Teufel_Hunden
Full Member
I hope you don't mind me posting a picture and story of a medal I found years ago, closer to the start of my metal detecting career.
Back in 1991 I was metal detecting the front yard of my mom's house in Sheboygan, WI, when I found this medal. There was no cloth ribbon attached to the medal, and it came out of the ground in the condition that you see in the picture. I never felt any reason to try and clean it other than with some water and a toothbrush. The medal measures 1 3/16" top to bottom, 1" left to right, and is 1/8" thick. The obverse says, N.-E. WIS. GOLF ASSOCIATION with the date 1917. There is a golf club crossing a rifle (I assume it is a M1903 Springfield rifle). The reverse says, CONSOLATION E WON BY.
Well, many years passed with my find stashed away safe and sound. I put the detector away for many years during this time. Well, back in 2005, I was looking through some of my finds and came across this medal. I decided to do a little research about it. I e-mailed someone from the Wisconsin State Golf Association to see what I could learn. The following is what I received in return...
"In 1916, the Northeastern Wisconsin Golf Association was founded with the following clubs being members: Algoma CC - Oshkosh, WI, Riverview CC - Appleton, WI, Wausau CC - Wausau, WI, Tuscumbia CC - Green Lake, WI, Lakeside GC - Manitowoc, WI, Fox River CC - Green Bay, WI, and Pine Hills CC - Sheboygan, WI.
It appears that someone won the Class E Division and received a medal commemorating the achievement. Presumably, the recipient was required to have their name engraved, if so desired, but obviously didn't.
I have a NEWGA Directory which gives some of the history of the association and many of its past winners, but it does not list all the Division winners.
In 1917, the second year of NEWGA, there could not have been many entries in the Class E Division. After all, being a new organization, how many players entered the tournament?
Early on it was referred to as the "Interurban Golf League," because there was a streetcar line connecting many of the cities. The players were able to travel to the member courses via the rain transportation hence the name, Interurban Golf League.
Unfortunately, I don't have any info on the old history of the NEWGA tournament, and I doubt if NEWGA has retained any of the records regarding old tournaments. Nevertheless, NEWGA is still going strong to this day, with 22 member clubs."
I hope you enjoyed the read and the photos. HH to you all!