| Overall UK Wins: 3 | Overall UK Losses: 0 | Win % 100 |
Date of Birth: June 13, 1901
Date of Death: July 25, 1976
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Alma Mater: Ohio Wesleyan

For a generalized listing of officials, please consult this page.

Obituary - Dayton (OH) Daily News (July 26, 1976)

Harry A. Schwab Dies at 75

He played three professional sports and was golf pro at Community for 40 years

The best all-around professional athlete Dayton ever produced, Harry A. Schwab Sr., died Sunday at Kettering Medical Center after an extended illness. He was 75.

Schwab was national-class caliber in basketball, baseball and golf, as well as a court and gridiron official for half a century after first making his sports reputation at Stivers high school. He was the center on three straight State champion basketball teams.

He played with, and against, some of the early basketball stars as a member of the Cleveland Rosenblums, Fort Wayne KC (the first year the original National Basketball league was organized) and the Dayton Kellys. He was noted for his deception, ball-handling and scoring.

Schwab went to spring training in 1927 with the Cincinnati Reds, but never went to bat in a big league game. A first baseman, he also once was the property of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Most of his diamond career, however, was spent in the high minors, notably at Toledo and Seattle. He left Ohio Wesleyan after his freshman yea to make baseball as his first pro career.

The Golf Pro at Community Country club for exactly 40 years before he retired in 1971, Schwab is now linked with Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Julius Boros as the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) Senior champion. He captured the title in 1953, winning by four shots over runner-up Sarazen, who won the next year. Snead and Boros won later.

Among Schwab's other golf trophies were the James M. Cox Sr. cup for winning the Miami Valley PGA stroke play championship and the Max Schear Memorial for taking that association's match play title. He also was a teacher of note, especially adept and remarkably patient with raw beginners.

He wore a striped shirt of an official for a quarter of century, but gave up that phase of his career after working the traditional Thanksgiving Day football game between Miami and Cincinnati.

Harry Ashley Schwab was born in Celina on June 13, 1901. His twin brother, Harvey, also became a star prep and college hoopster. A younger brother, Vernon, nicknamed "Bum," had a promising career as an athlete until a hunting accident cost him a leg.

In fact, Harry's family was honored by one of the foremost golf groups in the country in 1971. The Metropolitan Golf Writers association (New York) named it America's Golf Family of the year for 1970.

In naming the Schwabs, the Met went out of the metropolitan area for the first time and all four of them, Harry, his wife Eunice and their two sons, Pat and Harry Jr. (better known as Tim), received trophies at the prestigious annual Gold Tee Dinner.

Eligibility was restricted to the immediate family. Mrs. Schwab has won many area tournaments and long has been a golf organizer; the two sons were club professionals. Not included, but recognized at the dinner, was Tim's wife, Diana, who now owns nine major Dayton women's championships.

His survivors are his wife, Eunice; three sons, Pat of Stockholm, N.J., Tim of Dayton and Robert Lee of Miami, Fla.; two sisters, Mrs. William (Margaret) Albert of Dayton and Mrs. Lawrence (Stella) McNeil of Miamisburg; a brother, Clarence of Englewood; and four grandchildren.

Biography - Dayton (OH) Daily News (Published August 22, 1971)



Schwab Retires -- For Third Time

by Ben Garlikov

The man who has been Dayton's greatest all-round athlete for more than half a century will retire from the grind for good from his third major professional sport on Oct. 31.

Harry Schwab, who played professional basketball, baseball and golf will retire as a working man at age 70, after 40 years of service as the Community Country club pro.

Schwab played pro basketball many years with a number of clubs, including the Fort Wayne K.C., in the first year the old National league was organized; he advanced through the minors to play a few games for manager Bill McKechnie's Pittsburgh Pirates and later was drafted but never played for the Cincinnati Reds; and he won, among many lesser titles, the National PGA Seniors championship, beating among others, a then still low-scoring Gene Sarazen.

He also officiated football and basketball at the college league level, in the old Buckeye as well as its offshoot, the Mid-American and the Ohio conferences.

It all began on June 13, 1901, when he was born, a twin. His brother Harvey, also an all-round high school and college athlete, died some years ago.

Harry came sharply into prominence at Stivers high school as a basketball center, who helped the Tigers win three straight state championships. In those years, there were no class divisions, so the Orange and Black simply was best in the state.

He pitched as a prepster, but throughout his pro baseball career he was a first baseman.

As a footballer at the East Fifth St. school, and the one year he went to college, Ohio Wesleyan, he was a right end.

Schwab recalled, "I pitched and we (Stivers) beat Steele at Community as part of the program the day John H. Paterson gave Hills and Dales to the city. They said then that 30,000 people were out there that day."

Mr. Patterson, founder of National Cash Register, turned over the entire acreage that now is known as Community Country Club.

Years back, Community not only had a baseball diamond and a number of tennis courts, but also a polo field. It has none of those facilities now.

Harry turned pro after his freshman year at Ohio Wesleyan, in 1921, signing with Toledo of the American association, which had the legendary Jim Thorpe as one of its players. "Don't ever believe he couldn't hit a curve ball," Harry said. "That was just an excuse to get him out of baseball. They didn't want a red man any more than they did a black in those days."

"Did you get a bonus, Harry?"

The old pro threw a disgusted look. "You kiddin'? There was no such thing. But I did get a good salary for those days, $350 a month."

He finally quit in 1929. "I knew I was through when I hit a home run my last time at bat. I was with Decatur (Ill.) in the old Three I League (Indiana-Illinois-Iowa) and hit one a mile between outfielders, with bases loaded. I pulled up at second, puffing, and wanted to stop there, and I can still hear the coach yell, 'C'mon Harry, they're still chasing the ball,' When I got to third I pulled up and the coach insisted I go on. I'll swear I was standing still, but I made it. I fell on home plate and they had to help me up. I think that was sometime in June, I just quit. I couldn't play any more."

So Schwab returned to Dayton, where he took up with his old friends who had called him "Horseface" and "Big Smoke," even in high school. Jobs were not too easy to get, and when he was able to get the concession at Madden Park (it was then known as Fairmount) he took it.

During the year, Norm Lapp resigned as pro, and Harry, who had played golf as a high school boy (it was not a varsity sport then) finished out the year as both concessionaire and pro. The next year, the job opened at Community.

Highlight of his playing career came in 1953, when he won the National PGA Seniors. Sarazen, playing for the first time in the event limited to 50-year olds and upwards, ended four shots back. The next year, however, Sarazen succeeded the Daytonian to the title.

Among his area championships were the Miami Valley PGA match play and also the medal play titles.

He's proud of his two sons, Pat and Tim, than he is of his own accomplishments. Both learned to play and both served their pro apprenticeships under him. Pat, a former touring pro, is now head pro at the new Playboy club near New York City. Tim is pro at the newest area club, Sugar Valley, near Bellbrook.

His wife of 40 years, Eunice, also became a capable player and later a tournament organizer of several golf associations in the vicinity.

Last winter, all the Schwabs were honored by the Metropolitan Golf association of New York as the leading golf family in the country for 1970.

"We plan to take it easy for a while," Harry declared, "but I'm not sure we can. Pat and Time both want me to spend some time at their clubs teaching and I may do that later."

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