Ernest Joseph “Dutch” Harrison (1910–1982)

Faulkner County native Ernest Harrison, known by the nicknames “The Arkansas Traveler” and “Dutch,” was a champion Professional Golf Association (PGA) golfer and a member of three champion U.S. Ryder Cup teams. Harrison competed as a professional for more than forty years, winning twenty-six tournaments, eighteen of those being PGA events. His career on the links was one of the longest in professional golf history.

Ernest Joseph Harrison, one of six children of David Harrison and Tursia Meluira Wilson Harrison, was born in Cato (Faulkner County) on March 29, 1910. Harrison received only a grammar school education. Instead of attending school, he worked and spent much of his time at the Little Rock Country Club as a caddy. Harrison took up the game himself at age twelve and by 1930 had turned pro.

During his first six years of playing professionally, during the Great Depression, he made little tournament money but was able to support himself by giving exhibitions and convincing others into playing a round for money. By 1937, when the United States economy began to improve, Harrison was able to pursue a more traditional professional golf career. In 1939, he won two PGA events: the Bing Crosby Pro-Am and the Texas Open. He would have a total of eighteen career PGA wins.

During World War II, Harrison served as a warrant officer. He renewed his golf career after his discharge from the military, and the next few years were the peak of his career. During that time, he won fourteen PGA tournaments, plus one non-PGA event. In 1954, he won the Vardon trophy, which is awarded to the golfer with the lowest average for the year. His last PGA victory was the Tijuana Open Invitational in 1958. During his career, Harrison also won eight non-PGA events.

Harrison married Thelma Alice Kalaokona Moore, a former member of the Hawaii Senate, in 1950. The couple had no children.

Harrison represented the United States in two major competitions with other nations. He was a member of the Ryder Cup team, which every two years pits some of the best European golfers against U.S. golfers. Harrison helped the 1947, 1949, and 1951 U.S. teams bring home the cup. He also played on the U.S. team in the final Lakes International Cup competition held in 1954.

That same year, Harrison, who had become the oldest pro on the circuit, began to cut back on his touring and accepted a position as the golf pro at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. He remained there for about six years before accepting a similar position at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. By 1964, he had returned to St. Louis to the Forest Hills Country Club, where he remained for about ten years. Though having retired by this time from the main PGA circuit, he competed in the senior circuit, winning the National Senior Open five times, the last time in 1966.

He suffered a stroke in 1973 and retired from competition and as golf pro work at Forest Hills. On June 19, 1982, he died of heart failure in St. Louis. He is buried in the Bellerive Heritage Gardens in Creve Coeur, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.

Harrison was inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 1962, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1963, and the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame in 1995.

For additional information:
Bohn, Michael K. Money Golf: 600 Years of Bettin’ on Birdies. Washington DC: Potomac Books, 2007.

“Dutch Harrison, Golfer, Dies; Member of Hall of Fame.” New York Times, June 20, 1982, p. 32.

“Faubus Steals Fame Show.” Arkansas Gazette, January 18, 1963, pp. 4B, 6B.

Graubart, Julian I. Golf’s Greatest Championship: The 1960 U.S. Open. 50th anniversary ed. Lanham, MA: Taylor Trade Pub., n.d.

Leighton, Beach. Mr. Dutch: The Arkansas Traveler: A Biography. Champaign, IL: Sagamore Pub., 1991.

Valkenburg, Jim Van. “Dutch Harrison is Settling Down.” [Blytheville] Courier News, June 22, 1955, p. 21.

Mike Polston
CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas