Dennis Zielinski sent an handwritten note to a select company of young men on July 3, 1973.  It arrived at their mailboxes via the illustrious and dutiful U.S Postal Service a few days later.  The note was an invitation to the “First Cragin Open Golf Tournament”  to be held on July 29 of that year.

The select company of men were those who later became known as Charter Members.  They came from Cragin for the most part, or had participated with Craginites in what had become the annual “Turkey Bowl” touch football game.  Long gone were the days of being able to run around after each other and a football, so we decided to stick with running around after a little white balls with sticks instead.

That first gathering at Hunter Country Club in Richmond, Illinois, offered trophies for the Low Net, Low Gross, Longest Drive, and Closest to the Pin.  The entry fee was $3.00.  Greens fees were $6.50.   Richmond was chosen because of the many harrowing, but fond, memories of trips along Highway 12 and 115 mph in The Leech's car.

The Traveling Trophy, a cup made from a military shell casing with a handle glued on it, donated by Jim Zielinski, became the prize for the low net winner in the second year of the tournament.  The design, shape, and size of awards has not remained constant, but the traveling trophy is as lasting as our friendship and the camaraderie.

One year, the tournament was called the Annual Cragin Invitational.  In 1980, the title was officially changed to “The Cragin,” supposedly because there was another tournament simply called “The Masters,” but in reality because fewer letters on the trophies meant cheaper engraving costs.  By this time, second place trophies for gross and net scores replaced the closest to the pin and longest drive scores, somewhat to the dismay of those players who knew they were so lousy that they didn't have any chance at any low scores.

Due to the ever increasing popularity of the tournament among the regular players, the reputation of The Cragin grew as well.  In response, tournament officials allowed Charter Members to invite one guest each year.  This was done primarily to keep entry fees down.

In a couple of ambitious years, The Cragin took on a 36 hole format, but that idea was abandoned quickly as most players realized that we were all getting too old for that kind of nonsense.  We figured, our scores were so bad already, they would only get worse if we played any more on the same day.  Although there have been two official sudden death playoffs for the low net trophy, that idea has also gone by the wayside for the same reason as the 36 hole format.  Everybody knows that they can't go more than 18 holes anymore.

The Cragin had forsaken its home course in 1985 and played at Hillmore Country Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  This was followed by two years at Bristol Oaks Country Club in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and one year at the “Red Barn” in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.  When The Cragin players returned to Richmond, they found a changed course.  Well, not really changed.  They just renumbered the holes on us!   Now, instead of dumping balls into the water on a short par 3 on the front nine, we had to wait to get our balls wet until the back nine.

In addition to allowing guests to join the original tournament participants, a junior division was added to The Cragin in 1987.  They now have their own prize categories, probably because we older players don't want them stealing any of our glory.  Junior players, it has been noticed, tend to make many of the same mistakes that we did in our golf games when we were that age.  In other words, they ain’t gonna turn pro any time soon either. They do not, however, even come close to the distance records for throwing clubs held by a couple of the Charter Members.

Amazingly, most of the original participants have played, with few exceptions, in every tournament.  Even more amazing is that in all the years there has been only one rain out on the scheduled tournament day.

The Cragin picked up a couple of corporate sponsors over the years.  On occasion WGN Radio and the Chicago Bears have supplied prizes and gifts to be given to participants.  This is thanks mainly to employees of those two companies, not necessarily to the companies themselves.  We don't want to cast any undo aspersions upon the companies, but no company it its right mind would want to sponsor us, so we suspect that any prizes bearing a WGN logo or a Bears emblem found their way to The Cragin surreptitiously in the back of somebody's trunk.

So, The Cragin has seen many of the same old faces for most of its history.  Still, some new faces have joined the crowd, some young faces have joined, hopefully forever. The face of the course in Richmond has changed, too.  The entry fee back in 1973 was $3.00.  The cost has gone up over the years, but it doesn't matter what the price is each year.  The friendship and the game are worth every penny every year.  At least we think that's the reason we keep coming back.