HS GOLF: Simons Classic replaces Jackman Memorial
May 13—The area's most prestigious scholastic golf tournament is getting a new location, and a new name.
The Irving Jackman Memorial high school tournament, played at Scranton Muni from its inception in 1964 until the course didn't reopen for the 2020 season, will return in August, but with a new title, one that honors the state's winningest high school golf coach.
The Bob Simons Classic will be played at Elmhurst Country Club and Elkview Country Club in alternating years, beginning with the Aug. 23 boys event at Elmhurst and the girls tournament a day later at Elkview.
"Obviously, with Scranton Muni not being open anymore and the Jackman name being tied to that, this is a good time to rename it," said Valley View athletic director Chris Killiany, also the president of the Lackawanna Golf League. "And the best way to rename it is for somebody that's been a coach for, I don't even know the number of years he's been the coach, but he's been there forever."
Simons, who has a
662-210-21 record in matches, will enter his 51st season as Wallenpaupack's head coach in August.
"Oh, it's unbelievable," Simons said. "I'm very honored, especially with all the coaches that I grew up with and the association with those guys, and the press, and everybody else that contributes to high school golf, it really is quite an honor. Especially the parents. The parents have been very good to me.
"I happen to be in it for over 50 years, but this is the icing on the cake, you might say, to have this tournament, an area high school tournament named after myself."
Keeping the change a secret wasn't easy, especially for Simons, who is married to Wallenpaupack Area athletic director Ann Marie Simons.
"I had no idea and Chris Killiany called and told me and I choked up a little bit and thanked them for everybody else involved in doing that," Simons said. "I can still remember playing the Jackman in high school in the late 1960s."
Killiany and Scranton Prep coach Ed Cimoch advanced the idea of renaming the event, and momentum gathered quickly, with the change recently agreed to by the league's athletic directors.
"All he's meant to the other coaches in the area and especially the kids in the schools, but all the other kids and local golf over the years, I just thought it was a great way to honor him," Killiany said. "Especially while he's coaching, he will be able to hand those plaques or trophies over to the winners of the events.
"He's been an integral part of boys and girls golf in the area over the years, served on the so-called committee here in the Lackawanna League and I just think, you don't know anybody that will have a bad thing to say about him and I think it's a perfect way to honor him."
Not only has Simons been successful — 14 individual district champs, 6 Jackman winners, 10 district team titles and 12 division or league championships — he's also been the benchmark for sportsmanship in the game.
"He's a guy who likes his own kids to succeed, but he's happy to see other kids succeed," Killiany said. "You see him at all the tournaments, he's going off to see other coaches or kids and just congratulating them. Even if it's his kid or his team in defeat, he is always so gracious and just done so much for the game.
"He's had a great relationship with so many coaches over the years and there's no better way to honor a tournament that brings in all our all kids in the Lackawanna League, and it's the best way to have that going forward."
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