Kansas State University Athletics
K-State Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1991
- Class:
- 1964
After an illustrious football career as a prep in Kansas City, Jim Colbert came to K-State on a football scholarship. However Colbert quickly turned his attention to the links instead of the gridiron and the rest, as they say, is history. Colbert finished his college career at K-State in 1964 as the runner-up at the NCAA Championships and has had continued success as a professional.
After turning pro in 1965, Colbert joined the PGA Tour in 1966. His first tournament victory came at the 1969 Monsanto Open. During his 14-year span on the tour, Colbert picked up eight tournament titles. Following his retirement from professional golf in 1987, Colbert took his nearly $1.5 million winnings, to run his own golf course management company, Jim Colbert Golf. He also worked for as a color analyst for golf events on ESPN.
Colbert returned to Manhattan for the Colbert Hills ground breaking ceremony, along with Senior Tour players Walter Morgan, Bob Murphy, Lee Trevino, Hubert Green, and LPGA star Annika Sorenstam, held on May 1, 2000. The $11 million project is home to a 300-acre, 18-hole championship style course that serves as the home for the men’s and women’s golf programs. Assistance and research from Kansas State University, the PGA Tour and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America are helping to make this state-of-the-art facility the best of its kind in the world. Since the course opened, it has played host to at least one men’s or women’s collegiate golf tournament each year. In May of 2003, the course hosted its most prestigious event of all-time, when it played host to 27 men’s collegiate golf teams at the NCAA Central Regional from May 15-17.
Colbert ranks seventh all-time in career earnings as a member of the now-called Champions Tour. The former Wildcat won the Arnold Palmer Award in consecutive years after notching four tournament victories in 1995 and five more in 1996. He was also named Senior Tour Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association in 1995 and 1996. Twenty victories later, the former K-Stater has earned in excess of $8 million in his senior career alone.
Colbert was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
