Published obituary
1 Jul 1999
Fort Worth, TX Star - Telegram newspaper
by Dan Piller, Star - Telegram Staff Writer
Valerie Hogan, 87, widow of golf legend
FORT WORTH - A golf-tour companion in life and later a fierce protector of her husband's memory, Valerie Hogan, widow of golf legend Ben Hogan, died yesterday at her Westover Hills home. She was 87.
Funeral arrangements were pending. The Hogans were members of University Christian Church.
While her husband was alive, Mrs. Hogan shunned the lime-light, avoiding interviews and making public appearances only with him. Ben Hogan died in July 1997.
In recent months, Mrs. Hogan had taken a more public role. In November, she appeared at an announcement by Spalding of the return of the Ben Hogan Co. to Fort Worth from Richmond, Va. Mrs. Hogan appeared in TV interviews with ESPN and NBC this year commemorating her husband's career. She offered information about Hogan's victory in the 1953 British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, the site of this year's British Open.
In June she traveled to the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, where Ben Hogan was honored. She then went to the opening of the Ben Hogan Room at Golf House in Far Hills, N.J., the headquarters of the United States Golf Association.
The travel last month had been rather hard on her," her secretary, Sharon Rea, said yesterday.
Mrs. Hogan took strong exception to media portrayals of her husband as cold-hearted or unemotional. She declined to cooperate in a biography of Ben Hogan that was published in 1996 and later criticized it for what she considered an inaccurate portrayal of her husband.
Golfing great Byron Nelson, once a fellow caddie with Ben Hogan at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, said: "She's always been quiet and done such a great job of seeing after Ben. It's always sad when you say goodbye to people who have been your friends for all these years."
The daughter of C.M. and Jessie Fox, Mrs. Hogan was born July 26, 1911, in Fort Worth. She graduated from Central High School and briefly attended Texas Christian University. She and Hogan met at church and were married on April 14, 1935.
For the rest of her life, Mrs. Hogan devoted herself to her husband, traveling with him to tournaments, sharing the hardships of the professional golf tour in the 1930s.
After World War II, Ben Hogan's career blossomed. In 1949, the couple were able to buy their first home, on Valley Ridge Drive in Westover Hills. But before they could move in, their car was in a head-on collision with a bus outside of Van Horn as they returned to Fort Worth from a golf tournament in Phoenix. Hogan threw himself in front of his wife to protect her and was seriously injured. But Mrs. Hogan suffered only bruises.
Hogan recovered to rejoin the professional golf tour in 1950 and in June of that year won his most famous victory in the U.S. Open at Merton Golf Club in Philadelphia. He went on to win nine major championships.
Although Mrs. Hogan accompanied her husband, she seldom went out on the course.
"I was simply too nervous, and it was too hard to follow the play," she once said. "I found that it was easier to keep track of things in the clubhouse."
Her most notable civic activity was serving as chairwoman of the Jewel Charity Ball from 1959 to 1961.
"I've been so proud of her that she's been able to keep alive Ben's name since he's been gone," Marty Leonard, daughter of Marvin Leonard, a founder of Colonial Country Club, said yesterday.
"I feel like she completed her mission for him, and now it's time to go join him."
A year ago, Mrs. Hogan appeared at the champions dinner after the Colonial tournament. Chairman Scott Corpening said Mrs. Hogan addressed the competitors and tournament officials.
"She said it was the first time she had been in that room without Ben," Corpening said. "She got very emotional. There wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Staff writer Jimmy Burch contributed to this report.
1 Jul 1999
Fort Worth, TX Star - Telegram newspaper
by Dan Piller, Star - Telegram Staff Writer
Valerie Hogan, 87, widow of golf legend
FORT WORTH - A golf-tour companion in life and later a fierce protector of her husband's memory, Valerie Hogan, widow of golf legend Ben Hogan, died yesterday at her Westover Hills home. She was 87.
Funeral arrangements were pending. The Hogans were members of University Christian Church.
While her husband was alive, Mrs. Hogan shunned the lime-light, avoiding interviews and making public appearances only with him. Ben Hogan died in July 1997.
In recent months, Mrs. Hogan had taken a more public role. In November, she appeared at an announcement by Spalding of the return of the Ben Hogan Co. to Fort Worth from Richmond, Va. Mrs. Hogan appeared in TV interviews with ESPN and NBC this year commemorating her husband's career. She offered information about Hogan's victory in the 1953 British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, the site of this year's British Open.
In June she traveled to the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, where Ben Hogan was honored. She then went to the opening of the Ben Hogan Room at Golf House in Far Hills, N.J., the headquarters of the United States Golf Association.
