Vale: Don Johnson – Honorary Member and former Executive Director, ALPG
Former ALPG Executive Director Don “Bronco” Johnson passed away on Sunday 13 August at the respectable age of 84.
Serving at the ALPG from early 1991 to mid 1998 after holding a position as General Manager of the PGA of Australia, Johnson will be remembered of people in the industry as a leading administrator who established the organisations brand.
Bringing a wealth of knowledge of professional golf, Johnson embraced the ALPG membership and managed the association through a pivotal time in its history and was granted honorary membership of the ALPG in 1999, a year after his retirement.
“The ALPG has lost someone much respected, much appreciated and much loved. Don ran the ALPG business from an office in the garage of his North Rocks home in Sydney, back when the membership comprised just 30 or 40 players. He came to the LPGAA at a critical time and quickly established the professional credibility of the association. He oversaw a rebranding, to ALPG, and then set out to preach and sell the product to anyone he could corner,” said Johnson’s successor Warren Sevil, who held the ALPG CEO position from 1998 to 2013.
“He was passionate about “his girls” and fought hard to build the profile of a membership and product he truly believed in. It was a tough sell but Don was resilient and persistent. He quickly earned the support and respect of the people who mattered – the media, industry stakeholders and most importantly, the players. He built the foundation that allowed the ALPG Tour to grow and remain autonomous and sustainable,”
“Don Johnson will be missed yet remembered by all who knew him. Personally, I am saddened and will remember him as a great mentor and a great friend whose voice will ring in my ears forever.”
Funeral details:
11:30am, 18th August 2017
MacKay Family Funerals, 249 Pacific Hwy, Ourimbah NSW 2258
A Bronco story: He gave me my first job when I left the Age to go freelancing in 1983. Over a few beers I convinced him that the women needed to lift their profile and the best way to do this would be with a calendar. Nothing racy like Jan Stephenson in the bath, mind you. And I was just the guy to do it.
It was a big wall poster with shots of Karen Lunn winning the British Open, Jan, an amateur Karrie Webb with Mick Davis, Smooth Booth, Di Gatehouse and Peg McMahon in the background, and a leggy Nicole Lowien who used to get the blood of the young guys pumping.
Being my first job, I really wanted to get it right and kept the printer waiting for nearly two hours while I triple checked that all 365 days of the year were present and accounted for. The day it was delivered a few weeks later I was playing at Kingston Heath and the assistant pro came out to the 14th and told me I had to ring Don Johnson at the LPGA (as it was) urgently.
I used the phone in the pro shop and he said: “Mate, you can’t let that calendar go it. You’ve made Karen Lunn a left-hander.” The artist I had paid good money for a job I could have done myself had reversed the negative of the shot of her swinging and I missed it. If it had been the shot of her holding the trophy, very few people would have noticed. I had to have it reprinted at my own expense and the only copy in existence (attached) is till on my office wall after more than 30 years.
Financially, it was a horror start to a freelance career but I’m still grateful that he decided to give me a go. He was one of the good guys and will be sadly missed. – Brendan Moloney, Australian Golf Media Association (AGMA) President.
