The562’s coverage of Long Beach golf for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Dan and Desiree Gooch.
For the past 30 years, the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame has served as the city’s permanent scorecard, honoring the names of those who shaped the game on local fairways. Three more names are etching themselves into local history, with Bill McCormick, Joey Cerulle and Mike Ortega serving as this year’s inductees.
“This has been an award that I’ve known about since I started back in the junior golf program through Heartwell,” Cerulle said. “I’ve seen a lot of my peers go into the hall — I’ve seen some excellent players and volunteers and pillars of the community. To be thought of as one of those as well is definitely an honor. It was always a long-term goal of mine, and it’s finally here. It’s a bit of a surreal moment for me.”
The Hall of Fame honors those who have left their mark around the city. McCormick and Cerulle both grew up on local greens, making this award a full-circle moment for the inductees.
“I’m third generation here; Long Beach has been my family’s home really forever,” Cerulle said. “It’s been an integral part of who our family is, our identity. The whole city is who we are, and we know so many people in it.”
McCormick is earning the Hall of Fame honors after a lifetime dedicated to Long Beach golf. He started at Recreation Park South 9-Hole Golf Course before going on to become a dominant Millikan Ram and Long Beach City College Viking on the green.
From there, McCormick had established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the fairway. In the 1960s, he was a three-time Club Champion at Skylinks, three-time Long Beach City Match Play champion and Southwest Amateur Champion amongst numerous other accolades.
Cerulle has continued to grow his Long Beach golf roots throughout his entire life. After growing up as a member of the Long Beach Junior Golf Association at Heartwell Park himself, he led the Cal State Long Beach Women’s team to back-to-back Big West championships and seven tournament titles as their head coach, earning himself Big West Coach of the Year honors in 2018 and 2019.
Since 2022, Cerulle has been serving as the head coach for Valley Christian’s Boys’ Golf program, where he has led the Defenders to two undefeated league championships.
For Cerulle, this honor isn’t the end of his golf career. As a father, he is passing on his love for the sport to the next generation, teaching his son and his friends more about the game.
Cerulle said he wants to continue giving back to the community that uplifted him throughout his entire career. His son is now a member of the same LBJGA program, giving Cerulle plenty of opportunity to stay involved in the local golf scene.
“It’s the program that keeps giving, and we keep hoping to make it a little bit better than we found it,” Cerulle said. “The coaching part of it is still a big part of who I am and what I need as a person, and I love being able to get back to that and continue more golfers on their journeys to what they want to become and be.”
Ortega actually grew up as a resident of Torrance, but he left his mark on the Long Beach golf scene in numerous ways. He served on the Skylinks Board of Directors, Southern California Public Links Golf Association (SCPLGA) Board of Directors and the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) Board of Directors for decades.
Ortega was also an integral part of the merger between SCPLGA’s public courses and the SCGA, a decision that ultimately benefitted the Long Beach golf community, residents said.
“This year’s Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame inductees have helped shape a golfing legacy in Long Beach, one that has strengthened the sport and helped make our city a vibrant and welcoming home for generations of golfers,” said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson in a July 23 press release.
The three newest inductees will be honored in a ceremony on August 9th. The ceremony will be held at El Dorado Park Golf Course around 2:30 p.m. following the Long Beach Open Tournament.
