Jim Colbert, who died this week at age 85, made a deep and everlasting impact on Las Vegas and the Las Vegas golf community. The positive difference he made is immeasurable and will last forever. Photo above: Jim Colbert and Tom Hartley.
Colbert led the charge to return the PGA Tour to Las Vegas in 1983 and helped establish the Las Vegas Founders Club, which ultimately donated more than $14 million to local charities. The 1983 Panasonic Las Vegas Pro-Celebrity Classic was the first million-dollar purse in PGA Tour history.
He also operated Las Vegas Golf Club and Desert Rose before building the 54-hole Sunrise Country Club.
And so much more on and off the course.
“Jim was a very special person, and everything that he got involved with was better for it after he had gotten involved than it was before,” said Tom Hartley, who was president of Colbert Golf for three decades and also an original member of the Founders. “He single-handedly convinced the right people to bring the PGA Tour back to Las Vegas, and when you think about all the things we did through charity and the organizations we helped, it is awe-inspiring. He also helped create the Rebel Golf Foundation and was involved in so many other activities and organizations. There are a flurry of thoughts about all the good things we did together. He had a great run, and I am just blessed to have gotten to experience a little bit of it with him.”
On the course, Colbert won eight times on the PGA Tour and 20 times on the PGA Tour Champions, then called the Senior PGA Tour. He won the Las Vegas Senior Classic twice and was also the Tour’s Player of the Year.
Off the course, not only did he help bring the PGA Tour back to Las Vegas, but he and the Founders also worked to bring Senior PGA Tour and LPGA Tour events to Las Vegas. His vision to create Las Vegas as a golf destination also helped convince the PGA Tour to build two courses in Summerlin, seminal moments for the master-planned community and Las Vegas as a whole.
The 1983 PGA Tour event was notable for the big cash the players were competing for., and the total purse was nearly double the closest purse amount. The amoutn sent shockwaves to other PGA Tour event organizers.
“Colbert was on the PGA Tour policy board and said Las Vegas needed a PGA Tour event, and he got some of the heavy hitters together in Las Vegas to help make it happen,” Hartley said. “It was Harry Wald, president of Caesars Palace, who said, ‘We need to make it a million-dollar tournament because we do things bigger and better here in Las Vegas.’ Everybody thought that was a pretty good idea and off they went. That first year was quite the undertaking.”
Most of the time, a celebrity or athlete will only lend his name to a business or cause and not be involved with the day-to-day organization. That was not the case with Jim Colbert. He was a force, but also knew how to attract good people to move the needle..
“He had an overload of confidence in everything he did, and he just charged in when he had an idea,” Hartley said. “It never occurred to him that it might not work. He was a very good business person, and as a good leader, he surrounded himself with a lot of good people. He let them go and supported them when they needed it.”
Colbert was also one of the first Senior PGA Tour players signed by Callaway Golf. The company shared the following post:
“We’re saddened by the passing of Callaway family member, Jim Colbert. Known for his trademark bucket hat, Colbert was an 8-time winner on the PGA Tour. Jim was one of the first Senior PGA Tour players signed by Ely Callaway, and a big supporter of the original Big Bertha driver. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”
Colbert was a member of the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame and the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame. He continued to make a deep impact at Kansas State in addition to Las Vegas.
“The loss of Jim Colbert will impact many people and projects throughout the country,” former Kansas State 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 golf course 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.”
Colbert was also a key figure in developing Bighorn Country Club into a world-renowned private golf experience in Palm Desert, California.
Jim Colbert, the man in the floppy hat, will be missed. But never forgotten.
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