John Gardner was born in 1925 in Denver. He graduated from East High School in 1943 and attended the University of Colorado, Montana State University, and graduated from the University of Denver. John played on the golf teams at East, CU and DU. At DU he was a teammate of Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Ted Hart and Paul McMullen and was coached by Hall of Famer Babe Lind.
While John has always been an excellent player, it is his many other contributions to golf that will be remembered. He has spent countless hours volunteering his time toward the betterment of the game. John became a committeeman for the CGA in 1970 and was elected to the Board of Governors in 1980. In 1990 John was elected CGA president and served through 1991. He has been a member of the USGA’s Green Section Committee since 1983. John has served as a director on the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Board since 1985 and was president in 1988, ’89 and ’90. He has played an important role in all of these organizations and events: The Colorado World of Golf, Colorado Seniors Golfers Association, Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship Selection Committee, World Senior Golf Association, The International, Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, the 1978 U.S. Open, the 1985 PGA Championship, the Schrepferman Team Matches, and the Runyan Cup Team Matches.
At the time of his death in 2023, John had been a Lakewood Country Club member for 81 years and a director on the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board for 49.
