ARIZONA NEWS
Legendary volunteer Doc Graves passes at 88
O
ne of the legends of Arizona golf, Robert “Doc” Graves, died Dec. 13. A longtime resident of Ahwatukee, Graves was 88 years old. Graves was well-known throughout the Arizona Golf Association community for being the ultimate volunteer as well as an outstanding rules official. He was the AGA’s Volunteer of the Year in 1992, and today has two AGA awards that bear his name — the Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year Award and the Doc Graves Mid-Amateur Trophy. Graves was presented with the prestigious Dr. Ed Updegraff Award in 1999, which is the highest honor given by the AGA, for his demonstration of the true “spirit of the game.” He was inducted into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. Among his many accomplishments within the organization, Graves and his partners Bob Warren and Al Potts rated the majority of Arizona’s nearly 400 golf courses. Ed Gowan, executive director of the AGA, called Graves “the ultimate volunteer,” noting that Doc’s dedication and service was unmatched. “Doc was truly concerned for everyone he met,” Gowan said. “He was a friend to all, and an exemplary model for all to emulate.” According to his wife Barbara, Doc
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AGA PHOTO
OBITUARY
Doc Graves
was born and raised in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri for a year before enrolling and graduating from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis. Doc and Barbara met while both were working at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center near Denver. In 1955 they were married, and Graves practiced chiropractic medicine in Denver until he retired early in 1979 due to a service-connected disability. “He was always a golfer, and so we decided to move to Phoenix, where the plan was for us to play golf every day,” Barbara recalled with a laugh. “It ended up that he played golf every day, and he got me a job (as a Realtor). “But that was OK, because Doc took care of the house and I still got to play some golf when I wasn’t working for the next 19 years.” Doc could play the game, as evidenced by the fact that he once held the record at Ahwatukee Country Club with a 9-under 63. And his 49 at Ahwatukee Lakes will stand as the course record forever as the former executive 18 that once played to a par 60 no longer exists. “I’ve shot my age a couple of dozen times,” he once said of his golf career. “But I’m not the only golfer in the family. My wife, Barbara, recently got her fourth hole in one, and she lets me know it. I’ve never had one in 63 years
of playing the game, although I have had a couple of (double-eagle) 2s on par 5s.” Besides being a golfer, rater and rules official, Graves was a brilliant character who was admired and loved by most everyone who knew him. And he never disappointed with a quip or a joke. For instance, Doc had this to say upon his induction into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame. “I’ve been in every nook, every cranny, every gully and on every mountaintop of every golf course in this state,” he said with obvious pride. “And during that time, I’ve gone through 13 cars while driving over 500,000 miles (for the AGA), and I didn’t ask for a dime! Why (the AGA) pays these guys to do that now. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Barbara Graves said that was the thing about Doc that everyone admired. “He was never afraid to be the butt of the joke,” she said. “And he liked to tell jokes because that made people happy, and Doc always liked to be around happy people.” Doc and Barbara raised three children and have four grandchildren. She said that Doc, who was a corporal in the Army, was buried during a “simple military burial” and that a celebration of life will be forthcoming from the family. n www.azgolf.org
