Long Beach lost a legendary member of its sports community earlier this month with the passing of beloved golfer Len Kennett, who passed peacefully at home at the age of 98 years old. Kennett was a member of several local Halls of Fame and in 1955 founded the Len Kennett Junior Golf Championship, an event still held every year seven decades later.
“One of the most passionate men I’ve ever met when it came to the game we both loved,” wrote Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame chair Bob Livingstone in a tribute to Kennett. “Thanks for your friendship, support and mentorship Mr. Kennett.”
Kennett was born in 1927 and was raised fell in love with golf while caddying during the Great Depression at the Santa Anita Golf Course in Arcadia. He joined the Marines at the tail end of World War II and after the war played collegiate golf at USC, where he was the team’s captain and was part of the 1950 Southern California Collegiate Championship.
Kennett served as the golf pro at San Gabriel Country Club, Los Verdes Golf Club, and the Lakewood Country Club until his retirement from teaching in 2001. Kennett truly dedicated his life to the sport of golf, and to bringing more people onto the course, and he spent so much time dedicated to so many disparate golf-related efforts that it’s hard to sum his impact up in one article.
“Mr. Kennett was a pillar of the Southern California golf community for over 70 years,” said Nikki Gatch, the CEO and Executive Director of the SoCal Professional Golf Association in a statement. “As a PGA Professional, he exemplified integrity, dedication, and an unwavering passion for the game. He was especially revered for his tireless support of junior golf, mentoring countless young players and inspiring generations. His legacy will live on not only in the many lives he touched but in the spirit of the game he loved so deeply. He will be greatly missed.”
Golf was not considered a “kids’ sport” in the 1950s when Kennett founded his Junior Golf Championship. It was an adult game for serious people—but Kennett believed in opening it up for kids and teaching a love of the game at a younger age, something he did tirelessly for the rest of his life. The Junior Golf Championship was the first stop of stars like Tiger Woods (twice), Paul Goydos and John Merrick, regularly drawing 300+ competitors to the Lakewood Country Club, where a walkbridge on the course was named in Kennett’s honor. The event has been running for 70 years and the Kennett family plans to continue it going forward.
Kennett’s impact can’t be measured just in the events he founded or the length of his tenure as a golf pro. It’s measured in the number of lives he influenced over the years. In a recent tribute post, upcoming Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame inductee Troy Grant wrote, “His influence is in everything I do.”
Grant, a longtime golf pro himself, said, “He dedicated his life to growing golf and mentoring others, and I’m proud to say I’m a golf professional because of him…Thank you, Len, for believing in me, for guiding me, and for passing down your passion for the game. I will miss you greatly, but your legacy lives on in the way I teach, carry myself, and honor the game we both love. Thank you for everything…you were, and always will be, the BEST.”
Kennett’s service as a golf pro and tournament organizer was only part of his impact on local youth golfers. He spent much of his free time finding ways to increase access as well. His company People to People hosted golf trips to more than 40 countries connecting Southern California golfers with likeminded people around the globe.
Kennett is a member of the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame, the Long Beach Century Club Hall of Fame, the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame, and the Southern California PGA Hall of Fame. He also won the SCPGA’s Heritage Award in 2010, the SCGA’s Lynn Smith Award in 2005, and the SCPGA Bill Bryant Award in 1991. He was inducted into the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame in 1998, and went on to spend another 27 years serving the Long Beach golf community.
Kennett was also a devoted family man and was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was married to Marie Kennett for more than 60 years, raising daughters Beverly Lindberg and Teresa Kennett. The Kennetts had five grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
An obituary posted by the family reads in part, “(Len) was a cherished great-grandfather whose quiet wisdom and loving presence spanned four generations. Whether offering swing advice, sharing stories from his travels, or cheering from the sidelines, Len was a guiding light and source of strength to his entire family.”
When Marie passed in 2016 after 65 years of marriage, Len wrote that her last words to him were, “Len, I am going ahead. I will save a place for you, we will be together again.”
Services will be announced at a later date, with a public celebration of life that will give the local golf community a chance to recognize Kennett’s contributions together.
