Glenna Collett-Vare was one of the giants of women’s golf and the top American player in the 1920s and 30s. She won 49 amateur tournaments between 1921 and 1935. She could hit a ball straight down the fairway nearly 300 yards. She was the first woman to break 80 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which she won six times. She is in the golf hall of fame, and the Vare Trophy is awarded annually to the woman professional with the best scoring average. She played into her 80s but never turned professional. In her day, she was "The Female Bobby Jones".
She is buried at Laurel Hill West in a crypt that does not even acknowledge her presence – an unmarked grave. Glenna Collett-Vare is the subject for this episode of Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories.
BBB#032: Philadelphia's Jazz Lodestar - Dennis Sandole
ABC#062: Three More Philadelphia Magazines - Graham's, Peterson's, and Lippincott's
BBB#031: Gladys Hall & Russell Ball - Glamourizing Early Hollywood
ABC#061: Play Ball!, Part 3 - Four More Baseball Pioneers at Laurel Hill
BBB#030: Grayce Nottage Nicholas - Black Is Beautiful
ABC#060: Three More Women Who Changed Philadelphia
BBB#029: MOVE and Laurel Hill
ABC#059: Three More Black Pioneers
BBB#028: The Philadelphia Orchestra & Laurel Hill West
ABC#058: Laurel Hill & Big Pharma
BONUS: Anna Weightman Penfield and the Fioretta Follies
BBB#027: An Old Soul Guitarist - Jack Rose
ABC#057: Murder Most Foul, Part 1
BBB#026: The Surgeon Is a General - I.S. Ravdin
ABC#056: Philadelphia and Oil
BBB#025: Free Science for All - William Wagner
ABC#055: The Supremes - Justices at Laurel Hill
ABC#054 Hey! I Know That Song! - Composers and Interpreters
BBB#023: Philadelphia’s First Gentleman - Henry Plumer McIlhenny
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Lore