Charles Blalock Smith, 80, a member of the 1961 and 1963 USA Walker Cup Teams, died March 16 in Gastonia, N.C., the town where he was born and lived most of his life.
Smith graduated from The Citadel in 1952 and served in the U.S. Air Force. In 1961, he was selected to play on the USA Walker Cup Team, which also included Jack Nicklaus, Eugene Andrews, Deane Beman, Charles Coe, Don Cherry, Bill Hyndman, Bob Gardner, Bob Cochran and Dr. Frank Taylor. The USA Team defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 11 to 1, at Seattle (Wash.) Golf Club, although Smith lost the only USA point when he went down to Martin Christmas, 3 and 2, in singles.
Smith was also a member of the 1963 Walker Cup team, which defeated GB&I, 12 to 8, at Turnberry, Scotland. It was a close match in which the USA trailed after the first day, 6 to 3, and Smith halved his singles match with Michael Lunt.
Smith was a member of the USA team that won the 1961 Americas Cup Match in Monterrey, Mexico. He lost only one match during the event and captured 6½ points for his squad, which also included Nicklaus, Hyndman, Gardner, Coe, Beman and Dudley Wysong. The USA won with 29 points while Canada finished second with 14 and Mexico was third with 11 points.
Smith won several prestigious amateur titles in the early 1960s, including the North & South Amateur and the Southern Amateur in 1960. In 1962, Smith was the Eastern Amateur champion, and he is also a past champion of the Azalea Amateur, the Carolinas Amateur and the Carolinas Open. He competed in the Masters Tournament four times.
Smith is a member of The Citadel Hall of Fame and the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. Artifacts from his successful amateur career are displayed at The Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where he was an honorary member, and at Gaston Country Club in Gastonia.
A memorial service will be held in Gastonia on Saturday.
Rhonda Glenn is a manager of USGA communications. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org.