The Rochester District Golf Association’s fifth Hall of Fame class has been finalized, and the induction ceremony will take place July 14 at Stafford Country Club, host site for this year’s RDGA John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial Championship.
The tournament is named in honor of John H. Ryan Jr. who died in a tragic boating accident in 1982, and this year, the Ryan family, which has a long and storied history in the Rochester golf community, is one of five inductees.
The other new Hall of Fame members are former Brook-Lea Country Club head professional John Calabria; long-time Oak Hill member and outstanding amateur player back in the mid-20th century William Chapin; Bobby Hill who was also a top amateur from that time; and Christy Rittenhouse Schultz who in her prime playing years in the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s was one of the finest female players in New York State.
Tickets for the induction ceremony are $50 and will go on sale June 1 and can be obtained at this link: https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/6044045
John H. Ryan Jr. family
The Ryans are the third family to earn Hall of Fame recognition. The 2025 class included the Wegman family, and in 2024 the Thaney family was honored.
The family name has been synonymous with golf in Rochester for more than five decades, starting with family patriarch John H. Ryan Sr. and his wife Sheila whose philanthropy and leadership were instrumental to the growth of the game in Rochester including the establishment of the RDGA Foundation, a 501C-3 organization whose mission is to introduce golf to children and young adults in underserved communities through various programs.
There have been generations of golfing Ryans, but John H. Jr. was the most accomplished player who many believed would have gone on to play professionally. He won the RDGA Sub-Junior titles in 1975 and 1976, the Junior Championship in 1979, and back-to-back RDGA District Championships in 1981 and 1982 while he was playing collegiately at Duke University.
John’s older brother, Chuck, is the current RDGA Foundation board president, and his son Joe, a 2002 RDGA Sub-Junior champion, is a Foundation board member.
John Calabria
Calabria is the fifth former head professional to be inducted, joining Sam Urzetta, Frank Commisso, Craig Harmon, Jim Mrva and Denny Ferstler.
Born and raised in Rochester, Calabria played college golf at Florida State, returned home to become head pro at Brook-Lea from 1978-92, and he remained a top-flight player in the WNYPGA as he won five WNYPGA player of the year awards and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame.
While at Brook-Lea, he played in three PGA Championships (including 1980 at Oak Hill), and three U.S. Opens (1977, 1982, 1985). And after moving to Naples, Florida in 1993 to become director of golf at Naples National Golf Club, he went on to play in two U.S. Senior Opens (1999, 2000), three Senior PGA Championships (1999, 2001, 2008 at Oak Hill), and two Senior British Opens (1998, 2000), while also competing occasionally on the PGA Champions Tour.
William Chapin
The driveway off Kilbourn Road that leads to the clubhouse at Oak Hill is named Chapin Way, and that alone suggests how influential Chapin and his father, Louis, in the first few decades after the club relocated to Pittsford.
Louis was one of the founding members of Oak Hill in 1901 and later a club president, and his son followed in his footsteps while also becoming a superb amateur player as he won numerous local events including three district championships.
Later, as club president in the mid-1950s, he helped introduce Oak Hill to the national stage as he led the effort to land the 1956 U.S. Open, and that of course set the stage for all the major events that came later.
Bobby Hill
Hill was one of Rochester’s finest amateurs during the 1940s and 1950s and he counts the RDGA Junior Championship in 1947, and two district championships in 1952 and 1953 among his career accomplishments. He played college golf at the University of Alabama where he won the 1952 SEC championship and also competed on and off for six years on the PGA Tour.
When he stopped playing, he came home to Rochester and served stints as the head pro at Seneca Falls Country Club and Webster Golf Club, then tried his hand at course design and with architect Peter Craig he helped to create Salmon Creek Country Club and Deerfield Golf & Country Club.
Christy Rittenhouse Schultz
Rittenhouse Schultz burst on the scene when she won the New York State Golf Association Girls’ Junior in 1996 and 1997, and she later added three NYSGA Women’s Amateur titles (2004, 2007, 2008) and four NYSGA Women’s Mid-Amateur titles (2009, 2010, 2021, 2022).
Her nine women’s NYSGA championships is tied for the most with Jean Trainor who won nine NYSGA Senior titles and was part of the RDGA Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2022.
The Brook-Lea member also won seven WRDGA championships between 1998 and 2007.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Ryan family headlines RDGA Hall of Fame class with local icons
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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