Hall of Fame Class of 2022
The Alabama NW Florida Section will be inducting two new members into the Section’s Hall of Fame on Sunday, February 6, 2022. The inductions will take place during the Section’s Awards Dinner at Wynlakes G&CC. The new Hall of Fame Members are Gene Diamond and Hank Johnson.
Gene Diamond – The Section’s only two-time President. Gene served as President from 1998-1999 and then again from 2006-2007. Gene has been a PGA member for 44 years. He spent 27 of those years as the Head Professional at Huntsville Country Club, followed by six years as the owner and head professional of Twin Lakes GC.
Gene was honored as the Section’s Golf Professional of the Year twice and received the Bill Strausbaugh Award during his career. He currently lives in Atlanta and is a PGA Life Member in the Georgia Section, where he can keep a close eye on his beloved Georgia Bulldog football team.
Hank Johnson – A PGA Member for more than 40 years, Hank served as the Director of Golf at NorthRiver Yacht Club and Greystone G&CC. In recent years preceding his death in September 2021, he operated the Hank Johnson School of Golf instructing students at Greystone, Timberline, and Bent Brook.
Golf instruction and Education were very big in Hank’s career, and he received many awards for excelling in those areas. The PGA of America selected Hank as the National 2004 Teacher of the Year. Locally, Hank was selected for many PGA Section awards including the 1984 Golf Professional of the Year, the 1997 Teacher of the Year, and he was a four-time recipient of the Section’s Horton Smith Award for Education.