Huntsville honors sport pioneer with Tom Monroe Disc Golf Course 

HUNTSVILLE – The disc golf course at Brahan Spring Park has a new name to honor a pioneer in the sport and and 19-time world champion.

Tom Monroe, a 1965 Huntsville High School graduate who died Feb. 10 at the age of 77, designed the course that will now bear his name after the Huntsville City Council passed an ordinance at its regular meeting Thursday night.

The measure also included a provision to allow a monument honoring Monroe near the first hole of the Tom Monroe Disc Golf Course at Brahan Spring Park. Monroe was the 33rd member of the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) that now numbers more than 275,000.

“Tom is the single most influential person in the history and development and progression of our sport,” said Lavone Wolfe, a Huntsville native and close friend of Monroe who was inducted into the World Disc Golf Hall of Fame in 1994.

Monroe was also inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame, the first disc golfer accepted into any hall of fame alongside traditional mainstream athletes.

The PDGA described Monroe as the “Johnny Appleseed of disc golf” as an ambassador for the sport.

“I think it’s a great thing to do,” Councilmember Bill Kling of District 4 said of naming the park disc golf course for Monroe. “Here’s a great enthusiast who had a big following.”

An ordinance introduced at the Feb. 8 regular meeting to name the course after Monroe was temporarily shelved as an ongoing debate about placing people’s names on city streets and structures continues. The measure resurfaced on the agenda Thursday and passed.

“He has done a lot for that sport, especially in Huntsville,” said David Little, president of the council who represents District 2.

According to ordinance authors, Monroe dominated virtually every category of flying disc sports, including Frisbee, Ultimate, Freestyle, Field Events, and especially Disc Golf. He won 19 World Championships in Disc Golf, including nine straight Master’s Singles and Doubles titles between 1992-2000, and more than 90 titles on the PDGA professional tour.

Accomplishments:

• Inducted into the inaugural class of the PDGA Hall of Fame in 1993
• Inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018
• Course designer throughout Alabama and the Southeast
• Tournament director, including the 1983 World Championships in Huntsville
• Taught disc golf and flying disc classes at UAH, the University of Florida, UAB, and Samford University

Wolfe said in a statement that Monroe brought an outgoing personality to disc golf that perhaps resonated more than his talent at the game. Visiting with Monroe not long before he died, Wolfe said he asked his friend what he wanted to be known for.

“He said, ‘Lavone, every person I met, I wanted to leave them with a smile. I wanted to get a smile out of them,’” Wolfe said. “On the course, even in the heat of battle and world championship competition, he would play to the crowd, trying to make people laugh or smile. He would take risky shots just because.

“And that meant more to him than actually winning.”