The travel last month had been rather hard on her," her secretary, Sharon Rea, said yesterday.
Mrs. Hogan took strong exception to media portrayals of her husband as cold-hearted or unemotional. She declined to cooperate in a biography of Ben Hogan that was published in 1996 and later criticized it for what she considered an inaccurate portrayal of her husband.
Golfing great Byron Nelson, once a fellow caddie with Ben Hogan at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, said: "She's always been quiet and done such a great job of seeing after Ben. It's always sad when you say goodbye to people who have been your friends for all these years."
The daughter of C.M. and Jessie Fox, Mrs. Hogan was born July 26, 1911, in Fort Worth. She graduated from Central High School and briefly attended Texas Christian University. She and Hogan met at church and were married on April 14, 1935.
For the rest of her life, Mrs. Hogan devoted herself to her husband, traveling with him to tournaments, sharing the hardships of the professional golf tour in the 1930s.
After World War II, Ben Hogan's career blossomed. In 1949, the couple were able to buy their first home, on Valley Ridge Drive in Westover Hills. But before they could move in, their car was in a head-on collision with a bus outside of Van Horn as they returned to Fort Worth from a golf tournament in Phoenix. Hogan threw himself in front of his wife to protect her and was seriously injured. But Mrs. Hogan suffered only bruises.
Hogan recovered to rejoin the professional golf tour in 1950 and in June of that year won his most famous victory in the U.S. Open at Merton Golf Club in Philadelphia. He went on to win nine major championships.
Although Mrs. Hogan accompanied her husband, she seldom went out on the course.
"I was simply too nervous, and it was too hard to follow the play," she once said. "I found that it was easier to keep track of things in the clubhouse."
Her most notable civic activity was serving as chairwoman of the Jewel Charity Ball from 1959 to 1961.
"I've been so proud of her that she's been able to keep alive Ben's name since he's been gone," Marty Leonard, daughter of Marvin Leonard, a founder of Colonial Country Club, said yesterday.
"I feel like she completed her mission for him, and now it's time to go join him."
A year ago, Mrs. Hogan appeared at the champions dinner after the Colonial tournament. Chairman Scott Corpening said Mrs. Hogan addressed the competitors and tournament officials.
"She said it was the first time she had been in that room without Ben," Corpening said. "She got very emotional. There wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Staff writer Jimmy Burch contributed to this report.
Published obituary
1 Jul 1999
Fort Worth, TX Star - Telegram newspaper
by Dan Piller, Star - Telegram Staff Writer
Valerie Hogan, 87, widow of golf legend
FORT WORTH - A golf-tour companion in life and later a fierce protector of her husband's memory, Valerie Hogan, widow of golf legend Ben Hogan, died yesterday at her Westover Hills home. She was 87.
Funeral arrangements were pending. The Hogans were members of University Christian Church.
While her husband was alive, Mrs. Hogan shunned the lime-light, avoiding interviews and making public appearances only with him. Ben Hogan died in July 1997.
In recent months, Mrs. Hogan had taken a more public role. In November, she appeared at an announcement by Spalding of the return of the Ben Hogan Co. to Fort Worth from Richmond, Va. Mrs. Hogan appeared in TV interviews with ESPN and NBC this year commemorating her husband's career. She offered information about Hogan's victory in the 1953 British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, the site of this year's British Open.
In June she traveled to the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, where Ben Hogan was honored. She then went to the opening of the Ben Hogan Room at Golf House in Far Hills, N.J., the headquarters of the United States Golf Association.
The travel last month had been rather hard on her," her secretary, Sharon Rea, said yesterday.
Mrs. Hogan took strong exception to media portrayals of her husband as cold-hearted or unemotional. She declined to cooperate in a biography of Ben Hogan that was published in 1996 and later criticized it for what she considered an inaccurate portrayal of her husband.
Golfing great Byron Nelson, once a fellow caddie with Ben Hogan at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, said: "She's always been quiet and done such a great job of seeing after Ben. It's always sad when you say goodbye to people who have been your friends for all these years."
The daughter of C.M. and Jessie Fox, Mrs. Hogan was born July 26, 1911, in Fort Worth. She graduated from Central High School and briefly attended Texas Christian University. She and Hogan met at church and were married on April 14, 1935.
For the rest of her life, Mrs. Hogan devoted herself to her husband, traveling with him to tournaments, sharing the hardships of the professional golf tour in the 1930s.
After World War II, Ben Hogan's career blossomed. In 1949, the couple were able to buy their first home, on Valley Ridge Drive in Westover Hills. But before they could move in, their car was in a head-on collision with a bus outside of Van Horn as they returned to Fort Worth from a golf tournament in Phoenix. Hogan threw himself in front of his wife to protect her and was seriously injured. But Mrs. Hogan suffered only bruises.
