William Ben Hogan

William Ben Hogan was born to Clara and Chester Hogan on August 13, 1912, in Stephenville, Texas. He was the youngest of three children. His sister, Chester Princess Hogan, was born in 1907. His brother, Royal Dean Hogan, was born in 1909. The family lived in Dublin, Texas, for Ben’s first nine years of life.

In 1921, the family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in order to get psychiatric treatment for Chester, who suffered from manic-depressive disorder (now called bipolar disorder). The treatment was not successful, and Chester Hogan committed suicide in February, 1922.

After Chester’s death, Clara Hogan soldiered on, raising the three children with determination and grit. Of these years, Clara once said, “Hard work and sorrows won’t kill you. I never live in the past.”

Ben found his niche in golf as a teenager, beginning as a caddie at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth. After fitful starts in the professional ranks, he would go on to become the greatest golfer of his era and the greatest ball striker of all time. A life-threatening automobile collision with a Greyhound bus in 1949 nearly cost Ben his career, but he went on to win multiple tournaments, both major and minor. In 1953, he won the Masters, the United States Open, and the British Open, a feat unequaled to this day.

In 1954, Ben founded the Ben Hogan Company, which manufactured top-quality golf equipment for many years. Outside the golf world, he engaged in several successful business ventures.

Ben married Valerie Fox in 1935. He preceded her in death in 1997. Valerie died in 1999.

Ben was a private person who was wrongly misjudged as cold and emotionless. Those who knew him more closely described him as generous, self-effacing, and modest.