Gruesome Classic I was held on October 12, 1998, to honor Hank Bowden, Ed Cline, Lew Hipp, Ollie Leith, and Fred Munker, all of whom are well into their 70s or older but still enjoy the competition of Gruesome golf and camaraderie. In addition, Bill Studebaker, a Gruesome member from 1971 to 1990, who remains an active golfer at Fort Meade was also honored. Gruesome Classic II is planned for the spring of 1999 to honor several additional members who by then will have also reached or be in their early 70s. We have decided that future Gruesome Classics will be arranged at appropriate times to honor those who have reached the age of 70.

   Many golfers have traversed the Gruesome since the 1950s when the Gruesome originally formed. The first Gruesome members to depart Fort Meade through retirement/relocation or for other reasons evidently did so without fanfare; they simply moved on. At some point in Gruesome history -- probably in the late 1970s -- someone decided to hold a Gruesome "Day" in honor of a departing member. Memory doesn't serve as to who that was or who comprised Gruesome membership at the time. My earliest recollection of a special Gruesome Day dates to 1981 when the "SWAB Open" was held to recognize the departure of Jack (S)andsberry, Dean (W)ood, Ed (A)ilor, and Earl (B)unker. It also became appropriate to award the departing members a memento to keep fresh the memory of the Gruesome and the fine golf they enjoyed at Fort Meade. The customary gift was a plaque which bore the name of the honoree as well as the names of other Gruesome members with whom they had enjoyed the game over the years. That tradition continues until today.

    Regrettably many Gruesome members had no reason to leave Fort Meade or Maryland. Some let their Fort Meade memberships lapse and joined other local area clubs, but no Gruesome Days were held in their honor. Others have remained long and loyal members of the Gruesome at Fort Meade. A couple have been around for some 40 years -- not perhaps without interruption, as the Army would transfer guys for a tour of duty elsewhere but they would then be reassigned back to Fort Meade.

    It had been mentioned on more than one occasion that there should be a Gruesome Day to recognize those who enjoyed many years of Gruesome play but who themselves would never be recognized for their long and faithful membership in the same way as those who relocated to other areas. This year -- 1998 -- a proposal was offered to do that -- to hold a Gruesome Day in honor of several older members.