Hogan recovered to rejoin the professional golf tour in 1950 and in June of that year won his most famous victory in the U.S. Open at Merton Golf Club in Philadelphia. He went on to win nine major championships.
Although Mrs. Hogan accompanied her husband, she seldom went out on the course.
"I was simply too nervous, and it was too hard to follow the play," she once said. "I found that it was easier to keep track of things in the clubhouse."
Her most notable civic activity was serving as chairwoman of the Jewel Charity Ball from 1959 to 1961.
"I've been so proud of her that she's been able to keep alive Ben's name since he's been gone," Marty Leonard, daughter of Marvin Leonard, a founder of Colonial Country Club, said yesterday.
"I feel like she completed her mission for him, and now it's time to go join him."
A year ago, Mrs. Hogan appeared at the champions dinner after the Colonial tournament. Chairman Scott Corpening said Mrs. Hogan addressed the competitors and tournament officials.
"She said it was the first time she had been in that room without Ben," Corpening said. "She got very emotional. There wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Staff writer Jimmy Burch contributed to this report.
1 Jul 1999
Fort Worth, TX Star - Telegram newspaper
by Dan Piller, Star - Telegram Staff Writer
Valerie Hogan, 87, widow of golf legend
FORT WORTH - A golf-tour companion in life and later a fierce protector of her husband's memory, Valerie Hogan, widow of golf legend Ben Hogan, died yesterday at her Westover Hills home. She was 87.
Funeral arrangements were pending. The Hogans were members of University Christian Church.
While her husband was alive, Mrs. Hogan shunned the lime-light, avoiding interviews and making public appearances only with him. Ben Hogan died in July 1997.
In recent months, Mrs. Hogan had taken a more public role. In November, she appeared at an announcement by Spalding of the return of the Ben Hogan Co. to Fort Worth from Richmond, Va. Mrs. Hogan appeared in TV interviews with ESPN and NBC this year commemorating her husband's career. She offered information about Hogan's victory in the 1953 British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, the site of this year's British Open.
In June she traveled to the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, where Ben Hogan was honored. She then went to the opening of the Ben Hogan Room at Golf House in Far Hills, N.J., the headquarters of the United States Golf Association.
The travel last month had been rather hard on her," her secretary, Sharon Rea, said yesterday.
Mrs. Hogan took strong exception to media portrayals of her husband as cold-hearted or unemotional. She declined to cooperate in a biography of Ben Hogan that was published in 1996 and later criticized it for what she considered an inaccurate portrayal of her husband.
Golfing great Byron Nelson, once a fellow caddie with Ben Hogan at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, said: "She's always been quiet and done such a great job of seeing after Ben. It's always sad when you say goodbye to people who have been your friends for all these years."
The daughter of C.M. and Jessie Fox, Mrs. Hogan was born July 26, 1911, in Fort Worth. She graduated from Central High School and briefly attended Texas Christian University. She and Hogan met at church and were married on April 14, 1935.
For the rest of her life, Mrs. Hogan devoted herself to her husband, traveling with him to tournaments, sharing the hardships of the professional golf tour in the 1930s.
After World War II, Ben Hogan's career blossomed. In 1949, the couple were able to buy their first home, on Valley Ridge Drive in Westover Hills. But before they could move in, their car was in a head-on collision with a bus outside of Van Horn as they returned to Fort Worth from a golf tournament in Phoenix. Hogan threw himself in front of his wife to protect her and was seriously injured. But Mrs. Hogan suffered only bruises.
Hogan recovered to rejoin the professional golf tour in 1950 and in June of that year won his most famous victory in the U.S. Open at Merton Golf Club in Philadelphia. He went on to win nine major championships.
Although Mrs. Hogan accompanied her husband, she seldom went out on the course.
"I was simply too nervous, and it was too hard to follow the play," she once said. "I found that it was easier to keep track of things in the clubhouse."
Her most notable civic activity was serving as chairwoman of the Jewel Charity Ball from 1959 to 1961.
"I've been so proud of her that she's been able to keep alive Ben's name since he's been gone," Marty Leonard, daughter of Marvin Leonard, a founder of Colonial Country Club, said yesterday.
"I feel like she completed her mission for him, and now it's time to go join him."
A year ago, Mrs. Hogan appeared at the champions dinner after the Colonial tournament. Chairman Scott Corpening said Mrs. Hogan addressed the competitors and tournament officials.
"She said it was the first time she had been in that room without Ben," Corpening said. "She got very emotional. There wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Staff writer Jimmy Burch contributed to this report.
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