A Kansas State Athletics Hall of Famer and pillar of the Manhattan community, golfer Jim Colbert, died Sunday at 85.
Known for his iconic bucket hat and eight tournament titles during his 14-year stint on the PGA Tour, Colbert made himself synonymous with golf in the community after helping design Colbert Hills, which opened in 2000.
“The loss of Jim Colbert will impact many people and projects throughout the country,” former head football coach Bill Snyder said in a statement. “Jim had a positive influence on many, many lives. He never failed to step up to help when he was in a position to help his community and people in need. He and his wonderful wife Marcia, are special friends to so many.”
“Their development of Colbert Hills has meant the world to Manhattan and the state of Kansas, and their genuine friendship has meant the world to Sharon and me and our family. There is not enough room in the newspaper to share all that they have meant to us, this community and to the world of golf.”
A native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Colbert originally came to Manhattan on a football scholarship after a standout high school career as a quarterback and defensive back for Bishop Miege in Kansas City, but an injury early in his time in Manhattan switched his focus from the gridiron to the links, and the rest is history.
“I was going to get the heck beat out of me playing football,” Colbert told the Mercury in 1983. “I would have been playing defensive back and at the time, that would mean I’d have tackled people like (Kansas standouts) Curtis McClinton and John Hadl and Nebraska (Bill “Thunder” Thornton).”
“I got to thinking, ‘The (football program) wasn’t going anywhere. I was good enough to play college football, but that would be it. I decided that golf could do me more good in the long run.”
He finished runner-up in the individual portion of the 1964 NCAA Championship.
Colbert went pro in 1965 and played in 13 events as a rookie in 1966 and earned only $1,898, a performance that nearly cost him his playing privileges. However, he turned his game around the next year, solidifying his status by earning $25,425 thanks to four top-10 finishes.
He won first tournament, the Monsanto Open, in 1969.
His best year on the tour came in 1983, when we won two tournaments and finished a career-best 15th on the PGA Tour money list with $223,810.
He retired in 1987 with $1.5 million in winnings over his career before working three years as an ESPN golf analyst from 1987 to 1990.
Colbert also started his own golf course management company — Jim Colbert Golf — and ended up owning 23 golf courses around the country, employing a workforce of 700 employees.
He sold the company in 1989 to prepare to join the senior PGA Champions Tour. There he played in 505 events from 1991 to 2012, winning 20 times and racking up $11 million in winnings.
Colbert won the Arnold Palmer Award and was named Senior Tour Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association in both 1995 and 1996.
“We are saddened to learn of the passing of Jim Colbert,” K-State athletics director Gene Taylor said. “Not only did he make a lasting impact on the golf community — both as a player and as the architect of our own Colbert Hills — but his passion for all things K-State was admirable. I enjoyed getting to know him and seeing firsthand his love for K-State. He will be missed.”
He helped lead the charge to build and design Colbert Hills Golf Course, an $11 million project that started in 1994. It’s now the home for both K-State men’s and women’s golf teams, and is a fixture in Manhattan and is the highest-ranked public course in the state, according to Golf Digest and Golfweek.
Since the course opened, it has played host to at least one men’s or women’s collegiate golf tournament each year, including the 2003 NCAA Central Regional.
“We are saddened by the passing of Jim Colbert,” K-State men’s golf coach Grant Robbins and women’s coach Stew Burke said in a joint statement. “He was a big advocate for both programs, and we are forever indebted to him for building a beautiful golf course that we are able to call our home. You cannot say K-State golf without thinking of Jim Colbert, and he will be deeply missed.”
Colbert Hills is also home to the First Tee chapter of Manhattan, and the Earl Woods National Youth Golf Academy.
“At my stage in life, this is what I’m most excited about,” Colbert said in 2000 just after the course opened to the public. “Helping a bunch of people I don’t know. I’m excited for the youth that this course will touch.”
Colbert is enshrined in five different hall of fames, including the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame (2000), Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame (2019), K-State Athletics Hall of Fame (1991), Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (1998) and Kansas City Golf Hall of Fame (2018).