02 Dec 2025 501 Hometown Hall of Famers: Stan Lee
By David Grimes
Stan Lee began winning golf tournaments as a teenager in Heber Springs and kept on winning, culminating with a victory at the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.
Lee was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) in 2015 as part of the 57th class, along with Dwight Adams, Pat Bradley, Ron Calcagni, Leon Clements, Jack Fleck, Eldon Hawley, Carl Jackson, Stephen Jones, Mike Malham Jr., Christy Smith and Bowden Wyatt.
Lee was an outstanding all-around athlete at Heber Springs High School, excelling in football and basketball. He also played baseball before giving that up to spend more time on golf, which turned out to be a great decision.
As a sophomore, Lee won the 1968 individual state championship in Class A-B, carding a score of 146 over two rounds. However, he could not lead Heber Springs to the team title, as two golfers were required per school for the team competition, and Lee was the only participant for the Panthers. In 1969, he repeated as the individual medalist, shooting 148, but that year he had a partner. He teamed up with Dwight Olmstead, who shot 150, and the pair easily won the Class A-B team title for Heber Springs.
As a senior in 1970, Lee took home his third straight individual title, finishing 4-under 138. He had a new partner in Hank Kelley but ended up with the same result, taking home the team title again for Heber Springs. That summer, Lee paired up with his father, Richie Lee, to win the Red Apple County Club’s Father-Son Four Ball at Eden Isle. The runners-up were his high school partner Hank Kelley and his father, Hank Kelley Sr. Lee also won the Arkansas State Junior Boys medal play championship in Hot Springs.
His play earned him a scholarship to the University of Houston, which was one of the top collegiate golf programs in the country. However, Lee left after a semester and enrolled at State College of Arkansas, now the University of Central Arkansas. As a Bear, he won the 1972 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) title and the NAIA District 17 Championship, advancing to compete in the NAIA Championship. He was named All-AIC and an NAIA second-team All-American.
He was also dominating Arkansas State Golf Association (ASGA) events, winning regularly, including the ASGA match play tournament in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974. A 1973 article in the Arkansas Gazette proclaimed the then 20-year-old Lee as “simply, the best amateur golfer in Arkansas.” That year, he won his third consecutive Fourth of July Tournament at War Memorial Park in Little Rock.
After one season at UCA, Lee transferred to LSU, where he won two tournaments in 1974 and one in 1975. He was twice named All-SEC and NCAA second-team All-America. In 1975, he was joined on the Tiger golf team by his younger brother, Louis Lee.
He turned pro in 1975 and played on the PGA Tour from 1976 to 1980. Lee’s best career finish was runner-up at the 1977 New Orleans Open, finishing three strokes off the lead at 12 under par. He retired from the grind of the PGA Tour in 1980 but later regained his amateur status and began playing ASGA events again.
Lee was inducted into the ASGA’s Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame in 1999, but he was far from done on the state level and nationally. He won the ASGA Stroke Play Championship in 2000 at Pleasant Valley County Club. He repeated in 2001 and was named the ASGA’s Player of the Year.
In 2007 at the age of 55, Lee recorded his most impressive victory, winning the USGA Senior Amateur Open at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan. After advancing through the stroke play phase, Lee worked his way through the match play bracket, winning the 53rd annual event 4-and-3 over Sam Farlow.
Back home, now playing senior ASGA events, he continued his run of success, winning multiple titles from 2010 to 2014. Lee also had a few more runs at the USGA Senior Amateur, advancing to the final 16 at the in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, he lost in the quarterfinals to his brother Louis.
Lee resides back home in Heber Springs. The last competitive event that he played was the ASGA Senior State Amateur in 2019, which he won. He still plays golf, but now it’s just for fun.
