Ellen Griffin will be inducted posthumously into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night at Raleigh Convention Center.
There’s a connection to Alamance County.
Griffin, who became renowned as a golf instructor, is buried in Snow Camp on the grounds of Cane Creek Friends Meeting.
“She chose that to be her resting place,” said Charlie Griffin, her nephew. “The connection to Snow Camp was sentimental to her.”
Charlie Griffin said his aunt was fond of her Quaker roots. She was one of 16 children.
Ellen Griffin is credited with helping found the Women’s Professional Golf Association, which was the forerunner to the LPGA. She taught golf for nearly three decades at UNC Greensboro and later at her training facility near Randleman.
[Story continues below historic photos of Griffin and her grave in Snow Camp.]
Griffin was the 1962 LPGA Teacher of the Year and was among the first LPGA Master Professionals. She wrote golf instruction manuals and also spent time as educational director of the National Golf Association.
She died in 1986 at age 67.
Other new members in this North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame class are: Rick Barnes, Jason Brown, Jeff Davis, Donald Evans, Tom Fazio, Tom Higgins, Clarkston Hines, Bob “Stonewall” Jackson, Trudi Lacey, Ronald Rogers, John Sadri, Jerry Stackhouse, Curtis Strange, and Rosie Thompson.
