presented annually by the MASHF to an individual who has made a
tremendous contribution to the betterment of sports in the Muskegon area, but
not as an athlete. Topp is the 31st individual to receive the local hall’s
service award.

For more information, visit
the Hall’s web site at www.mashf.com or call
MASHF board member Tom Kendra at (231) 766-1954.

PAST MASHF SERVICE AWARD WINNERS

1991: Mart Tardani

1992: Les David

1993: Ray Cioe

1994: Nelson Volz

1995: Charles Marsh

1996: Lyle Moran

1997: John E. “Jake” Outwin

1998: Elsa Lowe

1999: James Dodson

2000: John “Smitty” Vanderplow