Marguerite Gaut
A smiling white woman wearing a black brimmed hat and jacket, with a collared shirt and necktie; she is standing and holding a golf club in her right hand
Marguerite Gaut, from a 1919 publication
Born
Bessie Marguerite Thrasher

November 12, 1888
Alabama, United States
DiedDecember 11, 1967
Other namesMrs. Dave Gaut
OccupationGolfer
Known forFirst woman inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame

Bessie Marguerite Thrasher Gaut (November 12, 1888 – December 11, 1967) was an American amateur golfer. In 1968, she became the first woman inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

Early life and education

Marguerite Thrasher was born in Alabama and raised in Virginia and Tennessee, the daughter of Henry Hammond Thrasher and Lula Clark Price Thrasher.[1] She attended Belcourt Seminary, a girls' finishing school in Washington, D.C.[2]

Career

Gaut was a champion amateur golfer based in Memphis.[3] She won the Tennessee Women's Amateur Championship six times,[4][5] starting at the inaugural event in 1916[6] and ending in 1938.[7][8][9] She won the Southern Women's Championship four times, beginning in 1920, when she defeated Alexa Stirling in Atlanta.[10][11] She won the Memphis City women's title eleven times.[12] She once played golf against Babe Didrikson Zaharias; they were tied after eighteen holes, but Gaut won on the nineteenth-hole tiebreaker.[4][13]

Gaut was president of the Women's Southern Golf Association from 1931 to 1939.[14] She sponsored an annual golf tournament at the Memphis Country Club.[15] She attended the Women's Texas Open Golf Tournament in 1945, in Fort Worth.[16] She was president of the United States Senior Women's Golf Association from 1949 to 1952. In 1953, Clifford Davis read remarks into the Congressional Record, marking Gaut's long career in golf. He quoted her as saying, "I hope to play as long as I'm able to walk and every time I play I'll enjoy it."[17]

Gaut also held a patent, granted in 1925, for a clamp to attach a tray to a card table.[18]

Personal life and legacy

Thrasher married insurance agent and golfer David Cleage Gaut in 1910.[1] The couple fostered a daughter, Blanche, from childhood.[19] Marguerite Gaut died in 1967, at the age of 79;[13] her husband died nine days later.[19] The following year, she became the first woman inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.[7][20] She was also inducted into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame, in 2003.[12] From 1953 to 2015, the Women's Southern Golf Association awarded an annual Marguerite Gaut Senior Trophy, named in her honor.[14][17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Miss Marguerite Thrasher Weds Mr. David Gaut". Knoxville Sentinel. December 12, 1910. p. 6. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Patriotic Affair at Thrasher Home; Miss Marguerite Thrasher Entertained for her Younger Friends". Knoxville Sentinel. July 3, 1908. p. 6. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Mrs. Gaut Sets Third Links Record in Week". The Commercial Appeal. October 26, 1917. p. 13. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 "Gaut, Marguerite « Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame". Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Marguerite Gaut in Quest Sixth Title". Bristol Herald Courier. June 8, 1938. p. 2.
  6. ↑ "Mrs. Dave Gaut" The American Golfer 22(December 1919): 128.
  7. 1 2 "Centennial Anniversary Timeline". Golf Central Magazine. 15 (6): 72. November 26, 2014 – via Issuu.
  8. ↑ "Women's Amateur Results". Tennessee Women's Amateur Championship. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Trio from City in Title Fight; Mesdames Probasco, Early Kennedy Make Grade-- Mrs. Gaut Medalist". Chattanooga Daily Times. June 7, 1938. p. 9. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Mrs. Gaut Wins Golf Title". The New York Times. October 31, 1920. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Mrs. Gaut Golf Survivor; Defending Champion Qualifles In Women's Southern Tourney". The New York Times. May 21, 1924. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Hall Members 4". Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  13. 1 2 Bloom, David (December 12, 1967). "Superlatives Mark Marguerite Gaut's Golf Career". The Commercial Appeal. p. 25. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 "About Us". WSGA. February 21, 2019. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Meet Ranks With Fastest in Dixie for Women Stars". Nashville Banner. April 30, 1936. p. 15. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Women's Texas Open Golf Tournament". UTA Libraries Digital Gallery. August 13, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  17. 1 2 United States Congress, Clifford Davis (July 31, 1953). Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. A4917.
  18. ↑ United States Patent Office (February 17, 1925). Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. The Office. p. 693.
  19. 1 2 "Gaut Estate is Probated". The Memphis Press-Scimitar. January 3, 1968. p. 4. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Ridgeway Dinner to Fete Golfers". The Memphis Press-Scimitar. June 19, 1968. p. 27. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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