Ky Laffoon is the newest member of the Ozarks Golf Hall of Fame.

It is a well-deserved honor for the former professional golfer who served briefly as head pro at Miami (Okla.) Country Club and at Joplin’s Oak Hill golf club (now Twin Hills Country Club) and resided for more than two decades in Springfield .

Ky was a fascinating, colorful character, one of the most unique individuals ever to play the game in Southwest Missouri or, for that matter, on the pro golf tour of the 1930s and 1940s.

He could be charming, friendly and funny. I’ve seen him keep groups of golfers captivated and laughing with his stories of the early-day tour and some of his exploits on area golf courses.

But Ky, despite being a great striker of the ball, was most famous for his explosive outbursts. A botched shot or a flubbed putt might result in a flying or broken club as well as a few invectives aimed at himself, his equipment, sand traps, high grass, the weather and anything else handy.

If Laffoon had been able to control his quick temper, he might have reached superstardom. But his inability to manage himself always seemed to get in the way and undoubtedly cost him more than a few championships.

Still, Ky won 10 times on the tour and was labeled by Harold (Jug) McSpaden (one of the famed “Gold Dust Twins” of the 1940s) as the king of the second-place finishers.

That era was the genesis of not only the gradually evolving professional tour, but spawned such titans of the game as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Horton Smith, Craig Wood, Jimmy Thompson, McSpaden, Leo Diegel and Tommy Armour.

By inducting Ky into the regional golf shrine, the Ozarks Golf Hall of Fame has recognized the impact that Laffoon has had on the fact and folklore of golf as a touring pro, a club pro and a teacher.

I had the privilege in 1979 of getting the last interview ever given by Ky. Our conversations ranged from why he wouldn’t talk to reporters (”When I needed them, they weren’t interested; now they want me and I don’t need them”) to his biggest paycheck ($3,500 for winning the 1935 Cleveland Open) and the relatively puny size of the purses in the early days of what eventually would morph into the PGA Tour.

“We had small purses in those days,” he said. “But we thought we were making big money then. You could stay at the best hotels for $2 or $3 a night, a big steak dinner in a good restaurant was $1.59 and hamburgers were a nickel apiece. I thought I was rich as hell. The dollar today (1979) is worth only about 7 cents what it was in 1930 and 1940.

“I worked hard and invested my money carefully so I could retire. That was 40 years ago and I’ve been retired since. Ben Hogan once asked Leonard Ott (Ky’s cousin who also played on the tour at the time) and I what we were going to do when we retired. I told Leonard to tell him we’d work in the yard, go to bars and chase girls, we’d golf, we’d fish, we’d hunt, we’d cook . . . I don’t think he (Hogan) was interested.”

Ky was known as an excellent teacher. Hogan and Ott were among those that he helped. But he never mentioned Byron Nelson, for whom he had a strong dislike because of an incident involving Ky’s brother and caddie, Billy.

Laffoon also was a mentor of Marshall Smith of Miami , who has taken Ky’s fundamentals and refined them while working with such modern pros as Chi Chi Rodriguez, Walt Zembriski, Gary Player and Craig Stadler.

Stories of Laffoon’s low boiling point are legion and the stuff of legend. He admitted to throwing a putter into a tree after missing a short putt while leading a tournament and then finishing the last several holes putting with a two iron. He lost the tournament.